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Compatible with both Cursor and Claude Desktop!Tavily MCP is also compatible with any MCP client.
Check out our tutorial on combining Tavily MCP with Neo4j MCP server!
Tavily MCP Demo
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables AI systems to interact seamlessly with various data sources and tools, facilitating secure, two-way connections.Developed by Anthropic, the Model Context Protocol (MCP) enables AI assistants like Claude to seamlessly integrate with Tavily’s advanced search and data extraction capabilities. This integration provides AI models with real-time access to web information, complete with sophisticated filtering options and domain-specific search features.

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Remote MCP Server

The easiest way to take advantage of Tavily MCP is by using the remote URL. This provides a seamless experience without requiring local installation or configuration. Simply use the remote MCP server URL with your Tavily API key: 
https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>
Get your Tavily API key from tavily.com.

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Connect to Cursor

Install MCP Server Click the ⬆️ Add to Cursor ⬆️ button, this will do most of the work for you but you will still need to edit the configuration to add your API-KEY. You can get a Tavily API key here. once you click the button you should be redirect to Cursor … You will then be redirected to your mcp.json file where you have to add your-api-key. 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tavily-remote-mcp": {
      "command": "npx -y mcp-remote https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>",
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

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Connect to Claude Desktop

Claude desktop now supports adding integrations which is currently in beta. An integration in this case is the Tavily Remote MCP, below I will explain how to add the MCP as an integration in Claude desktop. Open claude desktop, click the button with the two sliders and then navigate to add integrations. Name the integration and insert the Tavily remote MCP url with your API key. You can get a Tavily API key here. Click Add to confirm.

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OpenAI

Allow models to use remote MCP servers to perform tasks.
  • You first need to export your OPENAI_API_KEY
  • You must also add your Tavily API-key to <your-api-key>, you can get a Tavily API key here
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI()

resp = client.responses.create(
    model="gpt-4.1",
    tools=[
        {
            "type": "mcp",
            "server_label": "tavily",
            "server_url": "https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>",
            "require_approval": "never",
        },
    ],
    input="Do you have access to the tavily mcp server?",
)

print(resp.output_text)

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Clients that don’t support remote MCPs

mcp-remote is a lightweight bridge that lets MCP clients that can only talk to local (stdio) servers securely connect to remote MCP servers over HTTP + SSE with OAuth-based auth, so you can host and update your server in the cloud while existing clients keep working. It serves as an experimental stop-gap until popular MCP clients natively support remote, authorized servers. 
{
    "tavily-remote": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>"
      ]
    }
}

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OAuth Authentication

The Tavily Remote MCP server supports secure OAuth authentication, allowing you to connect and authorize seamlessly with compatible clients.
Open the MCP Inspector and click “Open Auth Settings”. Select the OAuth flow and complete these steps:
  1. Metadata discovery
  2. Client registration
  3. Preparing authorization
  4. Request authorization and obtain the authorization code
  5. Token request
  6. Authentication complete
Once finished, you will receive an access token that lets you securely make authenticated requests to the Tavily Remote MCP server.
You can configure your MCP client to use OAuth without including your Tavily API key in the URL. For example, in Cursor’s mcp.json:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tavily-remote-mcp": {
      "command": "npx mcp-remote https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp",
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}
If you need to clear stored OAuth credentials and reauthenticate, run:
rm -rf ~/.mcp-auth
After successful OAuth authentication, your default API key (if set) will be used for all operations; otherwise, the first available key will be used. OAuth authentication is optional—you can still use API key authentication at any time by including your Tavily API key in the URL query parameter (?tavilyApiKey=...) or by setting it in the Authorization header.
Alternatively, you can also run the MCP server locally.

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Local Installation

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Prerequisites

Only needed if using Git installation method:
  • On macOS: brew install git
  • On Linux:
    • Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install git
    • RedHat/CentOS: sudo yum install git
  • On Windows: Download Git for Windows
npx -y [email protected]
Although you can launch a server on its own, it’s not particularly helpful in isolation. Instead, you should integrate it into an MCP client.

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Configuring MCP Clients

Note: Requires Cursor version 0.45.6 or higher
To set up the Tavily MCP server in Cursor:
  1. Open Cursor Settings
  2. Navigate to Features > MCP Servers
  3. Click on the ”+ Add New MCP Server” button
  4. Fill out the following information:
    • Name: Enter a nickname for the server (e.g., “tavily-mcp”)
    • Type: Select “command” as the type
    • Command: Enter the command to run the server: 
      env TAVILY_API_KEY=tvly-YOUR_API_KEY npx -y [email protected]
      Replace tvly-YOUR_API_KEY with your Tavily API key from app.tavily.com/home
Cursor Interface Example

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Usage Examples

  1. General Web Search:
Can you search for recent developments in quantum computing?
  1. News Search:
Search for news articles about AI startups from the last 7 days.
  1. Domain-Specific Search:
Search for climate change research on nature.com and sciencedirect.com
Extract Article Content: Extract the main content from this article: https://example.com/article
Search for news articles about AI startups from the last 7 days and extract the main content from each article to generate a detailed report.

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Troubleshooting

If you encounter server connection issues, run these commands to verify your environment:
npm --version
node --version
Make sure to also check your configuration syntax for any errors.
If experiencing problems with npx, locate your executable:
which npx
Once you have the path, update your configuration to use the full path to the npx executable.
When troubleshooting API key problems, verify that your key is:
  • Properly formatted with the tvly- prefix
  • Valid and active in your Tavily dashboard
  • Correctly configured in your environment variables
You can test your API key validity by making a simple test request through the Tavily Playground

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Acknowledgments

Model Context Protocol

For the MCP specification

Anthropic

For Claude Desktop