mcp-tavily-search

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for integrating Tavily's search API with LLMs. This server provides intelligent web search capabilities optimized for high-quality, factual results, including context generation for RAG applications and direct question answering.

Features

🔍 Advanced web search capabilities through Tavily API
🤖 AI-generated summaries of search results
🎯 Domain filtering for higher quality results
📊 Configurable search depth and parameters
🧠 Context generation for RAG applications
❓ Direct question answering capabilities
💾 Response caching with TTL support
📝 Multiple response formats (text, JSON, markdown)
🔄 Structured result formatting optimized for LLMs
🏗️ Built on the Model Context Protocol

Configuration

This server requires configuration through your MCP client. Here are examples for different environments:

Cline Configuration

Add this to your Cline MCP settings:

{
	"mcpServers": {
		"mcp-tavily-search": {
			"command": "npx",
			"args": ["-y", "mcp-tavily-search"],
			"env": {
				"TAVILY_API_KEY": "your-tavily-api-key"
			}
		}
	}
}

Claude Desktop with WSL Configuration

For WSL environments, add this to your Claude Desktop configuration:

{
	"mcpServers": {
		"mcp-tavily-search": {
			"command": "wsl.exe",
			"args": [
				"bash",
				"-c",
				"source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh && TAVILY_API_KEY=your-tavily-api-key /home/username/.nvm/versions/node/v20.12.1/bin/npx mcp-tavily-search"
			]
		}
	}
}

Environment Variables

The server requires the following environment variable:

TAVILY_API_KEY: Your Tavily API key (required)

API

The server implements three MCP tools with configurable parameters:

tavily_search

Search the web using Tavily Search API, optimized for high-quality, factual results.

Parameters:

query (string, required): Search query
search_depth (string, optional): "basic" (faster) or "advanced" (more thorough). Defaults to "basic"
topic (string, optional): "general" or "news". Defaults to "general"
days (number, optional): Number of days back to search (news topic only). Defaults to 3
time_range (string, optional): Time range for results ('day', 'week', 'month', 'year' or 'd', 'w', 'm', 'y')
max_results (number, optional): Maximum number of results. Defaults to 5
include_answer (boolean, optional): Include AI-generated summary. Defaults to true
include_images (boolean, optional): Include related images. Defaults to false
include_image_descriptions (boolean, optional): Include image descriptions. Defaults to false
include_raw_content (boolean, optional): Include raw HTML content. Defaults to false
include_domains (string[], optional): List of trusted domains to include
exclude_domains (string[], optional): List of domains to exclude
response_format (string, optional): 'text', 'json', or 'markdown'. Defaults to 'text'
cache_ttl (number, optional): Cache time-to-live in seconds. Defaults to 3600
force_refresh (boolean, optional): Force fresh results ignoring cache. Defaults to false

tavily_get_search_context

Generate context for RAG applications using Tavily search.

Parameters:

query (string, required): Search query for context generation
max_tokens (number, optional): Maximum length of generated context. Defaults to 2000
search_depth (string, optional): "basic" or "advanced". Defaults to "advanced"
topic (string, optional): "general" or "news". Defaults to "general"
Other parameters same as tavily_search

tavily_qna_search

Get direct answers to questions using Tavily search.

Parameters:

query (string, required): Question to be answered
include_sources (boolean, optional): Include source citations. Defaults to true
search_depth (string, optional): "basic" or "advanced". Defaults to "advanced"
topic (string, optional): "general" or "news". Defaults to "general"
Other parameters same as tavily_search

Domain Filtering

The server supports flexible domain filtering through two optional parameters:

include_domains: Array of trusted domains to include in search results
exclude_domains: Array of domains to exclude from search results

This allows you to:

Target specific trusted sources for academic or technical searches
Exclude potentially unreliable or irrelevant sources
Customize sources based on your specific needs
Access all available sources when no filtering is specified

Example domain filtering:

{
	"include_domains": ["arxiv.org", "science.gov"],
	"exclude_domains": ["example.com"]
}

Development

Setup

Clone the repository
Install dependencies:

pnpm install

Build the project:

pnpm build

Run in development mode:

pnpm dev

Publishing

The project uses changesets for version management. To publish:

Create a changeset:

pnpm changeset

Version the package:

pnpm changeset version

Publish to npm:

pnpm release

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Built on the Model Context Protocol
Powered by Tavily Search API