Tavily MCP Server

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/index.ts:454-476 (handler)

  The primary handler function implementing the tavily-search tool. It prepares the search parameters, determines the appropriate API endpoint, makes the HTTP POST request to Tavily's search API, handles specific error codes, and returns the response data.
  async search(params: any): Promise<TavilyResponse> { try { // Choose endpoint based on whether it's an extract request const endpoint = params.url ? this.baseURLs.extract : this.baseURLs.search; // Add topic: "news" if query contains the word "news" const searchParams = { ...params, api_key: API_KEY, topic: params.query.toLowerCase().includes('news') ? 'news' : undefined }; const response = await this.axiosInstance.post(endpoint, searchParams); return response.data; } catch (error: any) { if (error.response?.status === 401) { throw new Error('Invalid API key'); } else if (error.response?.status === 429) { throw new Error('Usage limit exceeded'); } throw error; } }
• src/index.ts:111-189 (registration)

  Registers the tavily-search tool in the ListToolsRequestSchema handler, providing the tool name, detailed description, and complete input schema for parameter validation.
  { name: "tavily-search", description: "A powerful web search tool that provides comprehensive, real-time results using Tavily's AI search engine. Returns relevant web content with customizable parameters for result count, content type, and domain filtering. Ideal for gathering current information, news, and detailed web content analysis.", inputSchema: { type: "object", properties: { query: { type: "string", description: "Search query" }, search_depth: { type: "string", enum: ["basic","advanced"], description: "The depth of the search. It can be 'basic' or 'advanced'", default: "basic" }, topic : { type: "string", enum: ["general","news"], description: "The category of the search. This will determine which of our agents will be used for the search", default: "general" }, days: { type: "number", description: "The number of days back from the current date to include in the search results. This specifies the time frame of data to be retrieved. Please note that this feature is only available when using the 'news' search topic", default: 3 }, time_range: { type: "string", description: "The time range back from the current date to include in the search results. This feature is available for both 'general' and 'news' search topics", enum: ["day", "week", "month", "year", "d", "w", "m", "y"], }, max_results: { type: "number", description: "The maximum number of search results to return", default: 10, minimum: 5, maximum: 20 }, include_images: { type: "boolean", description: "Include a list of query-related images in the response", default: false, }, include_image_descriptions: { type: "boolean", description: "Include a list of query-related images and their descriptions in the response", default: false, }, /* // Since the mcp server is using AI clients to generate answers form the search results, we don't need to include this feature. include_answer: { type: ["boolean", "string"], enum: [true, false, "basic", "advanced"], description: "Include an answer to original query, generated by an LLM based on Tavily's search results. Can be boolean or string ('basic'/'advanced'). 'basic'/true answer will be quick but less detailed, 'advanced' answer will be more detailed but take longer to generate", default: false, }, */ include_raw_content: { type: "boolean", description: "Include the cleaned and parsed HTML content of each search result", default: false, }, include_domains: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" }, description: "A list of domains to specifically include in the search results, if the user asks to search on specific sites set this to the domain of the site", default: [] }, exclude_domains: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" }, description: "List of domains to specifically exclude, if the user asks to exclude a domain set this to the domain of the site", default: [] } }, required: ["query"] } },
• src/index.ts:356-370 (handler)

  The dispatch handler within the CallToolRequestSchema that extracts arguments from the request and invokes the search method for tavily-search.
  case "tavily-search": response = await this.search({ query: args.query, search_depth: args.search_depth, topic: args.topic, days: args.days, time_range: args.time_range, max_results: args.max_results, include_images: args.include_images, include_image_descriptions: args.include_image_descriptions, include_raw_content: args.include_raw_content, include_domains: Array.isArray(args.include_domains) ? args.include_domains : [], exclude_domains: Array.isArray(args.exclude_domains) ? args.exclude_domains : [] }); break;
• src/index.ts:114-188 (schema)

  Detailed input schema defining validation rules, types, enums, defaults, and descriptions for all tavily-search parameters.
  inputSchema: { type: "object", properties: { query: { type: "string", description: "Search query" }, search_depth: { type: "string", enum: ["basic","advanced"], description: "The depth of the search. It can be 'basic' or 'advanced'", default: "basic" }, topic : { type: "string", enum: ["general","news"], description: "The category of the search. This will determine which of our agents will be used for the search", default: "general" }, days: { type: "number", description: "The number of days back from the current date to include in the search results. This specifies the time frame of data to be retrieved. Please note that this feature is only available when using the 'news' search topic", default: 3 }, time_range: { type: "string", description: "The time range back from the current date to include in the search results. This feature is available for both 'general' and 'news' search topics", enum: ["day", "week", "month", "year", "d", "w", "m", "y"], }, max_results: { type: "number", description: "The maximum number of search results to return", default: 10, minimum: 5, maximum: 20 }, include_images: { type: "boolean", description: "Include a list of query-related images in the response", default: false, }, include_image_descriptions: { type: "boolean", description: "Include a list of query-related images and their descriptions in the response", default: false, }, /* // Since the mcp server is using AI clients to generate answers form the search results, we don't need to include this feature. include_answer: { type: ["boolean", "string"], enum: [true, false, "basic", "advanced"], description: "Include an answer to original query, generated by an LLM based on Tavily's search results. Can be boolean or string ('basic'/'advanced'). 'basic'/true answer will be quick but less detailed, 'advanced' answer will be more detailed but take longer to generate", default: false, }, */ include_raw_content: { type: "boolean", description: "Include the cleaned and parsed HTML content of each search result", default: false, }, include_domains: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" }, description: "A list of domains to specifically include in the search results, if the user asks to search on specific sites set this to the domain of the site", default: [] }, exclude_domains: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" }, description: "List of domains to specifically exclude, if the user asks to exclude a domain set this to the domain of the site", default: [] } }, required: ["query"] }
• src/index.ts:530-566 (helper)

  Helper utility to format the raw Tavily search response into a structured, human-readable text output used in the tool response.
  function formatResults(response: TavilyResponse): string { // Format API response into human-readable text const output: string[] = []; // Include answer if available if (response.answer) { output.push(`Answer: ${response.answer}`); } // Format detailed search results output.push('Detailed Results:'); response.results.forEach(result => { output.push(`\nTitle: ${result.title}`); output.push(`URL: ${result.url}`); output.push(`Content: ${result.content}`); if (result.raw_content) { output.push(`Raw Content: ${result.raw_content}`); } }); // Add images section if available if (response.images && response.images.length > 0) { output.push('\nImages:'); response.images.forEach((image, index) => { if (typeof image === 'string') { output.push(`\n[${index + 1}] URL: ${image}`); } else { output.push(`\n[${index + 1}] URL: ${image.url}`); if (image.description) { output.push(` Description: ${image.description}`); } } }); } return output.join('\n'); }