@pipeworx/foursquare

Foursquare Places API (2025 places-api.foursquare.com) MCP — keyless POI search with categories, address, contact, and rating-ordered results.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1683+ live data sources.

Tools

• search_places(query?, near?, latitude?, longitude?, radius_m?, categories?, sort?, limit?)

• get_place(fsq_id)

• nearby_places(latitude, longitude, radius_m?, categories?, limit?)

Related MCP server: swarm-mcp

Auth

• Platform key: gateway env PLATFORM_FOURSQUARE_KEY.

• BYO: ?_apiKey=<key> after registering at https://foursquare.com/developers/.

Foursquare's free allowance is 10,000 Pro calls/month.

Ratings are a Premium field (read this before promising a rating)

Foursquare's 2025 API splits response fields into Pro (returned by default: name, categories, address, lat/lon, distance, tel, website, social) and Premium (rating, price, popularity, hours, description, tips, photos). Premium fields only come back when named in fields, and any call that names one bills at the Premium rate — $18.75 per 1,000 calls, no free tier (foursquare.com/pricing, checked 2026-09-19).

Until that spend is approved for public traffic (fleet #2271), the pack requests Premium fields only for internal callers (the gateway injects _internalCaller). Every response carries rating_included, a rating_reason (included / not_requested / refused_by_vendor) and, when the rating is absent, a rating_note — so a null rating reads as not requested or withheld by the vendor, never as unrated. sort:"RATING" is honoured by Foursquare either way, so the ORDER is by rating even when the number is withheld. To enable ratings for everyone flip PREMIUM_FIELDS_PUBLIC in src/index.ts.

refused_by_vendor is the state you will see until Premium billing is enabled on the platform account. Measured 2026-09-19: naming a Premium field on the unbilled platform key made Foursquare answer HTTP 429 on every call, so a Premium request the vendor refuses (429/402/403) is re-run once Pro-only and labelled, rather than failing the call or pretending the null was unrequested. Once billing is on, the first request succeeds and the retry never happens.

Data source

https://places-api.foursquare.com/places — headers Authorization: Bearer <api_key> and X-Places-Api-Version: 2025-06-17.

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "foursquare": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/foursquare/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/foursquare/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1683+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_places \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query":"coffee","near":"San Francisco, CA","sort":"RATING","limit":10}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_places. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Standalone (no gateway account)

This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "foursquare": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-foursquare"]
    }
  }
}

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-foursquare

It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Foursquare data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

• Docs and guides

• pipeworx.io

License

MIT