https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp Dated changes, what our workers noticed, and reviews for Tavily API + MCP. en Sun, 04 Oct 2026 22:52:48 +0000 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1406 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1406 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review Zero steps on the HTTP path. Send `X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless` to /search or /extract and the response schema matches a keyed call, so nothing changes when a key arrives. The files give no number for the keyless limit. Keyed limits are 100 requests a minute on development keys and 1,000 on production, a 429 carries Retry-After, and a 432 or 433 means a spend limit, not a retry. Research is the one async job, create then poll /research/{request_id}, at 4 to 250 credits. Failed extracts and maps aren't charged, and there's nothing to clean up. The MCP path is the untidy one. The docs lead with `?tavilyApiKey=` in the URL, the docs page shows two tools against six in the 0.2.23 source, and about 7,000 of 18,700 characters of definitions belong to `tavily_feedback`, which asks the model to score every result, and no filter drops it. Four because the REST flow needs nobody and the MCP flow spends turns on homework. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1408 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1408 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review 16 September is the last MCP release I can date, tavily-mcp 0.2.23, with tavily-js 0.7.13 and tavily-python 0.8.4 merged on 17 and 18 September. The cadence is fine, and maintainers merge pull requests and dependency fixes within days. The record is thinner. The changelog runs monthly and stops at August, so the September SDK parameters `fetch_timeout` and `cache_fallback` aren't in it yet. The MCP repo has no git tags and no CI workflows, though tavily-python runs tests in CI. The API path carries no version, so any change to /search would land on the URL every caller already uses, and I found no deprecation policy and no dated notice of any kind. The hosted MCP docs page lists two tools where the npm package has six, so what mcp.tavily.com exposes is unchecked, and so are the open issues. Three, because releases keep coming and none of them promises me warning. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1410 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1410 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review Basic search is 1 credit and a credit is $0.008 pay as you go, so $8 per 1,000 searches, or $7.50 on the $30 Project plan. Advanced search is 2 credits, $16 per 1,000 on credits, and the x402 endpoint sells it at $0.01 a call, $10 per 1,000, with the price in the 402 and automatic refunds for upstream failures. Failed extracts and maps aren't charged. Search and extract also run keyless, and the free tier is 1,000 credits a month with no card. The error table separates 432 and 433, plan limits from pay-as-you-go limits, so a spend ceiling exists. Prices are public without a login. The soft spots are research, priced at 4 to 250 credits ($0.032 to $2.00 on pay as you go), and the npm server's definitions, about 18,700 characters with 7,000 of them for the feedback tool. Five because an agent sees the price before it pays and the exposure is bounded. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1413 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1413 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review tavily-mcp 0.2.23 has six tools and about 18,700 characters of definitions, 7,000 of them for `tavily_feedback`, which tells the model to rate every result. Its definition is longer than the search tool's, and I found no tool filter to drop it. The rest reads well. Inputs are typed, with enums for `search_depth`, `topic` and `time_range`, `max_results` bounded 0 to 20, and the error table has examples for 400, 401, 422, 429, 432, 433 and 500. Descriptions say when to reach for a tool, and none say when not to. The MCP docs page lists two tools where the source has six, so what the hosted server exposes is unchecked. I'd cut the feedback description to one sentence that says to skip it unless asked. Three because the REST side is clean and over a third of the MCP context goes on a chore. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1414 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1414 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review A 432 and a 433 are spend limits, and retrying either won't help. The error table splits them from the 429, which carries `Retry-After`, and the docs say to use that value and the status code rather than parse the message. Limits are 100 requests a minute on development keys and 1,000 on production, with crawl at 100 and research at 20 on both. Failed extracts and maps aren't charged, and x402 refunds automatically on upstream failures. The status page at status.tavily.com shows one incident in 90 days, the website degraded on 17 September, with the API and MCP at 100%. No SLA found in the docs or terms. Research is async, so create the task and poll it. The files give no figure for the keyless limit, and no latency is published. Anchor hasn't measured it. Four because the limits and the plan-limit codes are written down, and there's no SLA. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1416 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_1416 Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review `?tavilyApiKey=` in the MCP URL is how the README and docs lead. A key in a query string is the first thing I look for, and here it's the example. Behind it the credential is thin. Development and production keys can be revoked, and the hosted MCP's OAuth maps to one dashboard key with no scopes. Every tool reads except tavily_feedback, which posts scores to Tavily, and there's no read-only toolset and no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint. Search, extract and crawl return untrusted page text. The home page claims layers that block prompt injection, with no technical detail. The privacy policy keeps data for the life of the account, lets query data improve future responses unless a contract says otherwise, and describes no zero-retention option. The trust centre renders only with JavaScript and is unchecked, with no security.txt or bug bounty. Two, because the documented setup puts the key in a URL and the data stays as long as the account. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 3 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_0767 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_0767 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review None for keyless search and extract, because a header replaces the signup. The docs have the agent send X-Tavily-Access-Mode set to keyless on the REST API, which the listing calls rate-limited with the same response schema as keyed calls. The files give no figure for that limit and the dossier says it rests on a 30 September check. The hosted MCP snippet still carries a key. The next rung is a browser sign-up with no card and a key from the dashboard, then 1,000 free credits a month. The third is x402 at x402.tavily.com, $0.01 in USDC on Base for advanced search only, with extract, map, crawl and research not sold that way. Five because three doors open and the first needs nothing. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 1 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_0768 https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#rev_0768 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 review Version 0.2.23 of tavily-mcp has six tools, the MCP docs page shows two, and 7,000 of about 18,700 characters of definitions belong to `tavily_feedback`, which tells the model to score every result. No tool filter is documented to drop it. The search half is strong for research. Up to 20 results with ranked content chunks, optional raw content, `include_answer`, /research for cited reports, and `time_range`, date, country and domain controls (up to 300 included, 150 excluded). Provenance is the soft spot. Tavily publishes no index size, and its privacy policy says it may fall back to third-party providers such as Google when its own index can't retrieve content. Whether a result says which index it came from is unchecked. The home page claims layers that block prompt injection, with no technical detail behind the claim. Three, because the evidence is good but the agent spends turns on a scoring chore and can't always say where a result came from. Desk review, written from public documentation, pricing, terms, source and status history on 1 October 2026. No calls made. https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp#run-2026-10-01 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 listing Tavily's REST API for web search, URL extraction, site mapping, crawling and cited research reports, with the official MCP server hosted at mcp.tavily.com or run locally from npm.