@chrischall/tripadvisor-mcp

tripadvisor-mcp

MCP server for the TripAdvisor Terra API — travel data for Claude. Search hotels, restaurants, and attractions by name or coordinates, then pull full details, photos, and reviews, all over stdio. (Terra is TripAdvisor's current API; the legacy Content API is sunset on 2026-08-31.)

Developed and maintained by AI (Claude Code). Use at your own discretion.

Quick start

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tripadvisor": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@chrischall/tripadvisor-mcp"],
      "env": { "TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY": "your-terra-api-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Get a key at tripadvisor.com/developers. The free Discover tier is pay-as-you-go (10 QPS, 10,000 calls/day); responses are cached in-memory to stretch it. Make sure it's a Terra key — a legacy Content API key returns 403.

Tools

Tool	What it does
ta_search_locations	Search locations by name (optionally scoped by category, country/geo/postal code) — paginated; compact:true for slim summaries
ta_search_nearby	Find locations near a lat/lon+radius, a location_id+radius, or inside a sw/ne bounding box (category, min rating, sort) — compact:true supported
ta_get_location_details	Full details: names, descriptions, address, coordinates, traveler ratings, phone, listing URLs
ta_get_locations	Batch — details for multiple location ids in one call (cheaper than N detail calls); compact:true supported
ta_get_location_photos	Photos with multi-size image URLs, source, and dimensions — paginated
ta_get_location_reviews	Traveler reviews — paginated
ta_web_healthcheck	Diagnose the optional tripadvisor.com browser-bridge connection (see below)
ta_web_get_location	Location details (rating, address, coords, phone, photo) read from the public page via the browser bridge — no API key needed

All tools are read-only — Terra has no write endpoints.

Browser bridge (optional)

ta_web_healthcheck is the first tool of an optional second tier that reaches tripadvisor.com's consumer site (bot-walled, so unreachable server-side) by routing same-origin fetches through your signed-in browser tab via the fetchproxy Transporter extension. It needs the extension installed and a one-time pairing approval; the Content API tools above never touch the bridge.

ta_web_get_location uses this bridge to read a location's details straight from its public TripAdvisor page — so it works without an API key, covering attractions, hotels, and restaurants. It returns core business data (rating, review count, address, coordinates, phone, primary photo, listing URL) but not individual review text. Request shapes are pinned in docs/TRIPADVISOR-WEB-API.md.

Environment

Var	Required	Purpose
TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY	yes	Terra API key, sent as the X-API-Key header.
TRIPADVISOR_CACHE_TTL	no	Seconds to cache search responses (default: 300; 0 disables).
TRIPADVISOR_STATIC_CACHE_TTL	no	Seconds to cache details/photos/reviews (default: 3600; 0 disables).
TRIPADVISOR_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS	no	Per-request timeout for the optional browser bridge (default: 30000).
TRIPADVISOR_DEBUG_LOG	no	Set to 1 to log browser-bridge requests to stderr.

Development

npm install
npm run build   # tsc + esbuild bundle
npm test        # vitest (no real network)

Endpoint request shapes are pinned in docs/TRIPADVISOR-API.md. With a key in .env, node scripts/live-probe.mjs exercises every read path through the built client.

License

MIT