| name | tavily-search |
| description | Perform an AI-native web search using the official Tavily MCP server. Use when the user needs high-quality technical search results, coding documentation, or token-efficient AI-optimized search. |
| argument-hint | <query> |
Tavily Search Command
Perform an AI-native web search using the official Tavily MCP server.
Tool Binding
IMPORTANT: You MUST use the mcp__tavily__tavily_search tool for this command. Do NOT use the built-in WebSearch tool or Brave Search MCP tools.
Prerequisites
- Tavily MCP server configured in
.mcp.json using tavily-mcp
TAVILY_API_KEY environment variable set (get one at https://tavily.com)
Arguments
query: The search terms (everything after /tavily-search)
Behavior
When invoked:
- Execute exactly one
mcp__tavily__tavily_search call with the provided query — never fire multiple searches per invocation
- Analyze the top results
- Provide a concise summary
- List sources with URLs
Examples
/tavily-search latest Next.js features
/tavily-search how to configure ESLint for TypeScript
/tavily-search React Server Components best practices
Response Format
## Tavily Search: [query]
### Results
[Summarized findings from search results]
### Sources
- [Title](URL)
- [Title](URL)
- [Title](URL)
When to Use
- When you need high-quality, AI-native search results for technical queries
- For coding documentation, API research, and programming questions
- When token efficiency matters (Tavily returns cleaner, more concise results than raw web snippets)
Error Handling
If the search fails:
- Verify
TAVILY_API_KEY is set correctly
- Check that the MCP server is running (
/mcp to verify status)
- Suggest using
/brave-search or /web-search as a fallback
See Also
/brave-search - Uses Brave Search MCP (best for image, video, news, local search)/web-search - Uses Claude's built-in WebSearch (no MCP required)internet-researcher agent - For deep, multi-query research
