Tfl MCP server

TfL MCP Server

Disclaimer: This is a community-built project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Transport for London (TfL). This project consumes the publicly available TfL Unified API.

An MCP server that exposes the TfL (Transport for London) Unified API as tools, allowing AI assistants like Claude to query live London transport data.

Version 2 is a single Node.js 22 implementation using the MCP 2026-07-28 protocol revision. It supports stdio for local hosts, npm, and MCPB, plus stateless Streamable HTTP at /mcp for remote deployments.

Protocol compatibility: Streamable HTTP is modern-only MCP 2026-07-28. The stdio entry point also accepts 2025-era initialization for desktop hosts such as Codex, while modern stdio clients continue to negotiate 2026-07-28. Legacy HTTP/SSE is not supported.

Getting Started

Step 1 — Add to Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claudedesktopconfig.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claudedesktopconfig.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claudedesktopconfig.json

Option A: Node.js MCPB (recommended)

Download tfl-mcp-server.mcpb from GitHub Releases and install it in Claude Desktop.

Option B: npm

With Node.js 22 or later installed, point Claude Desktop at the published package:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tfl-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@oneill9/tfl-mcp-server@2.0.0"],
      "env": { "TFL_APP_KEY": "your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

Option C: Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tfl-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "TFL_APP_KEY", "ghcr.io/oneill9/tfl-mcp-server:latest"]
    }
  }
}

Step 2 — Add a TfL API key (recommended)

Without a key, TfL applies strict rate limits that will impact most real-world usage. Register a free key and pass it via the TFLAPPKEY environment variable. The Docker example's -e TFLAPPKEY forwards this value into the container:

"env": { "TFL_APP_KEY": "your_key_here" }

Step 3 — Restart Claude Desktop and start asking questions

Example: "Is the Central line running normally?", "When is the next bus from Oxford Circus?"

For source, Docker, and Streamable HTTP options, see docs/installation.md.

Tools

Note: The server uses the /StopPoint/Search/{query} endpoint internally to automatically resolve stop names to NaPTAN IDs for the arrivals, crowding, and fares tools.

MCP Apps UI

The service_status tool includes MCP Apps support as a progressive enhancement. UI-capable hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop) can render an interactive service status board alongside the text response. Non-UI hosts continue to receive the standard text output.

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.