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.

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

Available in two implementations:

• Node.js (MCPB) — lightweight Desktop extension, recommended for Claude Desktop
• Java — Docker image or standalone ZIP, also supports HTTP/SSE transport

Getting Started

Step 1 — Add to Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop config file:

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

Option A: Node.js MCPB (recommended)

Download tfl-mcp-server.mcpb from GitHub Releases and install it in Claude Desktop, or add manually:

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

Option B: Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tfl-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "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 TFL_APP_KEY environment variable:

"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 full setup details (Java direct, Docker 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.

• The UI is self-contained (inline HTML/CSS, no external assets)
• Structured JSON data is returned alongside the text fallback
• No additional setup is required — host support is detected automatically

See docs/tools.md for full details.

Authentication

This server is distributed as a Desktop extension (MCPB) using stdio transport. It does not implement OAuth or any server-side authentication.

The TfL API uses a simple API key (TFL_APP_KEY) that you supply as an environment variable. A key is strongly recommended — without one, TfL applies st

... View full README on GitHub