mcp-skyscanner

shadyvb/mcp-skyscanner

3.3

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An MCP server that provides Skyscanner flight and airport search capabilities for AI assistants.

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Skyscanner MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes Skyscanner flight and airport search functionality to AI assistants like Claude Desktop and Cursor.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This project is experimental and intended for educational purposes only.

  • This software is provided "as is" without any warranties
  • Not intended for commercial use - Do not use this software in any commercial or production environment
  • The Skyscanner API client library used here is reverse-engineered and may violate Skyscanner's Terms of Service
  • Use at your own risk - The authors are not responsible for any consequences of using this software
  • This project is for learning and experimentation with MCP servers and API integration

Features

  • ✈️ Flight Search - Search for flights between airports with flexible date options
  • 🛫 Airport Search - Find airports by name, city, or IATA code

Installation

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.8 or higher
  • Git (for submodule support)

Step 1: Clone the Repository

# Clone with submodules (recommended)
git clone --recursive https://github.com/shadyvb/mcp-skyscanner.git
cd mcp-skyscanner

If you already cloned without submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Step 2: Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

What gets installed:

  • fastmcp - MCP server framework
  • curl_cffi, typeguard, orjson - Skyscanner API dependencies
  • skyscanner-api - Included as git submodule (automatically loaded by mcp_server.py)

The mcp_server.py automatically adds the vendor/skyscanner submodule to the Python path, so no additional installation steps are needed.

Usage

Setting Up Claude Desktop

  1. Locate your Claude Desktop configuration file:

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

  2. Add the MCP server configuration:

    Open the config file and add the following (or merge with existing mcpServers):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skyscanner": {
      "command": "python3",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-skyscanner/mcp_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "SKYSCANNER_LOCALE": "en-US",
        "SKYSCANNER_CURRENCY": "USD",
        "SKYSCANNER_MARKET": "US"
      }
    }
  }
}

Important notes:

  • Replace /absolute/path/to/mcp-skyscanner/mcp_server.py with the absolute path to your mcp_server.py file
  • Use python3 instead of python on macOS/Linux
  • If using a virtual environment, use the full path to Python (e.g., /path/to/venv/bin/python3)

  1. Restart Claude Desktop completely (quit and reopen the application)

  2. Verify installation: After restarting, you should see the Skyscanner tools available in Claude Desktop. Try asking: "Search for flights from LHR to JFK on December 22nd"

Environment Variables

  • SKYSCANNER_LOCALE: Locale code (default: "en-US")
  • SKYSCANNER_CURRENCY: Currency code (default: "USD")
  • SKYSCANNER_MARKET: Market region code (default: "US")

Available Tools

Once configured, the following tools are available in Claude Desktop:

search_airports

Search for airports by name, city, or IATA code.

Example usage in Claude:

  • "Search for airports in London"
  • "Find airports with code LHR"
  • "What airports are in Cairo?"

Parameters:

  • query (string, required): Airport name, city, or IATA code (e.g., "London", "LHR", "Cairo")
  • depart_date (string, optional): Departure date in ISO format (e.g., "2025-12-22")
  • return_date (string, optional): Return date in ISO format

Returns: List of airport objects with title, skyId (IATA code), and entity_id

search_flights

Search for flights between two airports.

Example usage in Claude:

  • "Search for flights from London Heathrow to New York JFK on December 22nd"
  • "Find flights from CAI to OPO on 2025-12-22"
  • "Show me round-trip flights from LHR to JFK departing December 22, returning December 29"

Parameters:

  • origin_airport_code (string, required): IATA code (e.g., "LHR", "CAI", "JFK")
  • destination_airport_code (string, required): IATA code (e.g., "JFK", "OPO", "LHR")
  • depart_date (string, required): Departure date in ISO format (e.g., "2025-12-22" or "2025-12-22T10:00:00")
  • return_date (string, optional): Return date for round-trip flights
  • cabin_class (string, optional): "economy", "premium_economy", "business", or "first" (default: "economy")
  • adults (integer, optional): Number of adult passengers, 1-8 (default: 1)

Returns: Dictionary with session_id and buckets containing flight options:

  • Best - Best overall options
  • Cheapest - Lowest price options
  • Fastest - Shortest duration options
  • Direct - Non-stop flights (if available)

Example Usage

After setting up the MCP server in Claude Desktop, you can use natural language queries:

User: Search for flights from London Heathrow to New York JFK on December 22nd

Claude: I'll search for flights from London Heathrow (LHR) to New York JFK on December 22nd, 2025.

[Uses search_flights tool]

I found several flight options:
- Best: 8 options available
- Cheapest: 8 options available
- Fastest: 8 options available
- Direct: 3 non-stop options available

Would you like me to search for return flights as well?

Troubleshooting

Server Not Appearing

  1. Check Python path: Use python3 instead of python on macOS, or use full path to Python executable
  2. Verify dependencies: Run pip install -r requirements.txt to ensure all packages are installed
  3. Initialize submodules: Run git submodule update --init --recursive if the vendor/skyscanner directory is empty
  4. Check logs: Look for errors in ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-skyscanner.log (macOS)
  5. Test manually: Run python3 /path/to/mcp_server.py to check for import errors

Common Errors

  • spawn python ENOENT: Use python3 instead of python in config
  • ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'fastmcp': Run pip install -r requirements.txt
  • Date format errors: Ensure dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format and in the future

Error Responses

The server returns structured error responses:

  • BannedWithCaptcha: Rate limited by Skyscanner
  • Timeout: Search exceeded maximum retries
  • InvalidDate: Date format or validation error
  • AirportNotFound: Airport code not found

Notes

  • Flight searches may take 10-30 seconds (API polls for results)
  • Dates must be in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS)
  • Dates must be in the future
  • Airport codes are case-insensitive

License

GPL-3.0

Important: This license applies to the MCP server code only. The Skyscanner API client library (vendor/skyscanner) has its own license terms. Please review the license of the upstream repository before use.

Credits

Disclaimer (Reminder)

This project is experimental and for educational purposes only. It is not intended for commercial use. Use at your own risk.