trvl — The Travel MCP Server

trvl demo

33 travel tools for your AI assistant — flights, hotels, trains, buses, ferries, price alerts, travel hacks, weather forecasts, baggage rules, destination intel. Free. API-first.

Also works as a standalone CLI with 33 commands.

What it looks like

You: I have €300 and a free weekend. Surprise me.

Claude (with trvl): 🎲 Checking cheapest destinations from Helsinki...

Dubrovnik, Croatia 🇭🇷
✈️ Ryanair HEL→DBV Fri 14:25→17:10 (nonstop) — €167 RT
🏨 Old Town Studios, 4.6★ — €42/night × 2 = €84
🌡️ 26°C, sunny, Adriatic swimming
💰 Total: €251 (€49 under budget!)

Optimizations applied:
  Fly Friday not Saturday: -€48
  Split airlines (Ryanair out, easyJet back): -€31

📊 Naive booking: €350 → Optimized: €251 → Saved: €99 (28%)
Want me to check nearby restaurants or events that weekend?

trvl is an MCP server + CLI that gives Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible AI assistant direct access to Google Flights, Google Hotels, and European ground transport data. It searches, optimizes, and applies travel hacks automatically — no personal API keys required, no monthly fees, API-first by default, with optional browser-assisted fallbacks only for a few protected providers.

Quick Setup (30 seconds)

1. Install

# Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install MikkoParkkola/tap/trvl

# Or without Homebrew — download the binary directly
curl -fsSL https://github.com/MikkoParkkola/trvl/releases/latest/download/trvl_$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')_$(uname -m | sed 's/x86_64/amd64/;s/aarch64/arm64/').tar.gz | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin trvl

More install options

# Go
go install github.com/MikkoParkkola/trvl/cmd/trvl@latest

# Docker
docker run --rm ghcr.io/mikkoparkkola/trvl flights HEL NRT 2026-06-15

# Build from source
git clone https://github.com/MikkoParkkola/trvl.git && cd trvl && make build

2. Connect to your AI assistant

One command, no JSON editing — trvl installs itself into your MCP client's config:

trvl mcp install                       # Claude Desktop (default)
trvl mcp install --client cursor       # Cursor / Windsurf
trvl mcp install --client claude-code  # Claude Code
trvl mcp install --dry-run             # Preview first

Then restart your MCP client. That's it.

Or add it manually if you prefer

Claude Code:

claude mcp add trvl --transport stdio -- trvl mcp

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trvl": {
      "command": "trvl",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

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

Cursor / Windsurf / Other MCP clients — add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trvl": {
      "command": "trvl",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

3. (Optional) Teach your AI about trvl

Point your AI assistant to the reference docs so it knows all 32 tools:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MikkoParkkola/trvl/main/AGENTS.md

Or the compact version for context-limited models:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MikkoParkkola/trvl/main/llms.txt

For Claude Code, you can also install the bundled skill that teaches Claude how to use trvl optimally:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MikkoParkkola/trvl/main/.claude/skills/trvl.md" -o "$HOME/.claude/skills/trvl.md"

4. Ask your AI to search

That's it. Your AI assistant now has 33 travel tools available. Just ask naturally:

"Search flights from JFK to Tokyo on July 1st, business class"
"Find hotels in Paris for July 1-5, at least 4 stars"
"What's the cheapest day to fly Helsinki to Barcelona in August?"
"Where can I fly cheaply from Helsinki this weekend?"
"How much would a week in Barcelona cost — flights and hotel?"
"When should I fly to London? Check dates around July 15th"
"Plan a trip: Helsinki -> Barcelona -> Rome -> Paris, cheapest routing"
"Search buses from Prague to Krakow on May 3rd"
"Compare train and bus prices Prague to Vienna"
"Search flights from Amsterdam, Eindhoven, or Antwerp to Helsinki or Tallinn"
"Show me travel deals from Helsinki under €400"
"Alert me when flights to Tokyo drop below €500"

MCP Tools

Tool	What it does	Example
search_flights	Search flights on a specific date	HEL -> NRT, 2026-06-15, business class, nonstop
search_dates	Find cheapest day to fly across a date range	HEL -> BCN, June-August 2026
search_hotels	Search hotels in any city	Tokyo, June 15-18, 4+ stars
hotel_prices	Compare hotel prices from Google (aggregated from multiple providers)
hotel_reviews	Get reviews for a specific hotel	Top reviews, sorted by rating or recency
hotel_rooms	Fetch room-level availability, board, and cancellation details	Hotel place ID, Jul 1-5
destination_info	Travel intelligence for any city	Tokyo: weather, safety, holidays, currency
calculate_trip_cost	Estimate total trip cost (flights + hotel)	HEL -> BCN, Jul 1-8, 2 guests
weekend_getaway	Find cheap weekend destinations	From HEL in July, budget EUR 500
suggest_dates	Smart date suggestions around a target date	HEL -> BCN around Jul 15, +/- 7 days
optimize_multi_city	Find cheapest routing for multi-city trips	HEL -> BCN, ROM, PAR -> HEL
nearby_places	Find points of interest near a location	Restaurants, attractions near hotel
travel_guide	Wikivoyage travel guide for a city	Neighbourhoods, getting around, safety
local_events	Find events during your trip dates	Concerts, festivals, exhibitions
search_ground	Search buses, trains and ferries (16 providers, API-first with optional browser fallbacks)	Prague -> Vienna, May 3rd, trains only
search_airport_transfers	Search airport-to-hotel or airport-to-city ground transport, plus taxi estimates	CDG -> Hotel Lutetia Paris, after 14:30
search_restaurants	Find restaurants near a location (Google Maps)	Barcelona, italian cuisine
search_deals	Travel deals from 4 RSS feeds (error fares, flash sales)	Deals from HEL under EUR 400
plan_trip	Plan a complete trip — flights + hotel in one parallel search	AMS→PRG, Jun 15–18, EUR
search_route	Multi-modal routing combining flights, trains, buses and ferries	Helsinki → Dubrovnik, arrive by 2026-04-10
get_weather	Get a weather forecast for any city (Open-Meteo, up to 14 days)	Prague, weekend forecast
get_preferences	Read user travel preferences (FF status, bag rules, seat preferences)	—
detect_travel_hacks	Run 18 parallel detectors for flight and ground savings opportunities	HEL → AMS, Apr 13, carry-on only
detect_accommodation_hacks	Find hotel split savings (e.g. 2-city stay cheaper than 1 hotel)	Prague, Jun 15-22
search_natural	Natural language search using keyword heuristics — dispatches to the right tool automatically	"cheapest weekend in July from Helsinki"
find_trip_window	Find optimal travel windows by intersecting price calendars with your busy intervals (pass from your calendar tool)	"best week for Prague, May-Aug"
list_trips	List saved trips from ~/.trvl/trips.json	—
get_trip	Get details of a saved trip	Trip ID
create_trip	Create a new trip record	"Helsinki court + Prague + Amsterdam"
add_trip_leg	Add a flight, hotel, or ground leg to a saved trip	Trip ID, type, details
mark_trip_booked	Mark a trip leg as booked	Trip ID, leg index
get_baggage_rules	Look up carry-on and checked baggage allowances for airlines	AY carry-on + checked bag rules

MCP Protocol Features (v2025-11-25)

Feature	Details
Structured content	Typed JSON (`structuredContent`) alongside human-readable summaries
Content annotations	`audience: ["user"]` for summaries, `audience: ["assistant"]` for data
Output schemas	Full JSON Schema validation for all 33 tool responses
Prompts	`plan-trip`, `find-cheapest-dates`, `compare-hotels`, `where-should-i-go`
Resources	Airport codes (50 major hubs), flight/hotel usage guides, price-watch subscriptions
Tool description orchestration	`find_trip_window` instructs the LLM to fetch calendar data first, then pass busy intervals in — works on every MCP client. See docs/MCP-ORCHESTRATION.md
Progress notifications	Long-running searches stream progress tokens to the client
Resource subscriptions	Price-watch resources notify subscribers on price changes
Progressive disclosure	Suggestions for follow-up searches in every response
Booking links	Direct Google Flights/Hotels links in results

Travel Hack Detectors

detect_travel_hacks and trvl hacks run 18 detectors in parallel. Each one is independent and has a 20-second timeout:

Detector	What it finds
throwaway	Book a longer itinerary and skip the final leg (when the add-on is free)
hidden_city	Fly to a hub when a connecting flight through your real destination is cheaper
positioning	Fly from a nearby airport to unlock lower fares
split	Split one ticket into two one-ways across different airlines
night_transport	Take an overnight train/ferry to save a hotel night
stopover	Add a free multi-day stopover (Finnair/Icelandair/TAP/Turkish/Qatar/Emirates/Singapore/Etihad)
date_flex	Fly a day earlier or later for significant savings
open_jaw	Fly into one city and out of another
ferry_positioning	Take a ferry to a hub with cheaper flights (e.g. HEL→TLL ferry + TLL flight)
multi_stop	Break the journey into two cheaper segments
currency_arbitrage	Book in the destination currency to avoid dynamic pricing
calendar_conflict	Flag public holidays or peak seasons on your travel dates
tuesday_booking	Identify cheaper booking windows (off-peak weekdays)
low_cost_carrier	Find low-cost carrier alternatives not shown in aggregators
multimodal_skip_flight	Replace a short flight with a train or bus leg
multimodal_positioning	Ground transport to a hub + cheaper flight (train/ferry/bus)
multimodal_open_jaw_ground	Mix ground and air for open-jaw itineraries
multimodal_return_split	Different modes for outbound vs. return leg

Ground Transport Providers

trvl searches 16 ground transport providers in parallel, covering most of Europe. Airport transfers add taxi estimates on top of that, so trvl exposes 17 transport providers overall:

Provider	Protocol	Coverage	Starting price	Auth
Eurostar	GraphQL	London ↔ Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam/Cologne	GBP 39+	Browser cookies (Datadome)
Deutsche Bahn	REST (Vendo)	All European rail connections	EUR 37+	None
ÖBB	REST (shop + HAFAS)	Austrian Railjet + cross-border (AT/DE/HU/IT)	EUR 38+	None
VR (via Digitransit)	GraphQL	Finnish rail network	EUR 14+	Public API key (embedded)
NS	REST	Dutch rail network	EUR 5+	Public subscription key (embedded)
Renfe	REST	Spanish AVE high-speed + regional	EUR 36+	None
SNCF	REST	French TGV, TER, Intercity	Varies	None by default; optional browser/curl fallback
Trainline	REST	Aggregated: SNCF, DB, Eurostar, Trenitalia, …	Varies	None by default; optional browser/curl fallback
FlixBus	REST	Pan-European buses (40+ countries)	EUR 5+	None
RegioJet	REST	CZ/SK/AT/HU/DE/PL buses + trains	EUR 5+	None
Transitous	MOTIS2 REST	Pan-European transit (schedule-based fallback)	—	None
Tallink	REST API	Baltic Sea ferries (Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm, Riga)	EUR 16+	None
Viking Line	Reference schedule	Baltic Sea ferries (Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm, Turku)	EUR 22+	None
Eckerö Line	Magento AJAX API	Helsinki ↔ Tallinn (M/S Finlandia)	EUR 19+	None
Stena Line	Reference schedule	North Sea + Baltic (Gothenburg, Kiel, Karlskrona, Gdynia, …)	EUR 25+	None
DFDS	REST API	North Sea + Baltic (Kiel, Amsterdam, Newcastle, Copenhagen, …)	EUR 49+	None

Two providers (NS, Digitransit/VR) use public API keys that are embedded in the binary — no signup or personal key is required from the user.

How trvl Compares

Feature	trvl	fli	Google Flights	Skyscanner	Kiwi
Flight search	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Bus/train/ferry search	✅ (16 providers: FlixBus, RegioJet, Eurostar, DB, ÖBB, NS, VR, SNCF, Trainline, Transitous, Renfe, Tallink, Viking Line, Eckerö Line, Stena Line, DFDS)	❌	❌	❌	❌
Price tracking	✅ (watches with alerts)	❌	❌	❌	❌
Hotel search	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Hotel reviews	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Trip cost calculator	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Explore destinations	✅	❌	✅ (web only)	✅ (web)	✅
Multi-city optimizer	✅	❌	❌	❌	⚠️ (1.7★)
Destination intelligence	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Travel hacks (auto-applied)	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
MCP server	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
Personal profile	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
CLI	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
No API key needed	✅	✅	N/A	N/A	N/A
Single binary	✅ (Go)	❌ (Python)	N/A	N/A	N/A

mcp-gateway Integration

backends:
  trvl:
    transport: stdio
    command: trvl mcp

For AI Assistants

See Quick Setup step 3 above for AGENTS.md and llms.txt links.

CLI Usage

trvl also works as a standalone CLI tool with 33 commands:

All search commands accept --currency <CODE> (e.g. --currency EUR) to convert displayed prices. trvl detects the actual API currency and converts at the display layer — no hardcoded currencies.

Flights

$ trvl flights HEL NRT 2026-06-15

Found 86 flights (one_way)

| Price    | Duration | Stops   | Route                    | Airline               | Departs          |
+----------+----------+---------+--------------------------+-----------------------+------------------+
| EUR 603  | 24h 20m  | 2 stops | HEL -> CPH -> AUH -> NRT | Scandinavian Airlines | 2026-06-15T06:10 |
| EUR 656  | 24h 10m  | 2 stops | HEL -> CPH -> AUH -> NRT | Finnair               | 2026-06-15T06:20 |
| EUR 875  | 31h 20m  | 1 stop  | HEL -> IST -> NRT        | Turkish Airlines      | 2026-06-15T19:35 |

trvl flights JFK LHR 2026-07-01 --cabin business --stops nonstop
trvl flights AMS,EIN,ANR HEL,TKU,TLL 2026-06-15     # Multi-airport search
trvl flights HEL BCN 2026-07-01 --return 2026-07-08
trvl flights HEL NRT 2026-06-15 --format json       # JSON output

Cheapest Dates

trvl dates HEL NRT --from 2026-06-01 --to 2026-06-30
trvl dates HEL BCN --from 2026-07-01 --to 2026-08-31 --duration 7 --round-trip

Hotels

$ trvl hotels "Tokyo" --checkin 2026-06-15 --checkout 2026-06-18

Found 20 hotels:

| Name                              | Stars | Rating | Reviews | Price   |
+-----------------------------------+-------+--------+---------+---------+
| HOTEL MYSTAYS PREMIER Omori       | 4     | 4.1    | 2059    | 150 EUR |
| Hotel JAL City Tokyo Toyosu       | 4     | 4.2    | 1080    | 89 EUR  |

trvl hotels "Paris" --checkin 2026-07-01 --checkout 2026-07-05 --stars 4 --sort rating
trvl prices "<hotel_id>" --checkin 2026-06-15 --checkout 2026-06-18
trvl rooms "Hotel Lutetia Paris" --checkin 2026-06-15 --checkout 2026-06-18

Explore Destinations

trvl explore HEL                                        # Cheapest destinations from Helsinki
trvl explore JFK --from 2026-07-01 --to 2026-07-14      # With dates
trvl explore AMS --currency EUR                         # Display prices in EUR

Price Grid

trvl grid HEL NRT --depart-from 2026-07-01 --depart-to 2026-07-07 \
                   --return-from 2026-07-08 --return-to 2026-07-14

Destination Info

trvl destination "Tokyo"                           # Weather, safety, holidays, currency
trvl destination "Barcelona" --dates 2026-07-01,2026-07-08

Plan a Trip

Search flights and hotels in one command. Runs both searches in parallel and shows a cost summary.

trvl trip AMS PRG --depart 2026-06-15 --return 2026-06-18 --currency EUR
trvl trip JFK LHR --depart 2026-08-01 --return 2026-08-10 --guests 2

Trip Cost

trvl trip-cost HEL BCN --depart 2026-07-01 --return 2026-07-08 --guests 2

Weekend Getaway

trvl weekend HEL --month july-2026                 # Top 10 cheapest weekends
trvl weekend HEL --month july-2026 --budget 500    # Under EUR 500 total

Smart Date Suggestions

trvl suggest HEL BCN --around 2026-07-15 --flex 7  # Best dates +/- 7 days

Multi-City Optimizer

trvl multi-city HEL --visit BCN,ROM,PAR --dates 2026-07-01,2026-07-21

Buses & Trains

Searches 16 providers in parallel: FlixBus (buses, pan-European), RegioJet (buses+trains, CZ/SK/AT/HU/DE/PL), Eurostar/Snap (trains, London↔Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam/Cologne), Deutsche Bahn (trains, all European rail), ÖBB (shop/HAFAS API), NS (Dutch railways), VR (Finnish railways, via Digitransit API), SNCF (trains, French TGV/TER), Trainline (aggregated rail across major European operators), Transitous.org (transit routing, pan-European), Renfe (Spanish AVE high-speed API), Tallink (Baltic Sea ferries, live API), Viking Line (Baltic Sea ferries), Eckerö Line (Helsinki↔Tallinn, live Magento API), Stena Line (North Sea + Baltic ferries), and DFDS (North Sea + Baltic ferries, live availability API). Airport transfers also add taxi fare estimates for door-to-door comparisons.

API routes are the default path. If you want trvl to try browser/curl/cookie-assisted fallbacks for protected providers such as SNCF or Trainline, pass --allow-browser-fallbacks (or set TRVL_ALLOW_BROWSER_FALLBACKS=true).

trvl ground Prague Vienna 2026-07-01                  # All 16 providers
trvl ground London Paris 2026-07-01                   # Eurostar + FlixBus + DB
trvl bus Prague Krakow 2026-07-01                     # Same command, bus alias
trvl train Prague Vienna 2026-07-01 --type train      # Trains only
trvl ground Prague Vienna 2026-07-01 --provider regiojet  # RegioJet only
trvl ground Vienna Salzburg 2026-07-01 --provider oebb    # ÖBB Railjet (EUR 38+)
trvl ground Helsinki Tampere 2026-07-01 --provider vr     # VR Finnish Railways (EUR 14+)
trvl ground Amsterdam Utrecht 2026-07-01 --provider ns    # NS Dutch Railways (EUR 5+)
trvl ground Paris Lyon 2026-07-01 --provider sncf         # SNCF TGV only
trvl ground Berlin Munich 2026-07-01 --provider db        # DB ICE (e.g. EUR 47.99)
trvl ground London Paris 2026-07-01 --provider trainline --allow-browser-fallbacks  # Trainline aggregated rail + optional protected fallback
trvl ground Madrid Barcelona 2026-07-01 --provider renfe   # Renfe AVE high-speed (EUR 36+)
trvl ground Prague Vienna 2026-07-01 --max-price 20       # Under EUR 20
trvl airport-transfer CDG "Hotel Lutetia Paris" 2026-07-01
trvl airport-transfer LHR "Paddington Station" 2026-07-01 --arrival-after 14:30
trvl airport-transfer CDG "Hotel Lutetia Paris" 2026-07-01 --provider taxi

Multi-Modal Routing

Combines flights, trains, buses and ferries into optimal itineraries across all 16 providers. --avoid filters only the avoided mode, and --depart-after / --arrive-by are applied against the assembled itinerary times.

trvl route Helsinki Dubrovnik --arrive-by 2026-04-10     # Pareto-optimal itineraries
trvl route HEL TLL --arrive-by 2026-04-06               # Ferry + bus options
trvl route London Barcelona --arrive-by 2026-07-15       # Eurostar + TGV vs flight

Price Watch

Track flight and hotel prices over time. Get alerts when prices drop below a threshold.

trvl watch add HEL BCN --depart 2026-07-01 --return 2026-07-08 --below 200
trvl watch list                                       # Show all active watches
trvl watch check                                      # Check current prices
trvl watch daemon --every 6h                          # Keep checking on a schedule
trvl watch history <id>                               # Price history for a watch
trvl watch remove <id>                                # Remove a watch

Travel Deals

Aggregates error fares, flash sales, and deals from 4 RSS feeds (Secret Flying, Fly4Free, Holiday Pirates, The Points Guy). Deals also appear automatically in flight search results when a matching deal is found.

trvl deals                                            # All recent deals
trvl deals --from HEL,AMS --max-price 400             # From my airports, under €400
trvl deals --from Helsinki,Amsterdam,Prague            # City names also accepted
trvl deals --type error_fare                           # Error fares only

Travel Hacks

Runs 18 detectors in parallel and ranks savings opportunities. Pass --return for round-trip hacks. Add --carry-on to restrict hidden-city results to carry-on only.

trvl hacks HEL AMS 2026-04-13                         # One-way hacks
trvl hacks HEL AMS 2026-04-13 --return 2026-04-15 --carry-on  # Round-trip, carry-on
trvl hacks-accom Prague --checkin 2026-06-15 --checkout 2026-06-22  # Hotel split hacks

Trip Persistence

Save and manage trips across sessions. Trips are stored in ~/.trvl/trips.json.

trvl trips list                                       # List all saved trips
trvl trips show <id>                                  # Show trip details
trvl trips create "Helsinki → Prague → Amsterdam"     # Create a new trip
trvl trips add-leg <id> flight --from HEL --to PRG --date 2026-06-15
trvl trips book <id>                                  # Mark trip as booked
trvl trips delete <id>                                # Remove a trip

User Preferences

Personal travel profile stored in ~/.trvl/preferences.json. Drives real-time filtering: hotel results filtered by stars, rating, and neighborhood; hostels and airport hotels excluded; flight results filtered by budget and departure time window. Your AI assistant builds this profile automatically on first use (via get_preferences + update_preferences MCP tools).

trvl prefs                                            # Show current preferences
trvl prefs init                                       # Interactive setup wizard
trvl prefs edit                                       # Open in $EDITOR

Home airport and currency are auto-detected from your IP on first search. The AI assistant interviews you for the rest on first use. Examples of what the profile controls:

Preference	What it does
`home_airports: ["HEL", "AMS"]`	Default origin for every search
`no_dormitories: true`	Drops hostels, capsule hotels, guesthouse rooms
`min_hotel_stars: 4`	Only 4-star+ hotels in results
`min_hotel_rating: 4.0`	Only well-reviewed properties (20+ reviews required)
`preferred_districts: {"Prague": ["Prague 1"]}`	Hotels in your favorite neighborhoods first
`carry_on_only: true`	Unlocks hidden-city and throwaway-ticket hacks
`prefer_direct: true`	Nonstop flights only
`budget_per_night_max: 150`	Hotel price cap passed to Google Hotels API
`budget_flight_max: 300`	Flights over budget dropped from results
`flight_time_earliest: "07:00"`	No 5am departures
`default_companions: 1`	Hotel searches default to 2 guests (you + companion)
`notes: "boutique hotels, no chains"`	Free-text — the AI applies these as soft filters

Full profile reference: AGENTS.md

How It Works

Google's travel frontend uses an internal gRPC-over-HTTP protocol called batchexecute. trvl speaks this protocol natively:

Chrome TLS fingerprint — utls impersonates Chrome's exact TLS ClientHello
Flights — FlightsFrontendService/GetShoppingResults with encoded filter arrays
Hotels — TravelFrontendUi embedded JSON parsing from AF_initDataCallback blocks
Hotel prices — TravelFrontendUi/data/batchexecute with rpcid yY52ce
Explore — GetExploreDestinations for destination discovery
Destination info — Parallel aggregation of 5 free APIs (Open-Meteo, REST Countries, Nager.Date, travel-advisory.info, ExchangeRate-API)
Buses — FlixBus public API (global.api.flixbus.com) with city autocomplete + search
Trains (RegioJet) — RegioJet public API (brn-ybus-pubapi.sa.cz) with route search + pricing
Trains (Eurostar) — site-api.eurostar.com/gateway GraphQL for London↔Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam/Cologne
Trains (Deutsche Bahn) — DB Vendo API (int.bahn.de/web/api) for all European rail connections
Trains (ÖBB) — Austrian Federal Railways via shop/HAFAS APIs; live Railjet fares (EUR 38+)
Trains (NS) — NS Dutch Railways public API (gateway.apiportal.ns.nl) with embedded subscription key
Trains (VR) — Finnish Railways via Digitransit GraphQL API (api.digitransit.fi); fixed fares from Matka.fi
Trains (SNCF) — SNCF Connect API for French TGV, TER, and Intercity routes; optional browser/curl fallback for protected sessions
Trains (Trainline) — Trainline aggregated rail API across major European operators; optional browser/curl fallback for protected sessions
Transit (Transitous) — routing.spicebus.org MOTIS2 API for pan-European transit routing
Trains (Renfe) — Spanish AVE high-speed and regional rail via REST API; fares EUR 36+
Rate limiting — per-provider token buckets (10 req/s FlixBus/RegioJet; 1 req/2s DB; 1 req/6s SNCF/Transitous; 1 req/20s Eurostar) with exponential backoff on 429/5xx

Most providers use pure HTTP/JSON APIs. Optional browser/curl-assisted fallbacks exist only for protected providers that sometimes require live cookies or verification (currently SNCF and Trainline); the default path stays API-first.

Every Result is Bookable

Every flight and hotel result includes a booking_url — a direct link to Google Flights or Google Hotels where you can complete the booking:

{
  "price": 113,
  "currency": "EUR",
  "airline": "Norwegian",
  "flight_number": "D8 2900",
  "booking_url": "https://www.google.com/travel/flights?q=Flights+to+BCN+from+HEL+on+2026-07-01"
}

The AI uses these to give you actionable recommendations: "Book here: [link]". No copying flight numbers into another search engine.

At a Glance


Binary	Single static ~15MB for API-first flows. Optional protected-provider fallbacks may use local browser/python tooling.
Data	Real-time from Google Flights/Hotels/Explore/Maps + 16 ground providers (FlixBus, RegioJet, Eurostar, DB, ÖBB, NS, VR, SNCF, Trainline, Transitous, Renfe, Tallink, Viking Line, Eckerö Line, Stena Line, DFDS) + 5 free destination APIs
Auth	No personal API keys required. Two providers (NS, Digitransit/VR) use public keys embedded in the binary. Optional browser/cookie fallbacks are available for protected providers when explicitly enabled.
MCP	Full v2025-11-25 — 33 tools, 4 prompts, resources, structured content, progress notifications, resource subscriptions, tool description orchestration
CLI	33 commands (+ 6 watch subcommands) with table/JSON output, color, shell completion
Booking links	Every flight and hotel result includes a direct Google booking link
Travel hacks	18 detectors (throwaway, hidden-city, positioning, ferry, multi-modal, stopover, date-flex, and more)
Personal profile	Remembers your FF status, luggage needs, favourite hotels, departure preferences
Output	Pretty tables with color (default) or JSON (`--format json`)
Platforms	Linux, macOS (amd64, arm64). Windows CI in progress.
Code	145 Go files, ~44K LOC, 16 packages, 1100+ tests
License	PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0

Attribution

Built on the shoulders of:

fli by Punit Arani — the original Google Flights reverse-engineering library
utls — Chrome TLS fingerprint impersonation
icecreamsoft — Google Hotels batchexecute documentation
SerpAPI — Hotel parameter reference

Legal

trvl accesses Google's public-facing internal APIs. It does not bypass authentication, access protected content, or circumvent rate limits. Same approach as fli (1K+ stars, MIT licensed).

License

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 — free for personal and noncommercial use. Commercial use requires a separate license.