Yelp Fusion MCP. Discover local spots and track events globally.
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Yelp Fusion gives your AI agent access to Yelp’s massive database for local discovery. Search businesses, read reviews, find niche services, and track local events worldwide directly from chat.
It powers advanced research tasks like analyzing business density or identifying restaurants open right now.
What your AI agents can do
Autocomplete
Provides suggestions for businesses, keywords, and categories as you type a query.
Get business details
Retrieves rich profile data for one specific business location.
Get business engagement
Pulls current engagement metrics and activity levels for a targeted business.
Find general business information using keywords, phone numbers (search_by_phone), or precise matching data (match_business).
Pull detailed metrics like monthly insights (get_business_insights) and current engagement levels for a specific location.
Get up to three recent review excerpts or pull curated 'review highlights' to quickly gauge customer sentiment.
Search for local events (search_events) and get specific details on featured happenings in a location.
Filter businesses based on their active service offerings or check if they support food delivery services.
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Supported MCP Clients
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Yelp Fusion MCP Server: 17 Tools for Local Search
These tools let your AI client interact with Yelp's entire database—from searching basic keywords to pulling specific business metrics.
019e5d68autocomplete
Provides suggestions for businesses, keywords, and categories as you type a query.
019e5d68get business details
Retrieves rich profile data for one specific business location.
019e5d68get business engagement
Pulls current engagement metrics and activity levels for a targeted business.
019e5d68get business insights
Retrieves monthly operational insights about a specific business type or location.
019e5d68get business reviews
Fetches up to three recent review excerpts for a given business ID.
019e5d68get categories
Lists all available Yelp categories, allowing you to browse the entire taxonomy tree.
019e5d68get category details
Grabs specific details and sub-types for a chosen business category.
019e5d68get event details
Retrieves full, detailed information about one particular local event.
019e5d68get featured event
Finds the main or highlighted event happening in a given location.
019e5d68get jobs
Generates job types based on natural language queries, useful for service industry mapping (e.g., 'plumbing').
019e5d68get review highlights
Extracts the most frequently mentioned positive and negative themes from customer reviews.
019e5d68get service offerings
Lists all active and eligible service packages or offerings a business provides.
019e5d68match business
Performs an exact search to find a Yelp business matching specific input data points.
019e5d68search businesses
Runs general searches for businesses across Yelp using keywords and location inputs.
019e5d68search by phone
Searches specifically for a business by its phone number, requiring the full country code (+CC).
019e5d68search events
Finds and lists local events occurring within a defined geographical area.
019e5d68search transactions
Identifies businesses that support specific transactions, like food delivery or takeout ordering.
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- Built in DLP, auth, and compliance on every call
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Make Your AI Do More
Start with Yelp Fusion, then connect any of our 4,700+ other servers whenever your AI needs more. One click, no limits.
- Use this MCP plus 4,700+ others, all in one place
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What you can do with this MCP connector
Look, Yelp Fusion gives your agent direct access to Yelp's whole database for local discovery. You can run deep research on businesses and events worldwide right from the chat window.
To find a spot, you've got a few ways. You can use search_businesses for general searches using keywords and location inputs. If you know the exact name or data points, running match_business handles that precise search. Need to track down a business with just their phone number? Use search_by_phone, remember you gotta include the full country code (+CC) for that one.
Before you even start searching, you can get hints using autocomplete; it'll spit out suggestions for businesses, keywords, and categories as you type. You can also check what Yelp has categorized everything under by first running get_categories, which lists the entire taxonomy tree, or drill down deeper with get_category_details to grab specific sub-types for a chosen category.
When you zero in on a business, you get tons of data. You can use get_business_details to pull rich profile information for that single location. To see what's buzzin' right now, run get_business_engagement, which pulls current activity metrics and engagement levels. For operational overviews, get_business_insights retrieves monthly business insights specific to a certain type or area.
You can also find out exactly what services they offer by calling get_service_offerings; this lists all active packages or offerings the business provides.
For customer feedback, you've got options. You can fetch up to three of the most recent review excerpts using get_business_reviews. If you want a quick read on sentiment without sifting through pages, run get_review_highlights, which pulls out the most frequently mentioned positive and negative themes from all customer reviews.
Beyond just reviews, you can figure out if a business supports specific services. Use search_transactions to identify places that handle things like takeout or food delivery orders. If you're mapping out service calls—like plumbing or electrical work—you run get_jobs, which generates job types based on natural language queries.
If you're planning a trip and want to know what's going down, use the event tools. You can find local happenings across an area by running search_events. Then, if you want the full scoop on one particular happening, call get_event_details. For major spots, get_featured_event finds the main or highlighted event for a location.
Finally, you're not limited to businesses. You can analyze specific categories with get_categories and narrow down options using get_category_details, ensuring your search is hyper-focused on exactly what you need.
How Yelp Fusion MCP Works
- 1 Subscribe to the Yelp Fusion server and input your API Key.
- 2 Connect the MCP Server to your AI client (Claude, Cursor, etc.).
- 3 Prompt your agent with a request—e.g., 'Find highly-rated Italian restaurants in Brooklyn open now.'—and get structured data back.
The bottom line is, you ask your AI client one question, and it executes multiple Yelp API calls to return a single, clean answer.
Who Is Yelp Fusion MCP For?
Market researchers need this when they have to manually check business density across different neighborhoods. Travel planners use it when they can't rely on simple Google searches because they need review sentiment or local event calendars. It’s for anyone who treats local data collection as a core part of their workflow.
Uses get_business_insights and search_businesses to analyze keyword density and competitive gaps in specific geographic areas.
Builds itinerary generators that pull live event data (get_event_details) and nearby hotel/restaurant details into a single client view.
Runs targeted searches using search_transactions or get_service_offerings to validate market viability for new business concepts.
What Changes When You Connect
- Analyze business viability with
get_business_insights. Don't just see a rating—you get monthly data points on performance trends for specific service areas or types. - Track immediate needs using
search_transactions. Quickly filter results to only show businesses that deliver food, accept online orders, or offer takeout. - Get the full story with
get_review_highlights. Instead of reading 10 pages of reviews, your agent pulls out exactly what customers mention most often (e.g., 'great atmosphere' vs. 'slow service'). - Pinpoint specific services using
get_service_offerings. If you need a business that handles both electrical and plumbing work, this tool tells you if they list it. - Never miss an event with
search_eventsorget_featured_event. You pull the complete schedule and location details for festivals, concerts, and local gatherings automatically.
Real-World Use Cases
Planning a weekend trip to a new city.
You need dinner ideas but want variety. Your agent first runs search_businesses for 'Italian restaurants.' Then, it checks the top results using get_business_reviews and get_review_highlights to ensure service quality is mentioned repeatedly before suggesting options.
Validating a competitor's market presence.
You suspect a competitor has opened up a new branch. You run search_by_phone with their known number. If found, you use get_business_details to pull the address and check if they list specific service offerings using get_service_offerings.
Tracking local industry needs.
You're a contractor planning a new office. You run get_jobs for 'HVAC services' to see the available job types, then use search_businesses with advanced filters (price/status) to find active providers in that area.
Finding niche event information.
A user mentions a specific local festival. You run search_events for the location and then use get_event_details on the result ID to pull the exact dates, ticketing links, and schedule details in one go.
The Tradeoffs
Searching everything at once
Asking your agent: 'Find me a cool place with good food and maybe an event happening.' The AI will get overwhelmed, giving generic results that mix unrelated data.
→
Break it down. First, run search_businesses for the type of cuisine (e.g., Mexican). Then, separately, run search_events to see what's going on in that neighborhood. Finally, combine both datasets manually.
Assuming data completeness
Relying only on a basic search result card which might show the address but nothing about hours or specific services.
→
Always follow up with get_business_details to pull full operational hours. If you need more, run get_service_offerings to see if they list specialized work.
Searching by name only
Giving the agent a generic business name that might belong to several locations across different cities.
→
Always start with search_by_phone or run match_business. This forces the AI to narrow down results using unique identifiers, not just fuzzy keywords.
When It Fits, When It Doesn't
Use this server if your core need is rich, multi-faceted local discovery (e.g., building a 'local guide' app or running market analysis). You need structured data points like monthly insights (get_business_insights), specific service lists (get_service_offerings), and curated review themes (get_review_highlights). Don't use it if you just need basic web browsing—if all you need is a general idea of what's nearby, a simple search engine works fine. However, if you need to know why the business is rated highly (e.g., 'excellent service') or when they are actually open this week, Yelp Fusion provides that depth.
Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by Yelp Fusion. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.
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Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
The Model Context Protocol standardizes how applications expose capabilities to LLMs. Instead of operating in isolation, your AI gains direct access to external platforms, live data, and real-world actions through secure, standardized connections.
This server provides 17 capabilities that interface natively with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP client. No middleware. No custom integration required.
Available Capabilities
Sifting through local data feels like clicking through a dozen different tabs.
Today, if you want to know the status of a restaurant—is it open? What are customers complaining about? Does it deliver?—you click Yelp. You copy the address. Then you open Google Maps for hours and maybe switch tabs to check local events calendars. It's a painful cycle of clicking through multiple sources just to compile one basic profile.
With this MCP server, you ask your agent once: 'Give me details on Italian spots in Brooklyn.' The system runs `search_businesses`, pulls the data via `get_business_details` and cross-references reviews using `get_review_highlights`. You get a single, compiled answer with all the necessary depth.
Yelp Fusion MCP Server: Get every local detail from chat.
Before this, finding niche services meant searching broad categories and hoping for the best. You'd run `get_categories` and scroll through dozens of irrelevant options just to confirm if a business was eligible for something specific like 'food delivery.'
Now, you simply ask your agent: 'Which businesses in this zip code offer food delivery?' The system executes `search_transactions`, instantly filtering the noise. It's reliable, fast data retrieval.
Common Questions About Yelp Fusion MCP
How do I find a business by phone number using search_by_phone? +
You must format the query with the full country code (e.g., '+1 212-555-0199'). This tool searches exclusively by the provided phone number, bypassing general keyword matching.
Can I compare business performance over time using get_business_insights? +
Yes. get_business_insights pulls monthly data points for a specific business type or area. This lets you analyze trends that simple rating scores miss, helping with market forecasting.
What is the difference between search_businesses and match_business? +
Use search_businesses when you are browsing generally (e.g., 'coffee shops near me'). Use match_business when you have all the specific data points—name, address, phone—and need to confirm an exact record exists.
Do I need get_service_offerings if I use search_businesses? +
No, but it's useful. search_businesses gives you the main profile. Running get_service_offerings afterward confirms exactly which specialized services (like plumbing or electrical) are officially listed by that business.
What should I consider regarding rate limiting when using the `search_businesses` tool? +
The API enforces specific request limits per client. You must build exponential backoff logic into your agent to prevent hitting quotas. Checking the full documentation provides the exact quota details, so plan for asynchronous calls if you need to process large volumes of search data.
When calling `get_business_details`, what specific fields can my AI client request or filter for? +
The tool returns a comprehensive JSON object including metadata, operating hours, and photos. To keep the output actionable, guide your agent to specify exactly which data points are needed—for example, only asking for 'phone number' and 'operating status.' This keeps the context clean.
Is there a special requirement for authentication when calling `get_business_reviews`? +
Yes, you need your active Yelp Fusion API Key. Your AI client uses this key to authorize every request before review excerpts are fetched. Always verify that the key associated with your Vinkius account has read access permissions enabled.
After using `autocomplete` to narrow down a category, how do I refine my search for local events with `search_events`? +
First, run autocomplete to get the precise keyword or category ID. Then, pass that specific output directly into your subsequent calls like search_events. This ensures your event query is highly focused and avoids broad, irrelevant results.
Can I find businesses that offer delivery in my area? +
Yes. Use the search_transactions tool. It specifically filters for businesses that support food delivery transactions in your specified location.
How can I see what people are saying about a specific business? +
Use the get_business_reviews tool with the business ID or alias. It returns up to 3 review excerpts and ratings to help you gauge the quality of the establishment.
Is it possible to identify a business using just a phone number? +
Absolutely. The search_by_phone tool allows you to find a Yelp business by providing its phone number (including the '+' and country code).
Use it with your favorite AI tools
Connect this server to Cursor, Claude, VS Code, and more.
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