Tako MCP Server

Tako runs a hosted, remote Model Context Protocol server, so your agent can pull live, citation-backed data and interactive charts from Tako without you writing any glue code. The model decides when to call Tako; the server runs the call and returns grounded, up-to-date results. There is nothing to install or host — the server is a single Streamable HTTP endpoint, and it is free to try with no API key and no sign-in: a keyless connection runs the core tools on a rate-limited free tier. Signing in or adding a key unlocks the full toolset and your own account limits.

https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

Connect

Point your client at https://mcp.tako.com/mcp and pick it below. Credentials are optional — every configuration here connects on the free tier as written. To use your own account and limits, authenticate one of two ways: sign in with your Tako account (OAuth) — approving the sign-in window creates an API key for you automatically, nothing to copy — or paste a key from tako.com/console/api-keys into an Authorization: Bearer tako_sk_… header. Chat hosts (ChatGPT, Claude.ai, Claude Desktop) only support the sign-in; CLI and editor clients accept either.

Plugin — recommended. Two commands, no API key to mint or manage. It works immediately on the free tier and installs Tako’s bundled research skills alongside the tools:

claude plugin marketplace add TakoData/tako-mcp
claude plugin install tako@tako

To switch to your own account and limits, run /mcp inside Claude Code, select tako, and choose Authenticate. A browser signs you in and mints a per-host key automatically — nothing to copy.Or add the server directly, without the bundled skills:

claude mcp add --transport http tako https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

That connects on the free tier; run /mcp and approve the Tako sign-in to authenticate. To pass a key up front instead:

claude mcp add --transport http tako https://mcp.tako.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY"

Verify with claude mcp list. Keep only one Tako connection active — the plugin and a manual claude mcp add entry each register a full set of tools, so running both gives you two copies of everything.

Updating from an earlier plugin release? Those asked for a Tako API key in the plugin config. That setting is gone, so after updating, the connection lands on the free tier silently — nothing errors, but your account limits are no longer active. Run /mcp → tako → Authenticate once to restore them.

In the ChatGPT web app, open Settings → Apps (formerly “Connectors”) → Advanced settings → Developer mode and toggle it on. Then click Create app, give it a name, and paste this as the Connector URL:

https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

The connector works right away on the free tier. Approve the Tako sign-in — no API key required — to unlock the full toolset and your own limits.ChatGPT also lists tako_contents and tako_visualize on an unauthenticated connection so its link-account UI can offer them; they prompt you to sign in rather than running.

Requires a Claude Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan. The same steps apply on Claude.ai.Open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector and paste this as the connector URL:

https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

Sign in when the Tako window opens.Claude Desktop and Claude.ai both connect through Anthropic’s cloud and do not accept a static Bearer key — use the OAuth sign-in here. (To run Tako locally with an API key instead, see the Other tab.)

The button installs Tako and starts the sign-in flow — no token needed. Or add it to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or a project .cursor/mcp.json) by hand:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor auto-detects the transport. That connects on the free tier, and Cursor offers the OAuth sign-in from the MCP settings panel. To use a key instead, add a header:

"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:TAKO_API_KEY}" }

The button installs Tako and starts the sign-in flow. Or add it to .vscode/mcp.json by hand:

{
  "servers": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The top-level key is servers (in user settings.json it nests under "mcp"). That connects on the free tier, and VS Code prompts for the OAuth sign-in when you authenticate. To supply a key instead, add a prompted input:

{
  "servers": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:tako-key}" }
    }
  },
  "inputs": [
    { "id": "tako-key", "type": "promptString", "description": "Tako API key", "password": true }
  ]
}

Add Tako to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json — note the key is serverUrl, not url:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

To use your own account, add a header alongside serverUrl:

"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:TAKO_API_KEY}" }

Add the server with the Codex CLI:

codex mcp add tako --url https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

That connects on the free tier. Sign in with codex mcp login tako to use your own account, or pass a key through an environment variable instead — Codex reads the token from the environment rather than storing it in the config file:

export TAKO_API_TOKEN="tako_sk_YOUR_KEY"
codex mcp add tako --url https://mcp.tako.com/mcp --bearer-token-env-var TAKO_API_TOKEN

That writes the following to ~/.codex/config.toml, which you can also add by hand:

[mcp_servers.tako]
url = "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "TAKO_API_TOKEN"

Add Tako with the CLI — the Streamable HTTP key is httpUrl:

gemini mcp add --transport http tako https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

Equivalent ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

To use your own account, pass a header — --header "Authorization: Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" on the CLI, or a "headers" object in the config.

Add a context server to Zed’s settings.json (Zed calls MCP servers “context servers”):

{
  "context_servers": {
    "tako": {
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" } to use your own account, or sign in with OAuth from Zed’s context server settings.

In the Cline MCP Servers panel, open the Remote Servers tab, set the URL to https://mcp.tako.com/mcp, and choose the Streamable HTTP transport. The equivalent JSON config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" } to use your own account.

Open Roo Code’s MCP settings (Edit Global MCP) and add Tako — the type must be streamable-http:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" } to use your own account.

The button installs Tako and starts the sign-in flow. Or add it to ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json (or workspace .kiro/settings/mcp.json) by hand:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" } to use your own account.

In Warp, open Settings → Agents → MCP servers → + Add, choose the URL (Streamable HTTP) option, and paste:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Added by URL without a header, Warp offers a one-click OAuth sign-in. To use a key instead, add "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" }.

Run goose configure → Add Extension → Remote Extension (Streamable HTTP) and set the endpoint:

https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

That connects on the free tier. To use your own account, add a Custom Request Header: Authorization: Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY. The Goose desktop app has the same flow under Extensions → Add custom extension.

In Antigravity, open the side-panel ”…” menu → Manage MCP Servers → View raw config (the raw-config view shows the exact file path for your install), and add Tako — note the key is serverUrl:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" } to use your own account, or sign in with OAuth.

Add Tako to opencode.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Add "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" } to use your own account.

Any client that speaks Streamable HTTP can use Tako: point it at https://mcp.tako.com/mcp. That connects on the free tier — complete the OAuth sign-in or send Authorization: Bearer tako_sk_… to use your own account.For clients that only support stdio servers, bridge to the remote endpoint with mcp-remote:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

To authenticate with a key, pass a header through an env var with no space after the colon — the documented workaround for an npx argument-escaping bug on some clients:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"],
      "env": { "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer tako_sk_YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

GitHub

TakoData/tako-mcp

Smithery

tako/tako

Try it

Once the tools appear, ask your agent something Tako’s data answers directly. These work on the free tier:

“What was Nvidia’s most recent quarterly revenue?” — one tako_answer call returns the figure with its citation and the chart behind it.
“Compare US CPI, core CPI, and PCE inflation.” — the agent fans out narrow tako_search calls, one per metric, and synthesizes them.
“What data does Tako have on Costco?” — tako_available_data lists the coverage, free, and surfaces name ambiguity before anything is charged.
“How much traffic does stripe.com get?” — web and app traffic, alongside financials, macro, sports, and US government spending.

If the answer comes back with a chart and a source line, you’re connected.

Tools

Connecting keyless gives your client three tools — an answer engine, search, and free data discovery — and authenticating adds a fourth for content fetching. They’re built for live data: on Tako’s VerticalRTK benchmark of real-time data questions, Tako outperforms the next-best web search API by 21% — with ~75% fewer tool calls at up to one-tenth the cost.

Tool	Free tier	What it does
`tako_answer`	Yes	The entry point for a specific data question. Returns a single grounded, citation-backed written answer, ready to relay, with the cards that back it and their rows. When no data card grounds the answer it says so deterministically, so your agent pivots instead of rephrasing and retrying.
`tako_search`	Yes	The specialist, for when you want the evidence rather than a conclusion. Returns ranked knowledge cards — structured data with interactive charts — plus web results. The top card renders inline on hosts that support it. Retrieval is best with narrow queries (one entity + one metric, e.g. `"Nvidia revenue"`) fanned out in parallel.
`tako_available_data`	Yes	Free, and never charged. Discovers what proprietary, continuously updated data exists for an entity or metric, and confirms a figure exists (and under exactly what name) before spending a priced call. Returns node ids to pin into search and answer, and — when the target is unambiguous — a ready-to-run `next_call` that fetches the confirmed series for you.
`tako_contents`	Key required	Fetches what’s behind a result the model already has: a card’s full data rows (CSV — first 20 rows free, up to 2,000) or a web page’s extracted text. Card export requires the card to be marked `exportable: true`.

On connect, the server also advertises MCP server instructions that hosts like Claude and Claude Code place in the model’s system prompt. They steer data and metric questions to Tako ahead of the host’s built-in web search, and note that Tako covers the live web too — so one call can stand in for a separate web search on mixed questions. The host’s own web search stays the fallback for anything outside Tako’s coverage. Opt-in tools Heavier tools are off by default to keep the tool surface small. Enable them per connection by appending ?tools= with comma-separated aliases to the endpoint URL — e.g. https://mcp.tako.com/mcp?tools=agent,visualize. Only alias names are recognized and unknown values are ignored, so a typo never breaks the connection. Opt-in tools require an API key or sign-in; they are not available on the free tier.

Alias	Enables	What it’s for
`agent`	`tako_agent` (on ChatGPT: `tako_agent_start` / `tako_agent_wait`)	Tako’s deep-research Answer Agent (~30–90s) for questions that need figuring out — cohorts, rankings, multi-step reasoning. See the Agent guide.
`visualize`	`tako_visualize`	Builds an embeddable Tako chart from your own data — the Thin-Viz API as a tool. Already on for ChatGPT, where it powers the chart widget.
`credits`	`get_credit_balance`	Reports the connected account’s remaining credits when the user asks.
`graph`	`tako_graph_search`, `tako_graph_related`, `tako_graph_node`	Low-level Data Graph primitives behind `tako_available_data` — raw traversal, filtering, paging.

MCP is the simplest way to give an agent Tako — one endpoint, zero glue code — but it trades control for convenience: connection-level auth and a fixed tool surface. For production integrations that need typed SDKs, streaming, retries, and fine-grained request control, call the API directly or follow an integration guide (OpenAI Responses, Anthropic tool calling, Vercel AI SDK).

Build Tako into your agent

Building your own agent rather than connecting a client? Hand your coding agent the integration prompt at the top of the Quickstart. It reads the docs, asks the right questions, and wires Tako in the best way for your stack (this MCP server or the direct API, whichever fits).

Troubleshooting

Tools don't appear after connecting

Confirm your client supports the Streamable HTTP transport and is pointed at https://mcp.tako.com/mcp (not a .../sse path). Restart the client so it re-runs the tools/list handshake. If you authenticated with a header, make sure the Authorization: Bearer tako_sk_… header is set and the key hasn’t been revoked — an invalid key is rejected rather than falling back to the free tier.

A specific tool is missing (tako_agent, tako_visualize, …)

Those tools are opt-in. Reconnect with the alias in the URL — e.g. https://mcp.tako.com/mcp?tools=agent,visualize — and restart the client. See Tools for the alias table.Also check you’re authenticated: an unauthenticated connection can run only tako_search, tako_answer, and tako_available_data, so tako_contents and every opt-in alias need an API key or sign-in. (ChatGPT is the exception in what it lists: it shows tako_contents and tako_visualize on an anonymous connection for its link-account UI, but they prompt for sign-in instead of running.)On the Claude Code plugin, the connection URL is pinned, so ?tools= isn’t available. Add the server yourself with claude mcp add and the parameter — and remove the plugin’s connection so you don’t get two copies of every tool.

Hitting a rate limit on the free tier

The keyless free tier is rate-limited. Sign in or add an API key to move onto your own account limits — see pricing. tako_available_data is free at any tier, so use it for coverage checks rather than spending priced calls on them.

You don’t need a pre-existing API key — approving the sign-in mints a per-host key automatically (named MCP: <client> at tako.com/console/api-keys). If a host stops authenticating, remove and re-add the connector to mint a fresh key. Deleting a host’s MCP: <client> key at the console kills that host’s access; rotating your key kills every host’s grant at once. Tako keeps at most ten MCP keys — connecting an eleventh host trims the oldest.

tako_contents refuses a card

Card data export requires the card to be marked exportable: true in the tako_search / tako_answer result that returned it. Web result URLs are always fetchable.Cards from license-protected sources — S&P Global, FactSet, Visible Alpha, CoinMarketCap — come back non-exportable and carry no inline preview rows. That’s a licensing boundary, not an error, so retrying won’t help: read the headline value from the card’s description, cite the chart, or ask tako_answer for the number. Cards from open sources (FRED, OECD, BIS, Fiscal.ai) export normally, and any card’s free inline rows can be read directly when it has them.

Next steps

Get an API key

Unlock the full toolset

Pricing

Rates and free credits

Build an integration

One prompt for your coding agent

Getting Started

Build with Tako

API Reference

Integrations

Additional Resources

Connect

GitHub

Smithery

Try it

Tools

Build Tako into your agent

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Get an API key

Pricing

Build an integration

​Connect

GitHub

Smithery

​Try it

​Tools

​Build Tako into your agent

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

Get an API key

Pricing

Build an integration

Connect

Try it

Tools

Build Tako into your agent

Troubleshooting

Next steps