# Foursquare Places

> Official Foursquare Places MCP — POI search, GeoTagging, and rich place metadata across 100M+ places.

[Canonical HTML page](https://top-mcps.com/mcp/foursquare-places) · [server.json](https://top-mcps.com/mcp/foursquare-places.json) · [methodology](https://top-mcps.com/about/methodology)

## At a glance

- **Maintainer:** Foursquare
- **Transport:** stdio
- **Auth model:** API key
- **Required secrets:** FOURSQUARE_SERVICE_TOKEN
- **Supported clients:** Claude, Cursor, Any MCP-compatible client
- **License:** MIT
- **Language:** TypeScript
- **Latest version:** latest
- **Last verified:** 2026-06-11
- **GitHub stars:** 15 (fetched 2026-06-17T07:09:46.818Z)
- **Score:** 56/100 (rubric 2026-04 — see https://top-mcps.com/about/methodology)
- **Source:** https://github.com/foursquare/foursquare-places-mcp

## Security & scope

- **Access scope:** network
- **Sandbox:** Authenticates with a Foursquare Service API key. Read-only — no place edits or check-ins from the MCP.
- **Gotchas:**
  - Service tokens are full-account credentials — scope them per project rather than reusing a personal token.
  - Free tier starter credit is finite; high-volume agents should monitor usage to avoid hard 429s on the place-details endpoint.

## Quick answer

**What it does.** Exposes Foursquare Places search, autocomplete, place-details, and GeoTagging APIs as MCP tools. Returns structured POI data with category taxonomies, features, and rich metadata.

**Best for:**
- POI search by category, feature, or proximity
- Address → venue resolution (GeoTagging)
- Enriching location data with hours, photos, ratings
- Travel and concierge agents
- Local-business research

**Not for:**
- Routing or driving directions
- Street-view imagery
- Real-time foot-traffic analytics beyond the basic popularity signal

## Recipes

### Find vegan brunch with outdoor seating near a coordinate

```
Using the Foursquare Places MCP, find me 5 vegan brunch spots with outdoor seating within 1km of 40.7128,-74.0060. Return name, address, rating, and a one-line vibe summary.
```

_Tested with: Claude Desktop, Cursor_

## Description

Foursquare's official Places MCP wraps the Places API v3, the same data layer behind Uber Eats search, Apple Weather location lookups, and most Snowflake-backed location enrichment pipelines. Filter 100M+ places by category, features, hours, and proximity; pull rich metadata including photos, reviews, ratings, and real-time popularity. Local stdio server; requires a Foursquare Service API key.

## Why it matters

Mapbox handles "how do I get there"; Foursquare handles "where is there". For agent flows that need POI search by category and features ("vegan brunch with outdoor seating open now"), Foursquare's taxonomy is the cleanest API surface — and the first-party MCP means no community-wrapper bit-rot.

## Key features

- Official Foursquare repo `foursquare/foursquare-places-mcp`
- 100M+ places with rich category taxonomies
- Search, autocomplete, place-details, GeoTagging
- Photos, reviews, ratings, hours, features
- Local stdio — bring your own Service API key

## FAQ

### How do I get a Service API key?

Sign up at developer.foursquare.com, create a project, and grab the Service API key from the project page. You will not be able to see the key again after creation — copy it immediately. Free tier ships with starter credit.

### How do I install it?

The official repo is not published to npm — clone `github.com/foursquare/foursquare-places-mcp`, install dependencies (`bun install` or `npm install` per the README), set `FOURSQUARE_SERVICE_TOKEN`, and point your MCP client at the local entrypoint. A first-party npm package and a hosted/remote endpoint are both signalled as in-the-works.

### Is there a hosted/remote endpoint?

No — currently the official MCP is local-only via stdio. Foursquare has signalled remote MCP support is in the works; for now, run the server next to your client.

### What is GeoTagging?

Foursquare's Place Snap technology — given a coordinate (e.g. from a photo's EXIF), it returns the most likely venue at that point. The MCP exposes it as a tool so an agent can resolve "I was here" to "I was at Joe Coffee on 5th".

### How does the category taxonomy work?

Foursquare uses a hierarchical taxonomy (Food → Restaurant → Vegetarian Restaurant, etc.) with explicit feature flags (outdoor-seating, delivery, kid-friendly). Agents can filter by any node in the tree without enumerating leaves.

## Changelog

- **2026-06-11** — Refreshed install snippets and fact sheet; verified for 2026.
- **2025-08-15** — Initial directory listing.