1. Get an API Key

Sign up at Tavily and copy your API key.

2. Set the Environment Variable

Persist TAVILY_API_KEY as a system environment variable (replace tvly-xxxxxxxx with your actual key).

Linux / macOS:

echo 'export TAVILY_API_KEY="tvly-xxxxxxxx"' >> ~/.profile
source ~/.profile

If you’ve already set this before, open ~/.profile in an editor to replace or remove the old entry — avoid duplicate lines.

Windows (PowerShell):

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("TAVILY_API_KEY", "tvly-xxxxxxxx", "User")

No admin privileges required. This writes a persistent environment variable for the current user, but doesn’t modify the already-open PowerShell process — close and reopen the terminal for it to take effect.

After reopening PowerShell, verify:

$env:TAVILY_API_KEY

If you want to continue testing immediately in the current PowerShell window without reopening, sync it once:

$env:TAVILY_API_KEY = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("TAVILY_API_KEY", "User")

Your API key grants access to a paid tier. Run the commands above yourself — don’t let an AI agent do it for you.

3. Install Tavily MCP

Tell Qwen Code:

Please install Tavily MCP using the qwen mcp add command, then search for something to verify it works.

Done.

Verified: 2026-05-05, Qwen Code 0.15.6 + tavily-mcp 0.2.19