What is Google Maps Places?

Allow AI systems to search for places and get business info via Google Maps Places API.

How do I install Google Maps Places?

Clone Google Maps Places from https://github.com/domdomegg/google-maps-places-mcp.git and configure it as an MCP server in your client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code).

What category does Google Maps Places belong to?

Google Maps Places is listed under Search & Knowledge MCP servers on MCPFind.

Google Maps Places — MCP Server for Search & Knowledge

google-maps-places-mcp

MCP server for Google Maps Places API - search for places and get photos.

Use Cases

Meeting coordination: Someone emails "Let's meet at Nando's near the office - what time works best for you?" → your AI assistant looks up the location, checks opening hours, and adds it to your calendar with the address.

Local recommendations: Ask "find a quiet café with WiFi near King's Cross for a 2-hour work session" → get places with ratings, hours, and photos to help you decide.

Address validation: Confirm or autocomplete partial addresses before sending mail or booking deliveries.

(These are just examples - any workflow that needs place search or business info can use this.)

Setup

1. Create Google OAuth credentials

Go to Google Cloud Console
Create a new project (or use existing)
Enable the Places API (New)
Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen, set up consent screen
Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth client ID
Choose Web application
Add http://localhost:3000/callback to Authorized redirect URIs
Note your Client ID and Client Secret

2. Run the server

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID='your-client-id' \
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET='your-client-secret' \
MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
npm start

The server runs on http://localhost:3000 by default. Change with PORT=3001.

3. Add to your MCP client

With the server running, follow the instructions on install-mcp, which generates the right config for your MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, VS Code, and more).

Architecture

This server acts as an OAuth proxy to Google:

graph LR
    A[MCP client] <--> B[google-maps-places-mcp] <--> C[Google OAuth/API]

Server advertises itself as an OAuth authorization server via /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server
/register returns the Google OAuth client credentials
/authorize redirects to Google, encoding the client's callback URL in state
/callback receives the code from Google and forwards to the client's callback
/token proxies token requests to Google, injecting client credentials
/mcp handles MCP requests, using the bearer token to call Places API

The server holds no tokens or state - it just proxies OAuth to Google.

Tools

Tool	Description
`places_text_search`	Search for places by text query (e.g., "coffee shops near me")
`places_photo_get`	Get a photo URL for a place

OAuth Scope

cloud-platform - Access to Google Cloud APIs (required for Places API New)

Contributing

Pull requests are welcomed on GitHub! To get started:

Install Git and Node.js
Clone the repository
Install dependencies with npm install
Run npm run test to run tests
Build with npm run build

Releases

Versions follow the semantic versioning spec.

To release:

Use npm version <major | minor | patch> to bump the version
Run git push --follow-tags to push with tags
Wait for GitHub Actions to publish to the NPM registry.

Set up in your AI client

AI clientOperating system

Merge this template into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Keep existing servers. Add any arguments, credentials, and permissions required by the maintainer; this template has not been install-tested.

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "io-github-domdomegg-google-maps-places-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "google-maps-places-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect. Confirm the server appears connected in the client’s tool list, then try a read-only example from its documentation.

Claude Desktop setup reference

Compatible MCP Clients

Google Maps Places works with any MCP-compatible client. Copy the config snippet from the Configuration section above and add it to the file shown for your client, then restart the application.

Claude Desktop~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonRestart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect.

Cursor~/.cursor/mcp.jsonRestart Cursor for changes to take effect.

VS Code.vscode/mcp.jsonReload VS Code window for changes to take effect.

Windsurf~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.jsonRestart Windsurf for changes to take effect.

Claude Code.mcp.jsonSave at the project root, then start Claude Code in that project and review the MCP server approval prompt. Keep real credentials out of shared files.

Google Maps Places