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Google Maps Places

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

Source code Website Documentation

Install

Add this to your client's MCP configuration (Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json; Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json; VS Code and others use the same "mcpServers" shape).

NPM package google-maps-places-mcp
Claude Code 
claude mcp add google-maps-places -e 'GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your google_access_token>' -- npx -y google-maps-places-mcp@1.1.2
JSON configuration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) 
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "google-maps-places": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "google-maps-places-mcp@1.1.2"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<your google_access_token>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Environment variables

  • GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN required secret Google OAuth access token with cloud-platform scope.
NPM package google-maps-places-mcp
Claude Code 
claude mcp add google-maps-places -e 'MCP_TRANSPORT=<MCP_TRANSPORT>' -e 'GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=<GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID>' -e 'GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=<your google_client_secret>' -- npx -y google-maps-places-mcp@1.1.2
JSON configuration (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) 
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "google-maps-places": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "google-maps-places-mcp@1.1.2"
            ],
            "env": {
                "MCP_TRANSPORT": "<MCP_TRANSPORT>",
                "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "<GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID>",
                "GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET": "<your google_client_secret>"
            }
        }
    }
}

Environment variables

  • MCP_TRANSPORT required Transport type.
  • GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID required Google OAuth client ID.
  • GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET required secret Google OAuth client secret.

Documentation

From the project's README on GitHub, refreshed weekly. Links open on GitHub.

Contents
  1. google-maps-places-mcp
  2. Use Cases
  3. Setup
  4. Architecture
  5. Tools
  6. OAuth Scope
  7. Contributing
  8. Releases

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
  1. Go to Google Cloud Console
  2. Create a new project (or use existing)
  3. Enable the Places API (New)
  4. Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen, set up consent screen
  5. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth client ID
  6. Choose Web application
  7. Add http://localhost:3000/callback to Authorized redirect URIs
  8. 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]
  1. Server advertises itself as an OAuth authorization server via /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server
  2. /register returns the Google OAuth client credentials
  3. /authorize redirects to Google, encoding the client's callback URL in state
  4. /callback receives the code from Google and forwards to the client's callback
  5. /token proxies token requests to Google, injecting client credentials
  6. /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

ToolDescription
places_text_searchSearch for places by text query (e.g., "coffee shops near me")
places_photo_getGet 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:

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

Releases

Versions follow the semantic versioning spec.

To release:

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

Frequently asked questions

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?

It runs on your machine. In Claude Code: claude mcp add google-maps-places -e 'GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your google_access_token>' -- npx -y google-maps-places-mcp@1.1.2. For other clients, paste the JSON configuration from this page into their MCP settings.

Does Google Maps Places need an API key?

Yes. It expects GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN, MCP_TRANSPORT, GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET, which you set in its configuration.

Is Google Maps Places open source?

Its code is public on GitHub, but the repository does not declare a standard license.

Who maintains Google Maps Places?

It is published by domdomegg. AI.tn lists it but does not maintain or endorse it.

From the official MCP Registry. Listing is not an endorsement: review a server's code and permissions before giving it access to your data.