Airbnb Search & Listings - Desktop Extension (DXT)

A comprehensive Desktop Extension for searching Airbnb listings with advanced filtering capabilities and detailed property information retrieval. Built as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server packaged in the Desktop Extension (DXT) format for easy installation and use with compatible AI applications.

Features

🔍 Advanced Search Capabilities

Location-based search with support for cities, states, and regions
International location support via client-side geocoding, so non-US queries (e.g. "Paris, France", "Copenhagen, Denmark") return results in the right city
Google Maps Place ID integration for precise location targeting
Property type filtering for entire homes, private rooms, shared rooms, or hotel rooms
Date filtering with check-in and check-out date support
Guest configuration including adults, children, infants, and pets
Price range filtering with minimum and maximum price constraints
Pagination support for browsing through large result sets

🏠 Detailed Property Information

Comprehensive listing details including amenities, policies, and highlights
Location information with coordinates and neighborhood details
House rules and policies for informed booking decisions
Property descriptions and key features
Direct links to Airbnb listings for easy booking

🛡️ Security & Compliance

Robots.txt compliance with configurable override for testing
Request timeout management to prevent hanging requests
Enhanced error handling with detailed logging
Rate limiting awareness and respectful API usage
Secure configuration through DXT user settings

Installation

For Claude Desktop

This extension is packaged as a Desktop Extension (DXT) file. To install:

Download the .dxt file from the releases page
Open your compatible AI application (e.g., Claude Desktop)
Install the extension through the application's extension manager
Configure the extension settings as needed

For Cursor, etc.

Before starting make sure Node.js is installed on your desktop for npx to work.

Go to: Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations > New MCP Server

Add one the following to your mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "airbnb": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@openbnb/mcp-server-airbnb"
      ]
    }
  }
}

To ignore robots.txt for all requests, use this version with --ignore-robots-txt args

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "airbnb": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@openbnb/mcp-server-airbnb",
        "--ignore-robots-txt"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart.

Configuration

The extension provides the following user-configurable options:

Ignore robots.txt

Type: Boolean (checkbox)
Default: false
Description: Bypass robots.txt restrictions when making requests to Airbnb
Recommendation: Keep disabled unless needed for testing purposes

Disable third-party geocoding

Type: Boolean (checkbox)
Environment variable: DISABLE_GEOCODING
Default: false
Description: Skip the Photon/Nominatim geocoding step and let Airbnb resolve the location string on its own. Enabling this restores the pre-PR behavior — every search goes only to airbnb.com, no third-party calls.
Recommendation: Keep disabled unless you specifically need zero third-party outbound traffic. With it enabled, non-US searches could return incorrect results. See External Services.

Tools

`airbnb_search`

Search for Airbnb listings with comprehensive filtering options.

Parameters:

location (required): Location to search (e.g., "San Francisco, CA"). When supplied without placeId, the server geocodes this string client-side via Photon/Nominatim — see External Services.
placeId (optional): Google Maps Place ID. Overrides location and skips client-side geocoding entirely (no third-party calls).
checkin (optional): Check-in date in YYYY-MM-DD format
checkout (optional): Check-out date in YYYY-MM-DD format
adults (optional): Number of adults (default: 1)
children (optional): Number of children (default: 0)
infants (optional): Number of infants (default: 0)
pets (optional): Number of pets (default: 0)
minPrice (optional): Minimum price per night
maxPrice (optional): Maximum price per night
cursor (optional): Pagination cursor for browsing results
propertyType (optional): Filter by property type — entire_home, private_room, shared_room, or hotel_room
ignoreRobotsText (optional): Override robots.txt for this request

Returns:

Search results with property details, pricing, and direct links
Pagination information for browsing additional results
Search URL for reference

`airbnb_listing_details`

Get detailed information about a specific Airbnb listing.

Parameters:

id (required): Airbnb listing ID
checkin (optional): Check-in date in YYYY-MM-DD format
checkout (optional): Check-out date in YYYY-MM-DD format
adults (optional): Number of adults (default: 1)
children (optional): Number of children (default: 0)
infants (optional): Number of infants (default: 0)
pets (optional): Number of pets (default: 0)
ignoreRobotsText (optional): Override robots.txt for this request

Returns:

Detailed property information including:
- Location details with coordinates
- Amenities and facilities
- House rules and policies
- Property highlights and descriptions
- Direct link to the listing

Technical Details

Architecture

Runtime: Node.js 18+
Protocol: Model Context Protocol (MCP) via stdio transport
Format: Desktop Extension (DXT) v0.1
Dependencies: Minimal external dependencies for security and reliability

External Services

In addition to airbnb.com, the server makes geocoding requests to two third-party services to translate location queries into accurate map bounding boxes. This bypasses Airbnb's own server-side geocoder, which produces incorrect results for many non-US queries (e.g. "Paris, France" lands in Vendée; "Copenhagen, Denmark" lands in Wisconsin).

Service	Endpoint	Used for	Notes
Photon	`photon.komoot.io`	Primary geocoder, called on every search without `placeId`	Free OSM-based service hosted by Komoot. One request per search.
Nominatim	`nominatim.openstreetmap.org`	Fallback geocoder, called only when Photon does not return a bounding box	Subject to the OSMF usage policy (max ~1 req/sec).

Each search sends only the location string from the request to the geocoder — no other request fields, no IP geolocation, no tracking identifiers. The location string itself is, of course, the same string the user typed.

Opting out: there are two ways to skip the geocoders:

Per-request: supply an explicit placeId. When placeId is present, the server uses Airbnb's own place lookup directly with no third-party calls.
Globally: set the environment variable DISABLE_GEOCODING=true. The server will skip Photon/Nominatim entirely and pass the raw location string to Airbnb. This restores the pre-PR behavior for every search and guarantees zero third-party outbound traffic — at the cost of broken results for non-US locations that Airbnb's own geocoder mishandles. Defaults to false.

If a geocoder is unreachable or returns no result, the server falls back to sending the location string to Airbnb directly, exactly as it did before — so the worst case for an outage is that international searches degrade to the previous (broken) behavior, not that the search fails entirely.

Error Handling

Comprehensive error logging with timestamps
Graceful degradation when Airbnb's page structure changes
Timeout protection for network requests
Detailed error messages for troubleshooting

Security Measures

Robots.txt compliance by default
Request timeout limits
Input validation and sanitization
Secure environment variable handling
No sensitive data storage

Performance

Efficient HTML parsing with Cheerio
Request caching where appropriate
Minimal memory footprint
Fast startup and response times

Compatibility

Platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux
Node.js: 18.0.0 or higher
Claude Desktop: 0.10.0 or higher
Other MCP clients: Compatible with any MCP-supporting application

Development

Building from Source

# Install dependencies
npm install
 
# Build the project
npm run build
 
# Watch for changes during development
npm run watch

Testing

The extension can be tested by running the MCP server directly:

# Run with robots.txt compliance (default)
node dist/index.js
 
# Run with robots.txt ignored (for testing)
node dist/index.js --ignore-robots-txt

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Respect Airbnb's Terms of Service: This extension is for legitimate research and booking assistance
Robots.txt Compliance: The extension respects robots.txt by default
Rate Limiting: Be mindful of request frequency to avoid overwhelming Airbnb's servers
Data Usage: Only extract publicly available information for legitimate purposes

Support

Issues: Report bugs and feature requests on GitHub Issues
Documentation: Additional documentation available in the repository
Community: Join discussions about MCP and DXT development

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the contributing guidelines and submit pull requests for any improvements.

Note: This extension is not affiliated with Airbnb, Inc. It is an independent tool designed to help users search and analyze publicly available Airbnb listings.

openbnb-org/mcp-server-airbnb