🛫 Fli - Flight Search MCP Server and Library

A powerful Python library that provides programmatic access to Google Flights data with an elegant CLI interface. Search flights, find the best deals, and filter results with ease.

🚀 What makes fli special?
Unlike other flight search libraries that rely on web scraping, Fli directly interacts with Google Flights' API through reverse engineering. This means:

• Fast: Direct API access means faster, more reliable results
• Zero Scraping: No HTML parsing, no browser automation, just pure API interaction
• Reliable: Less prone to breaking from UI changes
• Modular: Extensible architecture for easy customization and integration

MCP Server

pipx install flights

# Run the MCP server on STDIO
fli-mcp

Connecting to Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fli": {
      "command": "/Users/<user>/.local/bin/fli-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Note: Replace <user> with your actual username. You can also find the path to the MCP server by running which fli-mcp in your terminal.

Quick Start

pip install flights

# Install using pipx (recommended for CLI)
pipx install flights

# Get started with CLI
fli --help

Features

• 🔍 Powerful Search

  • One-way flight searches
  • Flexible departure times
  • Multi-airline support
  • Cabin class selection
  • Stop preferences
  • Custom result sorting

• 💺 Cabin Classes

  • Economy
  • Premium Economy
  • Business
  • First

• 🎯 Smart Sorting

  • Price
  • Duration
  • Departure Time
  • Arrival Time

• 🛡️ Built-in Protection

  • Rate limiting
  • Automatic retries
  • Comprehensive error handling
  • Input validation

CLI Usage

Search for Specific Flights

# Basic search
fli search JFK LHR 2025-10-25

# Advanced search with filters
fli search JFK LHR 2025-10-25 \
    -t 6-20 \              # Time range (6 AM - 8 PM)
    -a BA KL \             # Airlines (British Airways, KLM)
    -s BUSINESS \          # Seat type
    -x NON_STOP \          # Non-stop flights only
    -o DURATION            # Sort by duration

Find Cheapest Dates

# Basic search for cheapest dates
fli cheap JFK LHR

# Advanced search with date range
fli cheap JFK LHR \
    --from 2025-01-01 \
    --to 2025-02-01 \
    --monday --friday      # Only Mondays and Fridays

CLI Options

Search Command (fli search)

Option	Description	Example
-t, --time	Time range (24h format)	6-20
-a, --airlines	Airline codes	BA KL
-s, --seat	Cabin class	ECONOMY, BUSINESS
-x, --stops	Maximum stops	NON_STOP, ONE_STOP
-o, --sort	Sort results by	CHEAPEST, DURATION

Cheap Command (fli cheap)

Option	Description	Example
--from	Start date	2025-01-01
--to	End date	2025-02-01
-s, --seat	Cabin class	ECONOMY, BUSINESS
-x, --stops	Maximum stops	NON_STOP, ONE_STOP
--[day]	Day filters	--monday, --friday

MCP Server Integration

Fli includes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude to search for flights directly. This enables natural language flight search through conversation.

Running the MCP Server

# Run the MCP server on STDIO
fli-mcp

# Or with uv (for development)
uv run fli-mcp

# Or with make (for development)
make mcp

Claude Desktop Configuration

To use the flight search capabilities in Claude Desktop, add this configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Location: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "flight-search": {
      "command": "fli-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

After adding this configuration:

1. Restart Claude Desktop
2. You can now ask Claude to search for flights naturally:
   • "Find flights from JFK to LAX on December 25th"
   • "What are the cheapest dates to fly from NYC to London in January?"
   • "Search for business class flights from SFO to NRT with no stops"

MCP Tools Available

The MCP server provides two main tools:

• search_flights: Search for specific flights with detailed filters
• search_cheap_flights: Find the cheapest dates across a flexible date range

Python API Usage

Basic Search Example

from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from fli.models import Airport, PassengerInfo, SeatType, MaxStops, SortBy
from fli.search import SearchFlights, SearchFlightsFilters

# Create search filters
filters = SearchFlightsFilters(
    departure_airport=Airport.JFK,
    arrival_airport=Airport.LAX,
    departure_date=(datetime.now() + timedelta(days=30)).strftime("%Y-%m-%d"),
    passenger_info=PassengerInfo(adults=1),
    seat_type=SeatType.ECONOMY,
    stops=MaxStops.NON_STOP,
    sort_by=SortBy.CHEAPEST,
)

# Search flights
search = SearchFlights()
flights = search.search(filters)

# Process results
for flight in flights:
    print(f"💰 Price: ${flight.price}")
    print(f"⏱️ Duration: {flight.duration} minutes")
    print(f"✈️ Stops: {flight.stops}")

    for leg in flight.legs:
        print(f"\n🛫 Flight: {leg.airline.value} {leg.flight_number}")
        print(f"📍 From: {leg.departure_airport.value} at {leg.departure_datetime}")
        print(f"📍 To: {leg.arrival_airport.value} at {leg.arrival_datetime}")

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/punitarani/fli.git
cd fli

# Install dependencies with uv
uv sync --all-extras

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Run linting
uv run ruff check .
uv run ruff format .

# Build documentation
uv run mkdocs serve

# Or use the Makefile for common tasks
make install-all  # Install all dependencies
make test         # Run tests
make lint         # Check code style
make format       # Format code

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.