About Besttime
Besttime provides MCP tools for foot-traffic forecasts and current busyness at public venues. It supports hourly and weekday forecasts, queries for a forecasted venue, and live comparisons with the expected level; an API key is required.
Key features
- 01Forecast venue busyness by hour and weekday
- 02Query a forecast by venue and day
- 03Check live busyness against forecast
- 04Identify venues by name and address
- 05Run locally or through Pipeworx
Use cases
- 01Compare expected busy hours across weekdays
- 02Check a venue’s forecast for a specific hour
- 03See whether a venue is busier than usual
MCP support
The MCP server exposes tools to create and query venue forecasts and check live foot traffic. It runs locally over stdio or through Pipeworx’s remote gateway, and requires a BestTime API key.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http pipeworx-io-besttime https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcp{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-besttime":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"pipeworx-io-besttime":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-besttime":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-besttime":{"serverUrl":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
44| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| q | string | No | Alias for question. |
| ask | string | No | Alias for question. |
| text | string | No | Alias for question. |
| input | string | No | Alias for question. |
| packs | array | No | OPTIONAL. Restrict routing to these pack slugs (e.g. ["sec-form-d","sec-13f"]) — the router then picks only from tools in those packs. Omit for the default full-catalog routing. Slugs come from list_packs / search_packs / https://pipeworx.io/directory; unlisted or unknown slugs are ignored and named in _meta.pack_scope.ignored, and if none of them resolves the question is routed across the whole catalog with _meta.pack_scope.full_catalog:true (never an empty answer). |
| query | string | No | Alias for question. |
| prompt | string | No | Alias for question. |
| message | string | No | Alias for question. |
| question | string | Yes | Your question or request in natural language. Accepts query, q, prompt, text, input, ask, message as aliases. |
Details
From the project READMEmcp-besttime
BestTime MCP — foot-traffic / venue busyness forecasts (besttime.app)
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1875+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
besttime_forecast | How busy is by hour/day (foot-traffic forecast) — creates a busyness forecast for a public venue (restaurant, bar, gym, store, museum) by name + address. Returns the 24-hour busyness curve (0-100) for each weekday plus busy/quiet/peak hours and a venue_id for later queries. Example: besttime_forecast({ venue_name: "McDonald's", venue_address: "Ocean Ave, San Francisco", _apiKey: "pri_xxx:pub_yyy" }) |
besttime_query | Busyness for a venue at a specific hour or day — reads an already-forecasted venue (by venue_id from besttime_forecast). Pass hour for a single hour, or omit it to get the whole day's curve. Example: besttime_query({ venue_id: "ven_...", day: 4, hour: 18, _apiKey: "pri_xxx:pub_yyy" }) |
besttime_live | Is busy right now vs usual — returns live foot-traffic busyness compared to the forecasted level for this hour. Identify the venue by venue_id, or by venue_name + venue_address. Example: besttime_live({ venue_name: "Blue Bottle Coffee", venue_address: "66 Mint St, San Francisco", _apiKey: "pri_xxx:pub_yyy" }) |
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"besttime": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/besttime/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pipeworx": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
}
}
}
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1875+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No MCP client? Call it over HTTP
This pack takes your own API key (_apiKey) — we don't front one for it, so there's no curl here that would run without it. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/besttime_forecast. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
Standalone (no gateway account)
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"besttime": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-besttime"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-besttime
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Using with ask_pipeworx
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Besttime data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT
Comments
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