DeFi Llama MCP Server

An MCP server for DeFi Llama — connect any MCP-compatible client to free DeFi protocol data.

What is this?

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives AI assistants and agents access to DeFi Llama's free DeFi data API — protocol TVL, chain TVL, yield pools, stablecoins, cross-chain bridges, DEX volumes, and protocol fees — through natural language.

Use it with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue, or any MCP-compatible client to ask questions about DeFi protocols, track TVL movements, compare yields, and explore the on-chain economy.

Why use this?

• No API key required — DeFi Llama is a free public API
• 8 built-in tools — covers the most common DeFi data queries
• Clean markdown output — results read naturally in chat
• Rate-limited automatically — polite 500ms throttle across all endpoints

Tools

Quick Start

1. Add to your MCP client

Add this to your MCP client config (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "defillama": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "defillama-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

That's it. npx downloads and runs it automatically. No API key, no install step.

2. Use it

Ask your AI assistant things like:

• "What are the top DeFi protocols by TVL on Ethereum?"
• "Search for Aave and show me the chain breakdown"
• "What's the total TVL on Arbitrum?"
• "Show me the highest yield stablecoin pools on Base with at least $10M TVL"
• "List the top 5 stablecoins by market cap"
• "Which bridges have the most TVL?"
• "Show me DEX trading volumes for the last 24h"
• "What are the protocols with the most fees?"

Example Output

search_protocols

Top 5 protocols matching "aave" (by TVL):

- **Aave** (AAVE) — TVL: $12.45B | Category: Lending | Chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Base, Optimism, +6 | Slug: `aave`
- **Aave v2** (AAVE) — TVL: $4.20B | Category: Lending | Chains: Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche | Slug: `aave-v2`
- **Aave v3** (AAVE) — TVL: $8.10B | Category: Lending | Chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Base, Optimism | Slug: `aave-v3`

get_yields

Top 5 yield pools (chain: Ethereum | min TVL: $10.00M | min APY: 0%):

- **Lido** — stETH on Ethereum 🟢 | APY: 3.42% (3.42% base) | TVL: $23.45B
- **Aave v3** — USDC on Ethereum 🟢 | APY: 4.85% (1.50% base + 3.35% reward) | TVL: $1.85B
- **Compound v3** — USDC on Ethereum 🟢 | APY: 5.12% (3.20% base + 1.92% reward) | TVL: $890.45M

get_tvl_by_chain

Ethereum — Chain TVL

- **Total TVL:** $115.32B
- **Native Token:** ETH
- **CoinGecko ID:** ethereum

### Top Tokens by TVL
- **ETH** (Ether): $67.23B
- **USDC** (USD Coin): $4.12B
- **USDT** (Tether): $3.45B
- **WBTC** (Wrapped BTC): $2.89B
- **WSTETH** (Wrapped stETH): $2.34B

Use Cases

DeFi Research

"Search for Aave and show me the chain breakdown" — find protocols, compare TVL across chains, and understand where value is concentrated. Works with any protocol in DeFi Llama's database of 3,000+ projects.

Yield Optimization

"Show me the highest yield stablecoin pools on Base with at least $10M TVL" — filter yield opportunities by chain, project, minimum TVL, and asset type. Find safe yields without hunting through dashboards.

Chain Analysis

"What's the total TVL on Arbitrum?" — get chain-level stats including top tokens by TVL. Useful for understanding where liquidity is flowing and which chains are growing.

Stablecoin Intelligence

"List the top 5 stablecoins by market cap" — track stablecoin market caps, circulating supply, and price deviations. Essential for understanding DeFi's dollar-denominated liquidity.

Cross-Chain Monitoring

"Which bridges have the most TVL?" — monitor cross-chain bridge activity and volume. Track which bridges are gaining or losing share.

Protocol Revenue Tracking

"What are the protocols with the most fees?" — analyze protocol fee generation and revenue. Useful for fundamental analysis and comparing protocol economics.

Security

• No API key required — uses DeFi Llama's free public API. No authentication needed.
• Read-only — only fetches public DeFi data from DeFi Llama's API. No writes, no mutations.
• No local file access — does not read or write any files on your machine.
• No shell access — does not execute commands or spawn processes.
• Rate-limited — automatically caps requests to be a polite API citizen.
• Open source — MIT licensed. Inspect the code at GitHub.

Troubleshooting

"Protocol not found" errors

Use search_protocols first to find the correct DeFi Llama slug. Protocol slugs are lowercase with hyphens (e.g. aave-v3, lido), not ticker symbols.

Slow responses

DeFi Llama's /protocols and /pools endpoints return multi-MB responses. The server throttles to ~2 calls/second. For large queries, results may take 1-2 seconds.

Server won't start

Make sure Node.js 18+ is installed: node --version. If using npx, ensure npm is up to date: npm install -g npm@latest.

MCP client can't connect

Verify the config path is correct. Claude Desktop uses ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows. Restart the client after config changes.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• No API key needed (DeFi Llama is a free public API)

Rate Limits

DeFi Llama doesn't publish hard rate limits, but the server automatically throttles requests to ~2 calls/second (500ms minimum interval) to be a polite citizen. The /protocols and /pools endpoints are large (multi-MB), so the throttle also helps avoid unnecessary load.

Data Sources

• Protocols & TVL: https://api.llama.fi
• Yields: https://yields.llama.fi
• Stablecoins: https://stablecoins.llama.fi

All endpoints are free and require no authentication. Full API documentation: https://defillama.com/docs/api

Development

git clone https://github.com/nova/defillama-mcp-server.git
cd defillama-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build
npm start

License

MIT