Zillow MCP server connected to Claude Desktop, letting the model answer property questions like the Zestimate on an address using live Zillapi data
Connect Claude Desktop to live Zillow data through the Zillapi MCP server.

Wire Claude Desktop to live Zillow property data in under two minutes. Get a free Zillapi key (100 credits, no card required), paste a five-line block into claude_desktop_config.json, restart Claude, and ask “What’s the Zestimate on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?” The model picks the right tool and returns the figure.

This guide is the exact config, the file paths for macOS and Windows, the three errors that trip people up, and a few example prompts to test with after install.

Flow of a Zillow MCP request: you ask Claude Desktop a question, Claude picks a tool and calls the Zillapi MCP server with a bearer token, the server returns property data as JSON, and Claude answers inline
One prompt in, one tool call out — Claude returns the figure inline.

Step 1: Get a Zillapi API key

Sign up at zillapi.com/signup. 100 free credits, no card required.

In your dashboard, copy the API key. It starts with zk_ followed by a random string. Treat it like a password. Anyone with the key can spend your credits.

Four steps to connect Claude Desktop to the Zillow MCP server: get a free Zillapi API key, open the Claude Desktop config file, add the Zillapi MCP server entry, then quit and relaunch
The whole setup is four steps and about two minutes.

Step 2: Open the Claude Desktop config

The file lives in different places on each operating system.

macOS:

Terminal window
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows:

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Linux:

Terminal window
~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

If the file does not exist yet, create it. The contents must be valid JSON, even if mcpServers is the only key.

Step 3: Add the Zillapi MCP server entry

Paste this block. If you already have other MCP servers, add the zillapi entry inside your existing mcpServers object.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zillapi": {
      "transport": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://api.zillapi.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer zk_YOUR_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace zk_YOUR_KEY_HERE with the key from step 1. Save the file.

Anatomy of the Zillapi mcpServers config entry, showing what each line does: the server name, the streamable-http transport, the Zillapi MCP endpoint URL, and the Authorization bearer token, plus the config file path on macOS, Windows, and Linux
Every line of the config entry, and where the file lives on each OS.

Step 4: Restart Claude Desktop

Quit Claude Desktop completely. On macOS that means Cmd+Q, not just closing the window. On Windows, right-click the system tray icon and pick Quit.

Relaunch. The four Zillapi tools (lookup_property_by_address, lookup_property_by_zpid, get_zestimate, and search_listings) show up in the tool tray.

Table of the four Zillapi MCP tools and what each returns: lookup by address and lookup by zpid return a full property record, get zestimate returns the value and rent estimate, and search listings returns matching listings, with the credit cost per call
The four tools Claude can call, what each returns, and the credit cost.

Test it

Try one of these prompts:

  • “What’s the Zestimate on 17 Zelma Dr, Greenville SC 29617?”
  • “Find 3-bedroom houses under $500k in Austin TX.”
  • “Pull the full record for this Zillow URL: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/...”
  • “Who’s the listing agent on this property?”

Claude picks the right tool, calls the MCP server, and returns the answer inline.

Troubleshooting

The tools do not appear after restart. You probably did not fully quit Claude — closing the window is not enough. Use Cmd+Q on macOS or right-click the tray icon and select Quit on Windows.

The config file looks right but tools still missing. Validate the JSON. A single trailing comma will silently break the entire mcpServers block. Run cat claude_desktop_config.json | python3 -m json.tool to check.

Claude says it called the tool but got 401 Unauthorized. Your Authorization header is missing the Bearer prefix or has a typo in the key. The value must be exactly Bearer (with the space) followed by your zk_ key.

It worked yesterday, today it returns 429 Too Many Requests. You hit the rate limit for your plan: 20 requests per minute on Free, 200 on Monthly, 300 on Annual. Wait a minute, then retry. If you need more headroom, upgrade at zillapi.com/pricing.

Calls return 402 Payment Required. You ran out of credits. On Monthly and Annual plans you can top up at $4 or $3 per 1,000 credits. Free plan does not support top-ups, so upgrade first.

Troubleshooting matrix mapping each Zillow MCP problem to its cause and fix: missing tools means Claude was not fully quit, a 401 means a wrong bearer prefix, a 402 means no credits, and a 429 means the rate limit was hit
Match the symptom to the cause, then apply the fix.

What you can do once installed

The MCP server exposes the same surface as the REST API. From inside a Claude conversation you can:

  • Pull a complete property record from a pasted Zillow URL (300+ fields).
  • Get the Zestimate, rent Zestimate, and tax-assessed value for any address.
  • Search for-sale or for-rent listings inside a city, ZIP, neighborhood, or bounding box.
  • Pull comparable sold properties for an investor pitch.
  • Get the listing agent’s contact details for any active listing.

Same key works for Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT custom GPTs, and the local Python skills at github.com/nikhonit/zillow-skills. Install once, use everywhere.

Don’t have a key yet? Sign up free at zillapi.com/signup for 100 credits, no card required. Paid plans start at $5/month if you outgrow it.