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Save 70% of Your AI Coding Plan Quota by Replacing ZhiPu Search with Tavily MCP

· 3 min read
CCLEE
CCLEE

When using ZhiPu GLM Coding Plan with Claude Code, I noticed my monthly quota draining faster than expected. The culprit? Built-in MCP tools — web-search-prime and web-reader — were consuming coding conversation quota for every web search and page fetch.

TL;DR​

Replace ZhiPu's built-in web-search-prime and web-reader MCP services with Tavily MCP. Result: free 1000 searches/month with zero impact on coding quota.

The Problem: Every Search Costs Quota​

ZhiPu GLM Coding Plan includes several built-in MCP services:

web-search-prime   → web search (consumes quota)
web-reader         → web page reading (consumes quota)
zread              → GitHub repo reading (consumes quota)

In my case, searching WooCommerce documentation, reading API pages, and checking marketplace standards during theme development consumed roughly 30% of my monthly MCP quota in just a few days.

MCP usage over one week showing search and reader consuming most calls

The 16% / 30% usage shown above was reached in less than a week, with web search being the primary consumer.

Solution: Tavily MCP​

Tavily provides a free tier with 1000 API calls/month, completely independent of your coding plan quota.

Step 1: Get Tavily API Key​

Register at tavily.com, free tier includes 1000 calls/month.

Step 2: Add Tavily MCP to Claude Code​

claude mcp add tavily-search -s user -- npx -y tavily-mcp@latest

Step 3: Configure API Key​

Edit ~/.claude.json, find the tavily-search entry and add the environment variable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tavily-search": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "tavily-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "TAVILY_API_KEY": "tvly-your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 4: Remove ZhiPu's search services​

claude mcp remove web-search-prime -s user
claude mcp remove web-reader -s user

Also clean up settings.json permissions — remove mcp__web-search-prime__* and mcp__web-reader__* from the allow list, add mcp__tavily-search__* instead.

Step 5: Verify​

claude mcp list
# Should show: tavily-search: npx -y tavily-mcp@latest - Connected
# Should NOT show: web-search-prime, web-reader

Comparison​

FeatureZhiPu Built-inTavily MCP
CostConsumes coding plan quotaFree 1000 calls/month
Search qualityOptimized for ChineseBalanced for EN/CN
Page extractionSeparate toolBuilt-in extract
ConfigurationPlatform-injected, can't disableOne claude mcp add command
After free tierSqueezes coding conversation budgetPay-as-you-go continues

Notes​

Important Notes

  1. ZhiPu services are platform-injected — they may reappear after restart even after removal. Add them to settings.json deny list to block permanently.
  2. Keep zread (GitHub repo reading) — low consumption and unique functionality.
  3. Keep doubao-vision (image analysis) — Tavily doesn't cover this scenario.

Recommendation​

Also using ZhiPu GLM Coding Plan?

Learn More About ZhiPu GLM Coding Plan

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