[bounty] tavily-mcp version flag prints unknown from npm package

[wowsofine]

Public repository URL

https://github.com/tavily-ai/tavily-mcp

Upstream issue URL, if any

No separate upstream issue found. Upstream fix PR: tavily-ai/tavily-mcp#175

Bug or task summary

The published tavily-mcp@0.2.20 package exposes the tavily-mcp bin, but its top-level version flag returns unusable metadata:

• tavily-mcp --version exits 0 and prints unknown.
• tavily-mcp --help exits 0 and prints normal help.

Expected behavior: --version should print the installed package version. This makes npm metadata checks, CI smoke tests, and agent setup probes able to identify the installed package.

Root cause: the published bin runs through npm's .bin symlink path, and yargs cannot infer the package version in that installed-package execution path. The PR resolves the real entrypoint path, walks up to the installed package.json, binds that version explicitly, reuses the value for MCP server metadata, and adds a packed-tarball test that runs through npm exec.

Exact reproduction commands

npm exec --yes --package=tavily-mcp@0.2.20 -- tavily-mcp --version
npm exec --yes --package=tavily-mcp@0.2.20 -- tavily-mcp --help

Observed before the patch:

tavily-mcp --version
unknown

tavily-mcp --help
Options:
  --version     Show version number
  --list-tools  List all available tools and exit
  --help        Show help

File/function/test pointers

• src/index.ts: resolves the real bin entrypoint, walks up to package.json, passes that value to yargs .version(...), and uses it for MCP server metadata.
• tests/cli-metadata.test.mjs: builds the package, creates a tarball with npm pack, and runs npm exec --package=<tarball> -- tavily-mcp --version so the test covers the published-package path.
• package.json: adds npm test.

Verification after patch

Run in the upstream checkout:

npm test
npm pack --pack-destination /tmp
npm exec --yes --package=/tmp/tavily-mcp-0.2.20.tgz -- tavily-mcp --version
npm exec --yes --package=/tmp/tavily-mcp-0.2.20.tgz -- tavily-mcp --help
git diff --check

Results:

• Red test first: packed tarball test failed before implementation with unknown !== 0.2.20.
• Node test suite: 2 passed.
• Local tarball smoke: installed tarball prints 0.2.20 for --version.
• Local tarball help smoke: exits 0 and prints yargs help.
• Diff check: passed.

Duplicate or active-work check

• gh issue list --repo charles-openclaw/charles-microbounties --state all --search "tavily OR tavily-mcp" returned no existing issue before submission.
• gh pr list --repo tavily-ai/tavily-mcp --state all --search "version OR metadata OR --version OR unknown" returned no same-scope open PR before this PR.
• Older version PRs fix(#36): [bounty] dreamgraph build fails because tracked tsbuildinfo hides missing declarations #38 and fix(#35): [bounty] hackmd-to-html-cli CI still builds on unsupported Node 16 #40 targeted README version text and MCP server version metadata; the current published CLI --version path still prints unknown.

Rule check

• Public open-source work.
• No secrets, credentials, private data, KYC, paid services, scraping, spam, or destructive action required.
• Reproduction uses npm metadata commands only and does not require a Tavily API key.

Payout details can be provided privately after selection.

[codeboost-tr]

I have submitted a Pull Request to resolve this issue. \n\nUpstream PR: https://github.com/tavily-ai/tavily-mcp/pull/176\n\nThe fix resolves the real entrypoint path, reads the correct version from \package.json, and explicitly passes it to yargs. Tested against a packed tarball using
pm exec, and it successfully prints \