Tip World

What Tipworld is for

"How much do I tip in Japan?", "is a service charge already on this bill in Dubai?", "why does the US tip so much more than Europe?" — a careful, cross-referenced reference of real tipping customs around the world, built to avoid the two easy failure modes of this topic: inventing precise numbers, and flattening a genuinely varied practice into a stereotype.

What it does

tipping_norms gives one country's full detail — restaurant, taxi/rideshare, hotel and tour-guide guidance, whether a service charge is typically already included, an overall norm category (expected / customary-optional / appreciated-optional / not-customary), and a short cultural note — for 40 countries across every populated continent. Pass a service_type for just that one field. compare_countries lines up 2-10 countries' norms for one service type side by side. calculate_tip suggests a tip amount for a bill where the country's norm is percentage-based; where it genuinely isn't (several East Asian countries, for instance), it says so plainly instead of forcing a number. countries_list and region_list show what's covered, and countries_by_region lists one region's countries with their overall norm. service_charge_info isolates the single most useful fact for avoiding an accidental double-tip: whether a charge is typically already on the bill. cultural_notes explains the "why" — why tipping functions as a real part of pay in some countries and can genuinely read as confusing or even mildly rude in others. glossary defines service charge, gratuity, cover charge, baksheesh, tipflation and service compris.

How this was built

Every entry was cross-checked across multiple current, published English-language travel and consumer sources (including Wikipedia's actively-maintained "List of tipping customs by country" and current 2026 travel guides) rather than drawn from a single source or invented. Tipping is a topic that's genuinely easy to get wrong or flatten into a stereotype, so each entry favors hedged, general language ("typically", "roughly", "in many places") over false precision, and every answer notes that norms vary within a country (city vs. rural, upscale vs. casual) and are actively evolving.

What it is not

Not a live price feed and not a claim that any one number is universally correct — it's a careful starting point for a typical visit. Always check the actual bill for an already-included service charge before adding a tip on top of one, and when genuinely unsure, watch what people around you do.

Tip World — Privacy Policy

Effective 25 September 2026. Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us"), Menlo Park, California.

What Tipworld is. Tipworld is a connector (an MCP server and REST API) that AI assistants and personal agents call on your behalf for a hand-curated, fully local reference of tipping customs by country — norms by service type, comparisons, a tip calculator, region browsing, service-charge flags, cultural notes and a glossary. You interact with your assistant; the assistant sends us only the arguments needed for that one lookup.

What we receive. The arguments of each tool call — a country name, a service type, a bill amount for the calculator, or a glossary term — the technical headers needed to serve the request (an IP address or a client identifier supplied by the assistant, and a Pro API key if you have one), and standard server logs.

Everything is answered from a bundled, hand-curated reference file and nothing is stored. No request is forwarded to any third party — there is no upstream call at all — and no query is logged in request bodies, recorded, or used to train anything. A bill amount you give the calculator is used only to compute that one response.

What we do not receive or store. We do not receive your conversation with the assistant, your name, or your travel plans, and we do not build a profile from your queries: each request is answered independently and nothing carries over between requests. Rate-limit counters (a client identifier and timestamps) are held in memory for at most 24 hours. Hosting-provider access logs, which contain IP addresses and request paths but not request bodies, are retained for up to 30 days for security and abuse prevention.

Sub-processors. None — the entire dataset is bundled with the server and answered locally. Hosting: Vercel (United States regions).

Legal bases and your rights. Our processing is necessary to provide the service you request through your assistant. Because we store no personal data beyond short-lived logs, requests to access, correct or delete personal data are usually satisfied automatically; you can still contact agent@connectorbay.com and we will respond within 30 days. We do not sell or share personal information and do not use your data to train models.

Children. Tipworld is a general-audience service operated by the adult using the assistant.

Changes. We will post changes here with a new effective date.

Tip World — Terms of Service

Effective 25 September 2026. These terms govern use of the Tipworld connector ("the Service") operated by Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us").

1. The Service. Tipworld returns a hand-curated, cross-referenced reference of tipping customs by country — norms by service type, comparisons, a tip calculator, region browsing, service-charge flags, cultural notes and a glossary. It is accessed through an AI assistant or directly over MCP or HTTP.
2. General guidance, not a rule or a guarantee. Tipping customs vary within every country covered (by city, by venue type, by whether payment is cash or card) and change over time. Every figure and norm category here is a general starting point for a typical, non-luxury visit, cross-referenced against multiple published sources as of the effective date above — not a definitive rule, not legal or financial advice, and not a guarantee of what any specific establishment expects or requires.
3. Check the actual bill. Many of the countries and venues described here commonly add a service charge to the bill already. Always check before adding a further tip on top of one; the Service's guidance is not a substitute for reading your own bill.
4. Acceptable use. Automated use within the published rate limits is welcome.
5. Availability. The Service is provided "as is" without warranty. We may change, limit or discontinue it at any time. Content reflects general, cross-referenced practice as of the build date stated in the Service's own data and may not reflect subsequent changes in local custom.
6. Data. Our Privacy Policy describes what we process. In short: your query is answered from bundled reference data, and nothing is stored.
7. Pro keys. Optional Pro API keys are issued at our discretion, are personal to the holder and may be revoked for abuse.
8. Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Unify Dynamics LLC is not liable for any loss, embarrassment, or social friction arising from reliance on tipping guidance provided by this Service. Our total liability is limited to US $100.
9. Governing law. California law; venue in San Mateo County, California.
10. Contact. Unify Dynamics LLC · agent@connectorbay.com · https://connectorbay.com/tipworld

Tip World support

Email agent@connectorbay.com. We answer within two business days.

• MCP endpoint: https://tipworld.connectorbay.com/mcp
• REST API: https://tipworld.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
• Live status: https://tipworld.connectorbay.com/health

When you report a problem, include the question you asked your agent, roughly when, and which agent you used (for example Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini). Never send us passwords, account numbers or ID numbers. Tip World never asks for them.