TrueSearchMCP

v1.0.0 · Browser-cookie powered Google & YouTube search for AI agents — no API keys, no quotas.

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that reads your real browser cookies and searches Google / scrapes YouTube exactly like your browser would.

Status: EXPERIMENTAL / UNSTABLE

⚠️ This software is experimental and unstable.

• Scraping breaks when Google/YouTube change their HTML or APIs

• No stability guarantees — APIs and tool schemas may change without notice

• Cookies are sensitive; never share your .cookies.json

• Chrome v127+ (App-Bound Encryption) requires a remote-debugging workaround

• Not audited for security. Use at your own risk.

Suitable for personal experimentation only. Do not use in production.

Related MCP server: youtube-mcp

Tools (8)

Resource Usage (measured)

Largest deps: better-sqlite3 68 MB, koffi 28 MB (native), rest is small.

Release build

npm install         # prepare hook compiles TypeScript automatically
npm run build       # tsc → build/

Release package (ZIP):

# from the project root, after npm run build:
npm run build
# stage + zip (PowerShell):
powershell -NoProfile -Command ^
  "$s='%TEMP%\tsmcp-release'; Remove-Item $s -Recurse -Force -EA 0; New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path \"$s\TrueSearchMCP\" | Out-Null;" ^
  "Copy-Item build,package.json,package-lock.json,README.md,LICENSE,install.bat,uninstall.bat,tsmcp.bat -Destination \"$s\TrueSearchMCP\" -Recurse;" ^
  "Compress-Archive -Path \"$s\TrueSearchMCP\" -DestinationPath 'TrueSearchMCP-1.0.0.zip' -Force"

The ZIP contains build/ (runtime JS), install.bat, uninstall.bat, tsmcp.bat, package.json, package-lock.json, README.md, LICENSE — no cookies, no config, no logs, no source.

Windows installer (recommended):

# extract the ZIP, then from the extracted TrueSearchMCP folder:
.\install.bat

What it does:

1. Copies the app to %LOCALAPPDATA%\TrueSearchMCP

2. Runs npm install --omit=dev (one-time dependency setup)

3. Drops a tsmcp.bat shim into %APPDATA%\npm (already on PATH for npm users)

Then in a new CMD/PowerShell window:

tsmcp                 # interactive menu
tsmcp search "query"  # CLI passthrough (any cli.js command)
tsmcp harness list

Uninstall: run .\uninstall.bat from the release folder (removes the install dir + tsmcp command; harness config entries are left for you to remove manually).

npm pack install (alternative):

npm run release     # tsc + npm pack → truesearch-mcp-1.0.0.tgz
npm install -g ./truesearch-mcp-1.0.0.tgz

Releasing to GitHub (not yet done)

git commit -m "Release v1.0.0"
git tag v1.0.0
git remote add origin <your-github-repo-url>
git push -u origin main --tags

Then attach TrueSearchMCP-1.0.0.zip to the GitHub Release for v1.0.0.

.cookies.json, .config.json, mcp.log, build/, node_modules/, *.zip are gitignored — cookies never enter the repo.

Installation

1. From source (GitHub code download)

git clone <repo-url>
cd TrueSearchMCP
.\install.bat       # auto-builds if build/ is missing (needs Node.js 18+), then installs

install.bat works on both the release ZIP (pre-built build/) and a raw source checkout — it detects src/ and runs npm install (which triggers tsc) automatically. You can also build manually with npm install and wire up Claude only via npm run config -- install both.

The MCP entry point after build is <repo>/build/index.js.

2. Add to a harness

⚠️ All harness installs are EXPERIMENTAL / UNSTABLE. Config formats change between harness versions; tool schemas may shift without notice. Verify with the harness's MCP status command after adding.

Claude Desktop

%AppData%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "truesearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["D:\\TrueSearchMCP\\build\\index.js"],
      "type": "stdio"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Claude Code

CLI (recommended):

claude mcp add --scope user truesearch -- node D:\TrueSearchMCP\build\index.js
claude mcp list          # verify: ✔ Connected

Or edit ~/.claude.json (user scope) / .mcp.json (project scope):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "truesearch": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["D:\\TrueSearchMCP\\build\\index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Verify inside a session with /mcp.

Hermes

Append to ~/.hermes/config.yaml (or %AppData%\hermes\config.yaml), then /reload-mcp:

mcp_servers:
  truesearch:
    command: "node"
    args: ["D:/TrueSearchMCP/build/index.js"]
    enabled: true
    timeout: 120

Tools appear as mcp__truesearch__search_google, etc.

OpenCode

~/.config/opencode/opencode.json (note: type must be "local", not "stdio"):

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "truesearch": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["node", "D:/TrueSearchMCP/build/index.js"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Cline / Roo Code

Cline CLI (npm) — or use harness install cline, writes to ~/.cline/data/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json:

cline mcp install truesearch --yes -- node D:\TrueSearchMCP\build\index.js

Or paste into ~/.cline/data/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "truesearch": {
      "transport": { "type": "stdio", "command": "node", "args": ["D:\\TrueSearchMCP\\build\\index.js"] }
    }
  }
}

VS Code extension: Cline extension → MCP Servers → Add New MCP Server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "truesearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["D:\\TrueSearchMCP\\build\\index.js"],
      "type": "stdio"
    }
  }
}

Cursor

~/.cursor/mcp.json (or Settings → MCP → Add new global MCP server):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "truesearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["D:\\TrueSearchMCP\\build\\index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Goose

~/.config/goose/config.yaml:

mcp_servers:
  truesearch:
    command: node
    args: ["D:/TrueSearchMCP/build/index.js"]

Zed

~/.config/zed/settings.json:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "truesearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["D:\\TrueSearchMCP\\build\\index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "truesearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["D:\\TrueSearchMCP\\build\\index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Global install (experimental)

Recommended: extract TrueSearchMCP-1.0.0.zip and run .\install.bat (see Release build above).

Alternative via npm tarball:

npm run release     # produces truesearch-mcp-1.0.0.tgz
npm install -g ./truesearch-mcp-1.0.0.tgz
truesearch                      # interactive menu
truesearch-mcp                  # MCP server on stdio

(npm install -g truesearch-mcp will work once the package is published to npm — not yet.)

Every harness row above is unstable/experimental when paired with this server — HTML scraping is inherently brittle and breaks when Google/YouTube change their markup.

Usage

Interactive menu

npm start

Arrow keys / j k to navigate, Enter to select, 1-9 hotkeys, Esc/q to go back.

CLI

npm run search -- "query" --browser stored
node build/cli.js yt search "rust tutorial"
node build/cli.js yt video "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
node build/cli.js yt comments "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
node build/cli.js config health
node build/cli.js harness list              # auto-detect installed harnesses
node build/cli.js harness install <id>      # install MCP into a harness
node build/cli.js harness uninstall <id>    # remove MCP from a harness
node build/cli.js update                    # check for updates (GitHub / npm)

Browser notes

• Firefox — cookies read directly from cookies.sqlite (plaintext). Works out of the box.

• Chrome ≤126 — cookies decrypted via Windows DPAPI + AES-256-GCM.

• Chrome 127+ (App-Bound Encryption / v20) — cannot decrypt externally. Either:

  • Use Firefox or stored cookies, or

  • Restart Chrome with --remote-debugging-port=9222 (falls back to DevTools Protocol).

• System proxy — auto-detected from Windows settings; override with config proxy auto|off|URL.

Proxy

Reads Windows system proxy automatically (HKCU\...\Internet Settings\ProxyServer). Default mode: auto. Change with:

npm run config -- proxy off
npm run config -- proxy http://127.0.0.1:7890

License

MIT — see LICENSE.