# Cloudflare MCP Server for Static Sites
Turn your static website into an AI-accessible knowledge base. This project deploys a [Cloudflare Worker](https://developers.cloudflare.com/agents/model-context-protocol/) that implements the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) (MCP). AI tools like Claude can then search and retrieve your content directly. You can read more about this approach in [my blog post](https://zeltser.com/publishing-to-ai-assistants).
Cloudflare is [well-suited for hosting remote MCP servers](https://blog.cloudflare.com/remote-model-context-protocol-servers-mcp/) — its Workers platform handles the transport layer, and Durable Objects maintain persistent client sessions.
---
- [Why This Matters](#why-this-matters)
- [How It Works](#how-it-works)
- [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)
- [Quick Start](#quick-start)
- [MCP Client Setup](#mcp-client-setup)
- [Threat Model](#threat-model)
- [Adapters](#adapters)
- [Configuration](#configuration)
- [Development](#development)
- [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
- [Examples](#examples)
- [Author](#author)
---
## Why This Matters
AI assistants answer questions based on their training data, which may be outdated or incomplete. They can't search your website unless you give them a way to do so. This MCP server can be an AI-native bridge that allows these tools to get up-to-date information when they need it.
You might use this to:
- Help users find answers in your documentation
- Give AI assistants access to your blog's content
- Let AI tools cite your articles with accurate, up-to-date information
## How It Works
```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Your Static Site │
│ (Markdown files with frontmatter) │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Adapter │
│ (Astro, Hugo, or Generic — runs at build time) │
│ │
│ Scans your content files, extracts metadata from frontmatter, │
│ and generates a search-index.json file. │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Cloudflare R2 │
│ │
│ Stores the search index. Only your Worker can access it. │
│ The Worker caches the index in memory for one hour. │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Cloudflare Worker │
│ │
│ Implements the MCP server. Uses Fuse.js for fuzzy search. │
│ Durable Objects maintain persistent sessions with MCP clients. │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MCP Clients │
│ (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) │
│ │
│ Tools available to the AI: │
│ • search_<prefix> — Find content by keywords │
│ • get_article — Retrieve a specific page by URL │
│ • get_index_info — Get index statistics │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
## Prerequisites
| Requirement | What It's For |
|-------------|---------------|
| [Cloudflare account](https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up) | Hosts the Worker and R2 bucket. The free tier is sufficient. |
| [Node.js 18+](https://nodejs.org/) or [Bun](https://bun.sh/) | Runs the adapter that generates your search index. |
| [Wrangler CLI](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/wrangler/) | Deploys the Worker and manages R2. Installed via `bun install`. |
## Quick Start
You can follow these steps manually or point an AI coding tool (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) at this repo and ask it to set things up. Either way, you'll need a Cloudflare account and these details about your site:
- **Site name and domain** (e.g., "My Blog" and "blog.example.com")
- **Content directory** path to your markdown files
- **Tool prefix** for MCP tool names (e.g., "myblog" → `search_myblog`)
- **MCP endpoint domain** (e.g., "mcp.example.com")
### 1. Clone and Install
```bash
git clone https://github.com/lennyzeltser/cloudflare-mcp-for-static-sites.git my-site-mcp
cd my-site-mcp
bun install
```
### 2. Configure
Edit `wrangler.jsonc`:
```jsonc
{
"name": "my-site-mcp-server",
"routes": [
{ "pattern": "mcp.example.com", "custom_domain": true }
],
"r2_buckets": [
{ "binding": "SEARCH_BUCKET", "bucket_name": "my-site-mcp-data" }
]
}
```
### 3. Create R2 Bucket
```bash
npx wrangler r2 bucket create my-site-mcp-data
```
### 4. Generate and Upload Index
Pick an adapter for your site (see [Adapters](#adapters)):
```bash
node adapters/generic/generate-index.js \
--content-dir=../my-site/content \
--site-name="My Site" \
--site-domain="example.com" \
--tool-prefix="mysite"
npx wrangler r2 object put my-site-mcp-data/search-index.json \
--file=./search-index.json \
--content-type=application/json
```
### 5. Deploy
```bash
bun run deploy
```
Your MCP server is now running. Connect an MCP client to start searching.
**CI/CD:** The included GitHub Actions workflow (`.github/workflows/deploy.yml`) is set to manual trigger only. To deploy via GitHub Actions, go to Actions → Deploy → Run workflow. To enable auto-deploy on push, edit the workflow and add `push: branches: [main]` to the triggers.
---
## MCP Client Setup
### Claude Desktop
Add to `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"my-site": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"]
}
}
}
```
### Claude Code
```bash
claude mcp add my-site --transport http https://mcp.example.com/mcp --scope user
```
### Cursor
Add to your Cursor `mcp.json`:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"my-site": {
"url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
}
}
}
```
### Other Clients
Use the [`mcp-remote`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mcp-remote) package to connect via the `/mcp` endpoint (streamable HTTP, recommended) or `/sse` endpoint (SSE transport, legacy).
### Available Tools
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `search_<prefix>` | Search by keywords. Returns titles, URLs, dates, and summaries. |
| `get_article` | Retrieve full content by URL path (e.g., `/about`). |
| `get_index_info` | Get page count, generation date, and tool names. |
---
## Threat Model
This MCP server is designed for **public content only**. Consider these security characteristics before deploying:
### What's Exposed
| Exposure | Mechanism |
|----------|-----------|
| All indexed content | `get_article` retrieves full text by URL path |
| Content enumeration | `search_*` with broad queries reveals page titles and summaries |
| Site metadata | `/` endpoint and `get_index_info` reveal page count, domain, and tool names |
### Assumptions
- **Your content is already public.** The indexed pages come from a public website. This server makes them AI-searchable, not newly public.
- **R2 is not the security boundary.** While the R2 bucket is private, the Worker exposes its contents through MCP tools. Anyone with the endpoint URL can query all indexed content.
- **No authentication.** The MCP server accepts connections from any client. There's no API key, OAuth, or access control.
### Not Designed For
- Private or internal documentation
- Content requiring authentication or authorization
- Partial access control (all-or-nothing visibility)
### Recommendations
If you need access control, consider:
- Cloudflare Access for authentication at the Worker level
- A separate private deployment for internal content
- Excluding sensitive pages from the search index
---
## Adapters
An adapter generates the search index from your content. It scans your files, extracts frontmatter metadata, and outputs `search-index.json`.
Each adapter handles the specifics of a particular static site generator.
### Generic (Markdown)
Works with any site that uses markdown files with YAML frontmatter.
```bash
node adapters/generic/generate-index.js \
--content-dir=./content \
--site-name="My Website" \
--site-domain="example.com" \
--tool-prefix="mysite" \
--output=./search-index.json
```
See [`adapters/generic/README.md`](adapters/generic/README.md).
### Astro
An Astro integration that generates the index at build time.
```javascript
// astro.config.mjs
import { searchIndexIntegration } from './src/integrations/search-index.mjs';
export default defineConfig({
integrations: [
searchIndexIntegration({
siteName: 'My Blog',
siteDomain: 'blog.example.com',
toolPrefix: 'myblog',
}),
],
});
```
See [`adapters/astro/README.md`](adapters/astro/README.md).
### Hugo
A Node.js script that handles both TOML and YAML frontmatter.
```bash
node adapters/hugo/generate-index.js \
--content-dir=./content \
--site-name="My Hugo Site" \
--site-domain="example.com"
```
See [`adapters/hugo/README.md`](adapters/hugo/README.md).
### Writing Your Own Adapter
If your static site generator isn't listed, you can write an adapter. It just needs to output JSON in the v3.0 format.
Your adapter should:
1. Find your content files (markdown, MDX, HTML, etc.)
2. Extract metadata from frontmatter (title, date, tags)
3. Extract body text for search
4. Map file paths to URLs
5. Write `search-index.json`
Here's a template:
```javascript
import { writeFileSync } from 'fs';
const pages = [/* your content processing logic */];
const index = {
version: "3.0",
generated: new Date().toISOString(),
site: {
name: "My Site",
domain: "example.com",
description: "Brief description for the MCP tool",
toolPrefix: "mysite",
},
pageCount: pages.length,
pages: pages.map(page => ({
url: page.url, // Required: starts with /
title: page.title, // Required
abstract: page.summary, // Optional
date: page.date, // Optional: YYYY-MM-DD
topics: page.tags, // Optional: array
body: page.content, // Recommended for search quality
})),
};
writeFileSync("search-index.json", JSON.stringify(index, null, 2));
```
Validate your index:
```bash
bun scripts/validate-index.ts ./search-index.json
```
Upload to R2:
```bash
npx wrangler r2 object put my-site-mcp-data/search-index.json \
--file=./search-index.json \
--content-type=application/json
```
---
## Configuration
### wrangler.jsonc
| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `name` | Worker name in Cloudflare dashboard |
| `routes[].pattern` | Your custom domain |
| `r2_buckets[].bucket_name` | R2 bucket name |
For testing, you can use a workers.dev subdomain instead of a custom domain:
```jsonc
"workers_dev": true,
// Comment out "routes"
```
### Index Format
The search index follows the v3.0 schema:
```json
{
"version": "3.0",
"generated": "2025-01-15T12:00:00.000Z",
"site": {
"name": "My Website",
"domain": "example.com",
"description": "A site about interesting topics",
"toolPrefix": "mysite"
},
"pageCount": 42,
"pages": [
{
"url": "/about",
"title": "About Us",
"abstract": "Learn about our team.",
"date": "2025-01-01",
"topics": ["about", "team"],
"body": "Full page content..."
}
]
}
```
| Field | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| `version` | Yes | Schema version ("3.0") |
| `generated` | Yes | ISO 8601 timestamp |
| `site.name` | Yes | Site name |
| `site.domain` | Yes | Domain without protocol |
| `site.description` | No | Shown in MCP tool description |
| `site.toolPrefix` | No | Tool name prefix (default: `website`) |
| `pageCount` | Yes | Number of pages |
| `pages[].url` | Yes | Path starting with `/` |
| `pages[].title` | Yes | Page title |
| `pages[].body` | No | Full text (recommended) |
---
## Development
```bash
bun run dev # Local development server
bun run type-check # TypeScript checking
bun run lint:fix # Lint and fix
bun run format # Format code
bun run deploy # Deploy to Cloudflare
```
**Note:** This is a template repository. The `bun run deploy` command is for users who clone this template to deploy their own MCP server. To contribute to this template itself, use standard git workflows (`git push`).
---
## Troubleshooting
### "Search index not found in R2 bucket"
1. Check the bucket exists: `npx wrangler r2 bucket list`
2. Check the file was uploaded: `npx wrangler r2 object list my-site-mcp-data`
3. Verify the bucket name in `wrangler.jsonc` matches
### MCP client won't connect
1. Use the `/mcp` endpoint (recommended) or `/sse` for legacy clients
2. Visit your worker URL in a browser — you should see JSON
3. Make sure the URL includes `https://`
### Search returns no results
1. Validate your index: `bun scripts/validate-index.ts ./search-index.json`
2. Check that pages have `body` content
3. Try broader search terms
### Wrong tool names
Tool names come from `toolPrefix` in your search index. Regenerate and re-upload the index with the correct value.
### Local development
You need a local copy of the search index:
```bash
mkdir -p .wrangler/state/r2/my-site-mcp-data
cp search-index.json .wrangler/state/r2/my-site-mcp-data/search-index.json
```
---
## Examples
Two sites using this approach:
### REMnux Documentation
MCP server for [REMnux](https://remnux.org), the Linux toolkit for malware analysis.
**Repo:** [github.com/REMnux/remnux-docs-mcp-server](https://github.com/REMnux/remnux-docs-mcp-server)
```bash
# Claude Code
claude mcp add remnux-docs --transport http https://docs-mcp.remnux.org/mcp --scope user
```
### Lenny Zeltser's Website
MCP server for [zeltser.com](https://zeltser.com), covering malware analysis, incident response, and security leadership.
```bash
# Claude Code
claude mcp add zeltser-search --transport http https://website-mcp.zeltser.com/mcp --scope user
```
---
## Author
**[Lenny Zeltser](https://zeltser.com)**: Builder of security products and programs. Teacher of those who run them.
