MCP Web Search Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides web search capabilities, deployable on Render.

Built with Python using the official MCP SDK, supporting SSE (Server-Sent Events) transport for maximum compatibility with MCP clients like AIPI, Claude Desktop, and others.

Tools exposed

Related MCP server: MCP Search & Fetch

🚀 Deploy to Render (step-by-step)

1. Push this repo to GitHub

cd mcp-web-search
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
# create a repo on github.com, then:
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/mcp-web-search.git
git push -u origin main

2. Create a new Web Service on Render

1. Go to render.com → New → Web Service

2. Connect your GitHub repo (mcp-web-search)

3. Render will auto-detect render.yaml — click Apply

4. Set environment variables in the Render dashboard:

5. Click Create Web Service — Render will build and deploy automatically.

Your server URL will be: https://mcp-web-search.onrender.com (or similar)

🔌 Connect to AIPI

In AIPI's "Add Custom MCP" dialog, paste this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "web-search": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "https://YOUR-SERVICE.onrender.com/sse"
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR-SERVICE with your actual Render service name (e.g., mcp-web-search-j73g).

Other MCP Clients

Works with any MCP client that supports SSE transport:

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "web-search": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "https://YOUR-SERVICE.onrender.com/sse"
    }
  }
}

🔍 Search Providers

Set SERPER_API_KEY in Render env vars to use Serper. The server falls back to DuckDuckGo automatically if the key is absent.

🧪 Test locally

pip install -r requirements.txt
SERPER_API_KEY=your_key python server.py

Health check:

curl http://localhost:3000/

The server runs on port 3000 by default. Set PORT environment variable to change it.

⚠️ Free tier note

Render's free tier spins down after 15 minutes of inactivity (cold start ~30s). Upgrade to the Starter plan ($7/mo) to keep it always-on.