NYTimes Article Search MCP Server

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/index.ts:116-169 (handler)

  Executes the search_articles tool: validates input, queries NYTimes API for recent articles matching the keyword, maps response to simplified format, returns as JSON text content.

  async (request) => {
    if (request.params.name !== "search_articles") {
      throw new McpError(
        ErrorCode.MethodNotFound,
        `Unknown tool: ${request.params.name}`
      );
    }
  
    if (!isValidSearchArticlesArgs(request.params.arguments)) {
      throw new McpError(
        ErrorCode.InvalidParams,
        "Invalid search arguments"
      );
    }
  
    const keyword = request.params.arguments.keyword;
  
    try {
      const response = await this.axiosInstance.get<NYTimesApiResponse>(API_CONFIG.ENDPOINT, {
        params: {
          q: keyword,
          sort: 'newest',
          'begin_date': this.getDateString(30),  // 30 days ago
          'end_date': this.getDateString(0)  // today
        }
      });
  
      const articles: ArticleSearchResult[] = response.data.response.docs.map(article => ({
        title: article.headline.main,
        abstract: article.abstract,
        url: article.web_url,
        publishedDate: article.pub_date,
        author: article.byline.original || 'Unknown'
      }));
  
      return {
        content: [{
          type: "text",
          text: JSON.stringify(articles, null, 2)
        }]
      };
    } catch (error) {
      if (axios.isAxiosError(error)) {
        return {
          content: [{
            type: "text",
            text: `NYTimes API error: ${error.response?.data.message ?? error.message}`
          }],
          isError: true,
        }
      }
      throw error;
    }
  }

• src/index.ts:94-112 (registration)

  Registers the 'search_articles' tool in the MCP ListToolsRequestSchema response, including name, description, and input schema.

  this.server.setRequestHandler(
    ListToolsRequestSchema,
    async () => ({
      tools: [{
        name: "search_articles",
        description: "Search NYTimes articles from the last 30 days based on a keyword",
        inputSchema: {
          type: "object",
          properties: {
            keyword: {
              type: "string",
              description: "Keyword to search for in articles"
            }
          },
          required: ["keyword"]
        }
      }]
    })
  );

• src/types.ts:64-66 (schema)

  TypeScript interface defining the input arguments for search_articles tool.

  export interface SearchArticlesArgs {
    keyword: string;
  }

• src/types.ts:69-76 (helper)

  Type guard function to validate search_articles arguments before execution.

  export function isValidSearchArticlesArgs(args: any): args is SearchArticlesArgs {
    return (
      typeof args === "object" &&
      args !== null &&
      "keyword" in args &&
      typeof args.keyword === "string"
    );
  }

• src/index.ts:173-177 (helper)

  Helper function to format date for NYTimes API query (days ago).

  private getDateString(daysAgo: number): string {
    const date = new Date();
    date.setDate(date.getDate() - daysAgo);
    return date.toISOString().split('T')[0].replace(/-/g, '');
  }