NewsAPI MCP Server

Note this service was 100% vibecoded using Copilot Agent!

A TypeScript-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for integrating with NewsAPI, enabling seamless access to global news articles, headlines, and sources through MCP-compatible applications.

Features

This MCP server provides three main tools for interacting with NewsAPI:

1. search_articles

Search for news articles by keyword or phrase with options to:

• Filter by language

• Sort results (by relevancy, popularity, or publication date)

• Control pagination

2. get_top_headlines

Fetch top headlines from specific countries or categories:

• Filter by country (using ISO country codes)

• Filter by category (business, entertainment, general, health, science, sports, technology)

• Customizable page size

3. get_sources

Discover available news sources with optional filtering by:

• Category

• Country

Related MCP server: NewsDigest MCP

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 16 or higher

• npm (comes with Node.js)

• A NewsAPI API key (get one free at https://newsapi.org)

Installation

1. Clone or download this project

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd newsapi-mcp

3. Install dependencies:

   npm install

4. Build the TypeScript code:

   npm run build

Configuration

1. Set your NewsAPI key as an environment variable:

   On Windows:

   $env:NEWS_API_KEY="your-newsapi-key-here"

   On macOS/Linux:

   export NEWS_API_KEY="your-newsapi-key-here"

2. Or create a .env file in the project root (if using dotenv):

   NEWS_API_KEY=your-newsapi-key-here

Usage

With Claude Desktop

1. Update your Claude Desktop configuration file:

   macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

   Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the NewsAPI server configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "newsapi": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["/absolute/path/to/newsapi-mcp/build/index.js"],
         "env": {
           "NEWS_API_KEY": "your-newsapi-key"
         }
       }
     }
   }

3. Restart Claude Desktop

With MCP Inspector

Test the server using the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node ./build/index.js

Make sure NEWS_API_KEY is set before running.

Tool Details

search_articles

Search for news articles by keyword.

Parameters:

• q (required): Search keywords or phrase

• sortBy (optional): Sort order - relevancy, popularity, or publishedAt (default: publishedAt)

• language (optional): Language code like 'en', 'es', 'fr' (default: 'en')

• pageSize (optional): Number of articles to return, 1-100 (default: 10)

Example:

"Find articles about artificial intelligence sorted by popularity"

get_top_headlines

Get top headlines from a specific country or category.

Parameters:

• country (optional): Two-letter ISO country code like 'us', 'gb', 'de' (default: 'us')

• category (optional): One of: business, entertainment, general, health, science, sports, technology

• pageSize (optional): Number of articles to return, 1-100 (default: 10)

Example:

"Get top technology headlines from the UK"

get_sources

Get available news sources with optional filtering.

Parameters:

• category (optional): Filter by category

• country (optional): Filter by country code

Example:

"Show me all technology news sources"

Development

Build

npm run build

Run in development mode

npm run dev

Project Structure

newsapi-mcp/
├── src/
│   └── index.ts          # Main server implementation
├── build/                # Compiled JavaScript (after build)
├── .vscode/
│   └── mcp.json         # MCP configuration
├── package.json         # Project dependencies
├── tsconfig.json        # TypeScript configuration
└── README.md            # This file

Environment Variables

• NEWS_API_KEY (required): Your NewsAPI API key from https://newsapi.org

API Documentation

For more information about the NewsAPI endpoints and parameters, visit: https://newsapi.org/docs

Troubleshooting

"NEWS_API_KEY environment variable is not set"

Make sure you have set the NEWS_API_KEY environment variable with a valid NewsAPI key.

"Error fetching headlines"

Check that:

1. Your API key is valid

2. Your API key has not exceeded its usage limit

3. The parameters you're using are valid (valid country/category codes)

Connection refused

Ensure the server has been built:

npm run build

And make sure you're using the correct absolute path in your configuration.

License

MIT

Support

For issues with the MCP server, file an issue in the repository. For questions about NewsAPI, visit: https://newsapi.org/docs