# scouts-ai-mcp

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes the [SCOUTS-AI](https://scouts-ai.com/) web search API as a single `web_search` tool for AI agents, LLM apps, answer engines and GEO workflows.

- **One tool, no API key.** Backed by `GET https://scouts-ai.com/api/search`.
- **Drop-in for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Open WebUI, Continue, Cline** and any MCP host.
- **Python ≥ 3.10**, `fastmcp` (`>=2.0`, currently resolves to 3.x), `httpx`.
- **MIT licensed.**

## Install

```bash
pip install scouts-ai-mcp
```

## Run (stdio)

```bash
scouts-ai-mcp
```

That's it. Wire it into your MCP host of choice — for example, Claude Desktop's `claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scouts-ai": {
      "command": "scouts-ai-mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

## Run (HTTP)

For remote MCP hosts and self-hosted bridges:

```bash
scouts-ai-mcp --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8765
```

## Run (Docker)

A multi-arch (`linux/amd64` + `linux/arm64`) image is published to Docker
Hub as [`kecven/scouts-ai-mcp`](https://hub.docker.com/r/kecven/scouts-ai-mcp).
It runs the MCP server in streamable HTTP mode on port `8765` and exposes
the `web_search` tool at `http://localhost:8765/mcp`. No API key, no
external dependencies.

Quick start:

```bash
docker run --rm -p 8765:8765 kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:0.1.7
```

Then point any streamable-HTTP MCP host at `http://localhost:8765/mcp`
(or, when run behind a public proxy, `https://<your-host>/mcp`).

Override the upstream API base URL:

```bash
docker run --rm -p 8765:8765 \
  -e SCOUTS_AI_BASE_URL=https://scouts-ai.com \
  kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:0.1.7
```

Append CLI args (the image entrypoint is `scouts-ai-mcp`):

```bash
docker run --rm -p 8765:8765 kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:0.1.7 --log-level=DEBUG
```

Available tags:

- `kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:0.1.7` — pinned, recommended for production.
- `kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:0.1` — minor-version rolling tag.
- `kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:latest` — latest stable release.

Build and push locally (requires `docker buildx`):

```bash
docker buildx build \
  --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
  -f Dockerfile.hosted \
  -t kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:0.1.7 \
  -t kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:0.1 \
  -t kecven/scouts-ai-mcp:latest \
  --push .
```

The image runs as a non-root user (`scouts`, uid 1001) and includes a
TCP-level `HEALTHCHECK` on `127.0.0.1:8765` (the streamable HTTP
endpoint does not return `200` on plain GET, so an HTTP probe would be
unreliable).

## Tool: `web_search`

| Parameter | Type   | Default | Description                                  |
| --------- | ------ | ------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| `query`   | string | —       | Search query, 1–512 chars.                   |
| `lang`    | string | `en`    | BCP-47 language code (e.g. `en`, `en-US`).   |
| `page`    | int    | `1`     | 1-based page number, 1–10. `page=1` is the reliable default; pages `>1` may be empty for some queries because the upstream provider (Bing) does not always return additional pages. |

Returns a compact JSON object mirroring the SCOUTS-AI response shape:

```json
{
  "query": "rust async runtime",
  "lang": "en",
  "page": 1,
  "pageSize": 10,
  "cached": false,
  "tookMs": 412,
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Tokio - An asynchronous runtime for Rust",
      "url": "https://tokio.rs/",
      "content": "Tokio is an asynchronous runtime for the Rust programming language...",
      "publishedAt": "2025-11-14T00:00:00Z",
      "engine": "bing"
    }
  ]
}
```

### Error handling

The tool raises `ToolError` (rendered as an MCP tool error) when:

- The query is empty/too long or `lang`/`page` are invalid → invalid arguments.
- The upstream returns `429` → rate limit exceeded; honors `Retry-After` when present.
- The upstream returns `5xx` or the network call fails → SCOUTS-AI temporarily unavailable.
- The upstream returns a structured `4xx` error envelope → forwards the code and message.

## Configuration

All settings are environment variables. Defaults match the public SCOUTS-AI deployment.

| Variable                   | Default                  | Description                              |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------- |
| `SCOUTS_AI_BASE_URL`       | `https://scouts-ai.com`  | Base URL of the SCOUTS-AI API.           |
| `SCOUTS_AI_TIMEOUT_S`      | `5.0`                    | HTTP timeout in seconds (0.1–60).        |
| `SCOUTS_AI_USER_AGENT`     | `scouts-ai-mcp/0.1.7`    | User-Agent header.                       |
| `SCOUTS_AI_DEFAULT_LANG`   | `en`                     | Default `lang` when the tool omits it.   |
| `SCOUTS_AI_MAX_QUERY_LENGTH` | `512`                  | Reject queries longer than this.         |
| `SCOUTS_AI_MAX_PAGE`       | `10`                     | Reject page numbers above this.          |

## Development

```bash
git clone https://github.com/kecven/scouts-ai-mcp.git
cd scouts-ai-mcp
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest
```

## License

MIT — see [LICENSE](https://github.com/kecven/scouts-ai-mcp/blob/main/LICENSE).