DuckDuckGo Browser MCP Server
Provides real-time search capabilities via DuckDuckGo Lite, with automatic retry, caching, and category detection.
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@DuckDuckGo Browser MCP Serversearch for latest AI news"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
DuckDuckGo Browser MCP Server
A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that performs real-time internet searches via the DuckDuckGo Lite endpoint (https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/) with automatic retry logic, intelligent caching, and robust error handling across all transport modes.
Previously: Simulated search with a deterministic knowledge base
Now: Live web search results with enterprise-grade reliability
What's New
✨ Real-Time Search: Fetch live results from DuckDuckGo Lite
🔄 Automatic Retries: 3 attempts with exponential backoff
💾 Smart Caching: 5-minute TTL with stale-data fallback
⏱️ Timeout Protection: Request-level and session-level timeouts
📊 Auto-Detection: Category detection from search results
🛡️ Robust Modes: Enhanced error handling for STDIO, SSE, and Streamable HTTP
📝 Detailed Logging: Debug-friendly operation tracking
Related MCP server: DuckDuckGo MCP Server
Folder Structure
duckduckgo-browser-mcp/
├── src/
│ └── duckduckgo_browser/
│ ├── __init__.py # Package entry point (sync main())
│ ├── __main__.py # python -m duckduckgo_browser
│ ├── server.py # MCP app + all three transport modes
│ ├── services/
│ │ ├── __init__.py
│ │ ├── search_engine.py # Real-time search via DuckDuckGo Lite
│ │ └── web_scraper.py # Web scraper with retry logic & caching
│ └── tools/
│ ├── __init__.py
│ ├── toolhandler.py # Abstract base class for tools
│ └── search_tools.py # get_internet_result tool handler
├── tests/
│ ├── __init__.py
│ └── test_search_tools.py
├── Dockerfile
├── pyproject.toml
├── pytest.ini
└── README.mdInstallation
cd duckduckgo-browser-mcp
python -m venv .venv
# Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate
# macOS/Linux
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .Dependencies:
mcp[cli]>=1.12.0
starlette>=0.27.0
uvicorn>=0.20.0
requests>=2.31.0 (HTTP client)
beautifulsoup4>=4.12.0 (HTML parsing)
Running the Server
1. STDIO mode
Used by MCP hosts like Claude Desktop, IDE plugins, and CLI clients.
python -m duckduckgo_browser --mode stdioThe server reads JSON-RPC frames from stdin and writes responses to stdout.
2. SSE mode (Server-Sent Events)
python -m duckduckgo_browser --mode sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 7070GET http://localhost:7070/sse— open SSE streamPOST http://localhost:7070/messages/— send MCP request frames
3. Streamable HTTP mode (Recommended for Production)
python -m duckduckgo_browser --mode streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 7070POST http://localhost:7070/mcp— single endpoint, chunked streaming response
Docker
# Build
docker build -t duckduckgo-browser-mcp .
# Run (streamable-http, default)
docker run -p 7070:7070 duckduckgo-browser-mcp
# Run SSE mode
docker run -p 7070:7070 duckduckgo-browser-mcp --mode sse --port 7070
# Run STDIO mode (pipe-based)
docker run -i duckduckgo-browser-mcp --mode stdioTool: get_internet_result
Performs real-time searches on DuckDuckGo Lite with automatic retry and caching.
Field | Type | Required | Description |
| string | ✅ | Natural language query or search term |
Example output
# DuckDuckGo Browser -- Search Results
- **Query:** "what is machine learning"
- **Topic category detected:** ai
- **Results found:** 5
## Top Results
### 1. Machine Learning Explained
- **URL:** https://www.ibm.com/topics/machine-learning
- **Summary:** Machine learning is a subset of AI ...
- **Relevance score:** 5
## Suggested Websites to Explore
### Hugging Face
- **URL:** https://huggingface.co
- **Why visit:** Leading hub for open-source AI models and datasets
## What to Look For
When researching AI topics, prioritise peer-reviewed papers (arXiv, NeurIPS)
and official model documentation. Cross-check benchmark claims on Papers With Code.
---
*Results powered by DuckDuckGo Lite (https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/).*
*Search performed in real-time with automatic retry and caching for reliability.*Example MCP Client Calls
Python (stdio)
import asyncio
from mcp import ClientSession, StdioServerParameters
from mcp.client.stdio import stdio_client
async def main():
params = StdioServerParameters(
command="python",
args=["-m", "duckduckgo_browser", "--mode", "stdio"],
)
async with stdio_client(params) as (read, write):
async with ClientSession(read, write) as session:
await session.initialize()
result = await session.call_tool(
"get_internet_result",
{"input_value": "what is machine learning"},
)
print(result.content[0].text)
asyncio.run(main())Python (SSE)
import asyncio
from mcp import ClientSession
from mcp.client.sse import sse_client
async def main():
async with sse_client("http://localhost:7070/sse") as (read, write):
async with ClientSession(read, write) as session:
await session.initialize()
result = await session.call_tool(
"get_internet_result",
{"input_value": "best travel destinations Europe"},
)
print(result.content[0].text)
asyncio.run(main())Python (Streamable HTTP)
import asyncio
from mcp import ClientSession
from mcp.client.streamable_http import streamablehttp_client
async def main():
async with streamablehttp_client("http://localhost:7070/mcp") as (read, write, _):
async with ClientSession(read, write) as session:
await session.initialize()
result = await session.call_tool(
"get_internet_result",
{"input_value": "how does quantum computing work"},
)
print(result.content[0].text)
asyncio.run(main())curl (Streamable HTTP — initialize)
curl -X POST http://localhost:7070/mcp \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"curl-client","version":"1.0"}}}'curl (Streamable HTTP — call tool)
# Replace <SESSION_ID> with the mcp-session-id from the initialize response header
curl -X POST http://localhost:7070/mcp \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "mcp-session-id: <SESSION_ID>" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_internet_result","arguments":{"input_value":"python web frameworks"}}}'Running Tests
pip install pytest pytest-asyncio
pytestHow It Works
Search Flow
User Query
↓
get_internet_result tool (async)
↓
RealSearchEngine.search()
↓
DuckDuckGoScraper.search_with_retry()
├─ Check in-memory cache
├─ If cached & valid → return cached results
├─ If cache miss → fetch from DuckDuckGo Lite
│ ├─ Attempt 1: Request + parse (10s timeout)
│ ├─ Timeout? → wait 2s, retry
│ ├─ Attempt 2: Request + parse
│ ├─ Timeout? → wait 4s, retry
│ ├─ Attempt 3: Request + parse
│ ├─ All fail? → return stale cache or empty
└─ Cache new results (5 min TTL)
↓
Auto-detect Category
↓
Curated Website Suggestions
↓
Formatted Markdown ResponseKey Features
Retry Logic
Maximum 3 attempts per query
Exponential backoff: 2s, 4s between retries
Timeout per request: 10 seconds
Caching
In-memory cache with 5-minute TTL
Prevents repeated web calls for same query
Stale cache returned on network failures
Automatic eviction of expired entries
Error Handling
Timeout errors trigger retry logic
Connection errors check cache
Network failures return cached data or graceful error message
STDIO: Catches BrokenPipeError on client disconnect
SSE: Per-session timeout (1 hour)
Streamable HTTP: Per-request timeout (60 seconds)
Category Detection Results are automatically categorized based on content patterns:
AI, programming, cloud, finance, health, science, education, travel, food, sports, general
Each category includes curated website suggestions.
Configuration
Adjust scraper behavior in src/duckduckgo_browser/services/web_scraper.py:
DuckDuckGoScraper(
timeout=10.0, # Request timeout (seconds)
max_retries=3, # Retry attempts
retry_backoff_base=2.0, # Exponential backoff base
cache_ttl=300, # Cache TTL (seconds)
)Adjust HTTP server timeouts in src/duckduckgo_browser/server.py:
STDIO: Standard input timeout
SSE: 3600s session timeout
Streamable HTTP: 60s request timeout
Logging
Server provides detailed logging at multiple levels:
Startup Output
2026-04-01T15:36:13 INFO duckduckgo-browser ================================================================================
2026-04-01T15:36:13 INFO duckduckgo-browser Starting DuckDuckGo Browser MCP Server
2026-04-01T15:36:13 INFO duckduckgo-browser Python: 3.11.6
2026-04-01T15:36:13 INFO duckduckgo-browser Mode: streamable-http
2026-04-01T15:36:13 INFO duckduckgo-browser Listening at http://0.0.0.0:7070
2026-04-01T15:36:13 INFO duckduckgo-browser Registered tools: ['get_internet_result']Log Levels
DEBUG: Cache hits/misses, individual retry attempts, parser details
INFO: Tool registration, server startup, search requests
WARNING: Retry attempts, network failures, cache misses
ERROR: Fatal errors, unrecoverable failures
Enable debug logging:
import logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)Robustness Summary
Feature | Details |
Network Retry | 3x with exponential backoff (2s, 4s) |
Request Timeout | 10 seconds per attempt |
Session Timeout | 60s HTTP, 1h SSE, unlimited STDIO |
Caching | 5-min TTL + stale fallback |
Error Recovery | Graceful degradation, no crashes |
STDIO Mode | Handles BrokenPipeError, client disconnect |
SSE Mode | Connection error handling, CORS support |
Streamable HTTP | Error responses (504 timeout, 500 error) |
Logging | DEBUG/INFO/WARNING/ERROR levels |
Known Limitations
DuckDuckGo Lite Parse: Assumes standard DuckDuckGo Lite HTML format
May need updates if DDG changes HTML structure
Parser handles missing/malformed results gracefully
Network Dependency: Requires internet connectivity
Uses cache to survive brief outages
Falls back to empty results after 3 retries
Rate Limiting: DuckDuckGo may rate-limit rapid requests
Exponential backoff helps mitigate
Cache reduces repeated queries
In-Memory Cache: Lost on server restart
Suitable for most deployments
Consider persistent cache (Redis/SQLite) for high-volume use
Troubleshooting
Port Already in Use
python -m duckduckgo_browser --mode streamable-http --port 8000Connection Timeout
Verify internet connectivity
Test:
curl https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/?q=testCheck firewall rules
No Results
Verify query is valid
Check logs: Enable DEBUG level logging
Test with simpler query terms
Dependency Issues
pip install -r requirements.txt
# or
pip install -e .Files Modified
File | Change | Purpose |
| NEW | DuckDuckGo Lite scraper with retry/cache |
| Modified | Live search engine (was deterministic) |
| Modified | Export new functions |
| Modified | Async tool handler |
| Modified | Enhanced error handling & timeouts |
| Modified | Added requests + beautifulsoup4 |
Future Enhancements
Persistent cache (Redis/SQLite)
Circuit breaker pattern for API failures
Result ranking/scoring improvements
Support for other search engines
Metrics/monitoring integration
Request deduplication
Result filtering/quality scoring
Version History
v1.0.0 (April 2026) - Live DuckDuckGo Search
Real-time search via DuckDuckGo Lite endpoint
Automatic retry with exponential backoff
Smart result caching (5-min TTL)
Enhanced error handling across all modes
Auto-category detection
Comprehensive logging
v0.1.0 (Previous) - Deterministic Knowledge Base
Static internal knowledge base
No network dependencies
Deterministic results
Status: Production Ready ✓
Last Updated: April 1, 2026
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