DuckDuckGo MCP Server
# ddg-mcp MCP server
DuckDuckGo search API MCP - A server that provides DuckDuckGo search capabilities through the Model Context Protocol.
## Components
### Prompts
The server provides the following prompts:
- **search-results-summary**: Creates a summary of DuckDuckGo search results
- Required "query" argument for the search term
- Optional "style" argument to control detail level (brief/detailed)
### Tools
The server implements the following DuckDuckGo search tools:
- **ddg-text-search**: Search the web for text results using DuckDuckGo
- Required: "keywords" - Search query keywords
- Optional: "region", "safesearch", "timelimit", "max_results"
- **ddg-image-search**: Search the web for images using DuckDuckGo
- Required: "keywords" - Search query keywords
- Optional: "region", "safesearch", "timelimit", "size", "color", "type_image", "layout", "license_image", "max_results"
- **ddg-news-search**: Search for news articles using DuckDuckGo
- Required: "keywords" - Search query keywords
- Optional: "region", "safesearch", "timelimit", "max_results"
- **ddg-video-search**: Search for videos using DuckDuckGo
- Required: "keywords" - Search query keywords
- Optional: "region", "safesearch", "timelimit", "resolution", "duration", "license_videos", "max_results"
- **ddg-ai-chat**: Chat with DuckDuckGo AI
- Required: "keywords" - Message or question to send to the AI
- Optional: "model" - AI model to use (options: "gpt-4o-mini", "llama-3.3-70b", "claude-3-haiku", "o3-mini", "mistral-small-3")
## Installation
### Prerequisites
- Python 3.9 or higher
- [uv](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) (recommended) or pip
### Install from PyPI
```bash
# Using uv
uv install ddg-mcp
# Using pip
pip install ddg-mcp
```
### Install from Source
1. Clone the repository:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/misanthropic-ai/ddg-mcp.git
cd ddg-mcp
```
2. Install the package:
```bash
# Using uv
uv install -e .
# Using pip
pip install -e .
```
## Configuration
### Required Dependencies
The server requires the `duckduckgo-search` package, which will be installed automatically when you install `ddg-mcp`.
If you need to install it manually:
```bash
uv install duckduckgo-search
# or
pip install duckduckgo-search
```
## DuckDuckGo Search Parameters
### Common Parameters
These parameters are available for most search types:
- **region**: Region code for localized results (default: "wt-wt")
- Examples: "us-en" (US English), "uk-en" (UK English), "ru-ru" (Russian)
- See [DuckDuckGo regions](https://duckduckgo.com/params) for more options
- **safesearch**: Content filtering level (default: "moderate")
- "on": Strict filtering
- "moderate": Moderate filtering
- "off": No filtering
- **timelimit**: Time range for results
- "d": Last day
- "w": Last week
- "m": Last month
- "y": Last year (not available for news/videos)
- **max_results**: Maximum number of results to return (default: 10)
### Search Operators
You can use these operators in your search keywords:
- `cats dogs`: Results about cats or dogs
- `"cats and dogs"`: Results for exact term "cats and dogs"
- `cats -dogs`: Fewer dogs in results
- `cats +dogs`: More dogs in results
- `cats filetype:pdf`: PDFs about cats (supported: pdf, doc(x), xls(x), ppt(x), html)
- `dogs site:example.com`: Pages about dogs from example.com
- `cats -site:example.com`: Pages about cats, excluding example.com
- `intitle:dogs`: Page title includes the word "dogs"
- `inurl:cats`: Page URL includes the word "cats"
### Image Search Specific Parameters
- **size**: "Small", "Medium", "Large", "Wallpaper"
- **color**: "color", "Monochrome", "Red", "Orange", "Yellow", "Green", "Blue", "Purple", "Pink", "Brown", "Black", "Gray", "Teal", "White"
- **type_image**: "photo", "clipart", "gif", "transparent", "line"
- **layout**: "Square", "Tall", "Wide"
- **license_image**: "any", "Public", "Share", "ShareCommercially", "Modify", "ModifyCommercially"
### Video Search Specific Parameters
- **resolution**: "high", "standard"
- **duration**: "short", "medium", "long"
- **license_videos**: "creativeCommon", "youtube"
### AI Chat Models
- **gpt-4o-mini**: OpenAI's GPT-4o mini model
- **llama-3.3-70b**: Meta's Llama 3.3 70B model
- **claude-3-haiku**: Anthropic's Claude 3 Haiku model
- **o3-mini**: OpenAI's O3 mini model
- **mistral-small-3**: Mistral AI's small model
## Quickstart
### Install
#### Claude Desktop
On MacOS: `~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
On Windows: `%APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
<details>
<summary>Development/Unpublished Servers Configuration</summary>
```
"mcpServers": {
"ddg-mcp": {
"command": "uv",
"args": [
"--directory",
"/Users/shannon/Workspace/artivus/ddg-mcp",
"run",
"ddg-mcp"
]
}
}
```
</details>
<details>
<summary>Published Servers Configuration</summary>
```
"mcpServers": {
"ddg-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"ddg-mcp"
]
}
}
```
</details>
## Usage Examples
### Text Search
```
Use the ddg-text-search tool to search for "climate change solutions"
```
Advanced example:
```
Use the ddg-text-search tool to search for "renewable energy filetype:pdf site:edu" with region "us-en", safesearch "off", timelimit "y", and max_results 20
```
### Image Search
```
Use the ddg-image-search tool to find images of "renewable energy" with color set to "Green"
```
Advanced example:
```
Use the ddg-image-search tool to find images of "mountain landscape" with size "Large", color "Blue", type_image "photo", layout "Wide", and license_image "Public"
```
### News Search
```
Use the ddg-news-search tool to find recent news about "artificial intelligence" from the last day
```
Advanced example:
```
Use the ddg-news-search tool to search for "space exploration" with region "uk-en", timelimit "w", and max_results 15
```
### Video Search
```
Use the ddg-video-search tool to find videos about "machine learning tutorials" with duration set to "medium"
```
Advanced example:
```
Use the ddg-video-search tool to search for "cooking recipes" with resolution "high", duration "short", license_videos "creativeCommon", and max_results 10
```
### AI Chat
```
Use the ddg-ai-chat tool to ask "What are the latest developments in quantum computing?" using the claude-3-haiku model
```
### Search Results Summary
```
Use the search-results-summary prompt with query "space exploration" and style "detailed"
```
## Claude config
"ddg-mcp": {
"command": "uv",
"args": [
"--directory",
"/PATH/TO/YOUR/INSTALLATION/ddg-mcp",
"run",
"ddg-mcp"
]
},
## Development
### Building and Publishing
To prepare the package for distribution:
1. Sync dependencies and update lockfile:
```bash
uv sync
```
2. Build package distributions:
```bash
uv build
```
This will create source and wheel distributions in the `dist/` directory.
3. Publish to PyPI:
```bash
uv publish
```
Note: You'll need to set PyPI credentials via environment variables or command flags:
- Token: `--token` or `UV_PUBLISH_TOKEN`
- Or username/password: `--username`/`UV_PUBLISH_USERNAME` and `--password`/`UV_PUBLISH_PASSWORD`
### Automated Publishing with GitHub Actions
This repository includes a GitHub Actions workflow for automated publishing to PyPI. The workflow is triggered when:
1. A new GitHub Release is created
2. The workflow is manually triggered via the GitHub Actions interface
To set up automated publishing:
1. Generate a PyPI API token:
- Go to https://pypi.org/manage/account/token/
- Create a new token with scope limited to the `ddg-mcp` project
- Copy the token value (you'll only see it once)
2. Add the token to your GitHub repository secrets:
- Go to your repository on GitHub
- Navigate to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions
- Click "New repository secret"
- Name: `PYPI_API_TOKEN`
- Value: Paste your PyPI token
- Click "Add secret"
3. To publish a new version:
- Update the version number in `pyproject.toml`
- Create a new release on GitHub or manually trigger the workflow
### Debugging
Since MCP servers run over stdio, debugging can be challenging. For the best debugging
experience, we strongly recommend using the [MCP Inspector](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector).
You can launch the MCP Inspector via [`npm`](https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm) with this command:
```bash
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv --directory /path/to/your/ddg-mcp run ddg-mcp
```
Upon launching, the Inspector will display a URL that you can access in your browser to begin debugging.
TDQS
Scored across 5 tools
Every tool has a clearly distinct purpose based on media type: chat, images, news, text, and videos. There is no overlap in functionality, making it easy for an agent to select the appropriate tool for each search need.
All tools follow a consistent 'ddg-[media_type]-search' pattern, with the exception of 'ddg-ai-chat' which still fits the 'ddg-[function]' convention. This uniformity makes the tool set predictable and easy to understand.
Five tools is well-scoped for a DuckDuckGo search server, covering key search types (text, image, video, news) plus an AI chat feature. Each tool earns its place without being overwhelming or insufficient.
The tool set covers major search categories effectively, but there is a minor gap in specialized searches like maps or shopping, which are common in search engines. However, core workflows are well-supported, and agents can work around this limitation.