Web Search MCP Server

An Apify Actor that runs a persistent Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, giving AI assistants real-time web search capabilities. Connect Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI client to search the web without leaving your workflow.

Features

• 🔍 search_web — Search the web via DuckDuckGo (free, no key) or Brave Search (higher quality)

• 📰 search_news — Search for recent news articles

• 📄 fetch_page — Fetch and extract clean text content from any URL

• 🔐 Domain whitelist — Restrict fetch_page to approved domains

• 📊 Audit log — Optionally log all searches to an Apify dataset

• ⚡ Always-on — Runs in Apify Standby mode for persistent 24/7 availability

Related MCP server: Local Research MCP Server

Quick Start

1. Run on Apify

1. Go to the Apify Console and find this actor

2. Click Try for free → configure inputs → Start

3. Copy the Standby URL from the actor run logs (looks like https://web-search-mcp.username.apify.actor)

2. Connect to Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "web-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://YOUR-STANDBY-URL/sse"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop and you'll see the tools appear in the interface.

3. Connect to Cursor / other MCP clients

Set the SSE URL to: https://YOUR-STANDBY-URL/sse

Input Configuration

MCP Tools Reference

search_web

Search the web and get ranked results.

Parameters:

• query (string, required) — The search query

• maxResults (integer, optional, default: 10) — Number of results (1–50)

• safeSearch (enum, optional) — strict, moderate, or off

Returns: Ranked list of results with title, URL, and snippet.

search_news

Search for recent news articles.

Parameters:

• query (string, required) — News search query

• maxResults (integer, optional) — Number of articles (1–20)

Returns: List of news articles with publication time when available.

fetch_page

Fetch a web page and return its clean text content.

Parameters:

• url (string, required) — Full URL to fetch

• maxLength (integer, optional, default: 8000) — Max characters (500–50000)

Returns: Page title, meta description, and extracted body text.

API Endpoints

Architecture

AI Client (Claude, Cursor, etc.)
        │ SSE connection
        ▼
  Express HTTP Server (:3000)
        │
  MCP Server (McpServer)
        │
  ┌─────┴──────────┐
  │   Search Tools  │
  └─────┬──────────┘
        │
  ┌─────┴─────────────────────┐
  │ DuckDuckGo HTML API        │ (default, no key needed)
  │ Brave Search REST API      │ (optional, with API key)
  └────────────────────────────┘

Local Development

git clone https://github.com/your-org/web-search-mcp
cd web-search-mcp
npm install
npm start

The server starts on http://localhost:3000. Connect any MCP client to http://localhost:3000/sse.

Example Usage (in Claude)

Once connected, you can ask Claude:

"Search for the latest news about AI regulations in Europe"

"What are the top Python web frameworks in 2025? Search the web and summarize."

"Fetch the content from https://example.com/blog/post and summarize the key points."

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE