Apify RAG Web Browser MCP server

This MCP server implements the Model Context Protocol for the RAG Web Browser Actor, allowing large language models to browse the web, similar to web search capabilities in ChatGPT. The server connects AI systems to the web, enabling them to search for information and extract content from websites.

Installation Options

Use mcp.apify.com (Recommended)

The easiest way to get web browsing capabilities is to use the hosted service at mcp.apify.com with default settings.

Benefits:

• No local setup required
• Always up-to-date
• Access to 6,000+ Apify Actors (including RAG Web Browser)
• OAuth support for easy connection
• Dynamic tool discovery

Setup Steps:

1. Go to mcp.apify.com
2. Authorize your client (Claude, VS Code, etc.)
3. Copy the generated MCP server configuration (or use OAuth flow if supported)
4. Start using browsing & other tools immediately

Direct Integration with RAG Web Browser

You can call the RAG Web Browser Actor directly via its HTTP/SSE interface.

Benefits:

• Direct integration without mcp.apify.com
• Real-time streaming via Server-Sent Events
• Full control over the integration
• No additional dependencies

For detailed documentation, see the Actor Documentation.

Configuration Guide

MCP Server Configuration

To use the MCP server with clients like Claude Desktop or VS Code, you need to configure it in your client settings.

Recommended Configuration (Apify server):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@apify/actors-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "APIFY_TOKEN": "your-apify-api-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or use the hosted endpoint: https://mcp.apify.com (when your client supports HTTP transport / remote MCP).

Available Tools

Search Tool

The search tool allows you to query Google Search or fetch content from a specific URL.

Arguments:

• query (string, required): Search keywords or a full URL. Advanced Google operators are supported.
• maxResults (number, optional, default: 1): Maximum number of organic results to fetch (ignored when query is a URL).
• scrapingTool (string, optional, default: raw-http): Choose between browser-playwright or raw-http:
  • raw-http: Fast (no JS execution) – good for static pages.
  • browser-playwright: Handles JS-heavy sites – slower but more robust.
• outputFormats (array of strings, optional, default: [markdown]): One or more of text, markdown, html.
• requestTimeoutSecs (number, optional, default: 40, min 1 max 300): Total server-side AND client wait budget.

Compatible MCP Clients

• Claude Desktop: https://claude.ai/download
• Visual Studio Code
• Apify Tester MCP Client: https://apify.com/jiri.spilka/tester-mcp-client

Debugging

For debugging the MCP server, you can use the MCP Inspector:

export APIFY_TOKEN=your-apify-api-token
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

Upon launching, the Inspector will display a URL that you can access in your browser to begin debugging.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "rag-web-browser" '{"command":"npx","args":["@apify/mcp-server-rag-web-browser"],"env":{"APIFY_TOKEN":"your-apify-api-token"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "rag-web-browser": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@apify/mcp-server-rag-web-browser"
            ],
            "env": {
                "APIFY_TOKEN": "your-apify-api-token"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "rag-web-browser": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@apify/mcp-server-rag-web-browser"
            ],
            "env": {
                "APIFY_TOKEN": "your-apify-api-token"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect