Bright Data MCP server

Integrates with Bright Data's web scraping infrastructure to provide real-time access to public web data through specialized tools for search engine scraping, webpage extraction, and structured data retrieval from popular websites.
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Setup instructions
Provider
Bright Data
Release date
Apr 15, 2025
Language
TypeScript
Package
Stats
34.1K downloads
1.3K stars

The Web MCP is a powerful server that gives AI assistants real-time web capabilities, allowing them to access current information without getting blocked. Built by Bright Data, it ensures your AI can reliably browse the web without encountering CAPTCHAs or rate limits, working with any LLM like Claude, GPT, Gemini, or Llama.

Getting Started

Hosted Server Option

The easiest way to use the Web MCP is through Bright Data's hosted server:

https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE

To set up in Claude Desktop:

  1. Go to: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
  2. Name: Bright Data Web
  3. URL: https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN
  4. Click "Add" and you're done!

Local Installation

To run the MCP server locally, configure it in your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Bright Data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@brightdata/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "<your-api-token-here>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Pricing & Service Tiers

Rapid Mode (Free Tier)

  • Cost: $0/month
  • Includes: 5,000 requests per month
  • Features:
    • Web Search
    • Scraping with Web unlocker
  • Enabled by default

Pro Mode

  • Cost: Pay-as-you-go
  • Includes: Everything in Rapid mode plus 60+ advanced tools
  • Additional Features:
    • Browser Control
    • Web Data APIs
  • Enable with PRO_MODE=true

Core Features

  • Smart Web Search: Google-quality results optimized for AI
  • Clean Markdown: AI-ready content extraction
  • Global Access: Bypass geo-restrictions automatically
  • Anti-Bot Protection: Never get blocked or rate-limited
  • Browser Automation: Control real browsers remotely (Pro)
  • Lightning Fast: Optimized for minimal latency

Available Tools

Rapid Mode Tools (Free)

Tool Description Use Case
search_engine Web search with AI-optimized results Research, fact-checking, current events
scrape_as_markdown Convert any webpage to clean markdown Content extraction, documentation

Pro Mode Tools

Pro mode includes 60+ additional tools for browser control, web data APIs, e-commerce, social media, and location-based data.

Advanced Configuration

For more control over your MCP server, you can use these advanced configuration options:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Bright Data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@brightdata/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "your-token-here",
        "PRO_MODE": "true",              
        "RATE_LIMIT": "100/1h",          
        "WEB_UNLOCKER_ZONE": "custom",   
        "BROWSER_ZONE": "custom_browser" 
      }
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

"spawn npx ENOENT" Error

Solution: Install Node.js or use the full path to node:

"command": "/usr/local/bin/node"  // macOS/Linux
"command": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe"  // Windows

Timeouts on Complex Sites

Solution: Increase timeout in your client settings to 180s

Authentication Issues

Solution: Ensure your API token is valid and has proper permissions

Remote Server Connection

Solution: Check your internet connection and firewall settings

Support Resources

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 "Bright-Data" '{"command":"npx","args":["@brightdata/mcp"],"env":{"API_TOKEN":"<insert-your-api-token-here>","WEB_UNLOCKER_ZONE":"<optional if you want to override the default mcp_unlocker zone name>","BROWSER_ZONE":"<optional browser zone name, defaults to mcp_browser>","RATE_LIMIT":"<optional rate limit format: limit/time+unit, e.g., 100/1h, 50/30m, 10/5s>"}}'

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": {
        "Bright Data": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@brightdata/mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "API_TOKEN": "<insert-your-api-token-here>",
                "WEB_UNLOCKER_ZONE": "<optional if you want to override the default mcp_unlocker zone name>",
                "BROWSER_ZONE": "<optional browser zone name, defaults to mcp_browser>",
                "RATE_LIMIT": "<optional rate limit format: limit/time+unit, e.g., 100/1h, 50/30m, 10/5s>"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "Bright Data": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@brightdata/mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "API_TOKEN": "<insert-your-api-token-here>",
                "WEB_UNLOCKER_ZONE": "<optional if you want to override the default mcp_unlocker zone name>",
                "BROWSER_ZONE": "<optional browser zone name, defaults to mcp_browser>",
                "RATE_LIMIT": "<optional rate limit format: limit/time+unit, e.g., 100/1h, 50/30m, 10/5s>"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect

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