Google News MCP server

This Google News MCP server provides a Model Context Protocol implementation that allows searching Google News via SerpAPI integration. It automatically categorizes news results and supports multiple languages and regions for comprehensive news search capabilities.

Getting Started with Google News MCP Server

Prerequisites

Before installing the server, you'll need to obtain a SerpAPI key:

1. Visit SerpAPI website and create an account
2. After registration, access your Dashboard and copy your API key
3. New users receive 250 free API calls
4. Paid plans start at $75/month for 5000 searches

Installation Options

Using Smithery

npx -y @smithery/cli install @chanmeng666/google-news-server --client claude

Using mcp-get

npx @michaellatman/mcp-get@latest install @chanmeng666/google-news-server

Using npm

npm install @chanmeng666/google-news-server

Manual Setup

If you're setting up from the source repository:

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Build the server:

npm run build

3. Configure your environment by modifying your claude_desktop_config.json:

"google-news": {
  "command": "path/to/node",
  "args": [
    "path/to/dist/index.js"
  ],
  "env": {
    "SERP_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
  }
}

4. Start the server:

npm start

Usage

Search Parameters

The Google News MCP server supports these parameters:

• q: Search query string
• gl: Country code (e.g., 'us', 'uk')
• hl: Language code (e.g., 'en', 'es')
• topic_token: Token for specific news topics
• publication_token: Token for specific publishers
• story_token: Token for full coverage of a story
• section_token: Token for specific sections

Example Queries

You can search for news using any combination of these parameters. The server will automatically categorize results into topics like:

• AI & Technology
• Business
• Science & Research
• Healthcare

Troubleshooting

Invalid API Key

• Verify your API key is correctly configured in claude_desktop_config.json
• Confirm your API key is active in the SERP API dashboard

Request Failures

• Check your network connectivity
• Verify your API call quota hasn't been exceeded
• Ensure request parameters are formatted correctly

Connection Issues with NVM/NPM

If you're experiencing connection issues, check the configuration solution at GitHub issue #76

Features

Advanced Search Capabilities

• Flexible query-based search
• Topic-specific searching
• Publication filtering
• Full story coverage

Global Support

• Multiple language options
• Region-specific results via country codes
• Automatic fallback to English for unsupported languages

Result Organization

• Smart categorization of news results
• Support for different result types (headlines, stories, topics)
• Comprehensive error handling with helpful messages

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 "google-news" '{"command":"node","args":["./node_modules/@chanmeng666/google-news-server/dist/index.js"],"env":{"SERP_API_KEY":"your-api-key"}}'

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": {
        "google-news": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "./node_modules/@chanmeng666/google-news-server/dist/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SERP_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "google-news": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "./node_modules/@chanmeng666/google-news-server/dist/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SERP_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect