Headline Vibes MCP server for AI agents

This MCP server analyzes sentiment in news headlines from major US publications, providing scores on a 0-10 scale. It offers both standard date-based interface and natural language date parsing, making it flexible for various query types.

Prerequisites

Node.js v16 or higher
NewsAPI key (get one at https://newsapi.org)

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/fred-em/headline-vibes.git
cd headline-vibes

Install dependencies:
```
npm install
```
Build the server:
```
npm run build
```

Configure your NewsAPI key in your MCP settings file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "headline-vibes": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/headline-vibes/build/index.mjs"],
      "env": {
        "NEWS_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Usage

Analyzing Headlines

The server provides the analyze_headlines tool which accepts natural language date inputs or specific dates.

Example with natural language date:

{
  "name": "analyze_headlines",
  "arguments": {
    "input": "yesterday"
  }
}

Example with specific date:

{
  "name": "analyze_headlines",
  "arguments": {
    "input": "2025-02-11"
  }
}

Supported Date Formats

You can query headlines using various date expressions:

Natural language: "last Friday", "3 days ago", "March 10th", "two weeks ago"
Formatted date: "2025-02-11" (YYYY-MM-DD format)

Response Format

The tool returns results in the following format:

{
  "score": "6.50",              // Normalized sentiment score (0-10)
  "synopsis": "Overall positive sentiment in today's headlines",
  "headlines_analyzed": 100,    // Number of headlines analyzed
  "sources_analyzed": 12,       // Number of unique sources
  "source_distribution": {      // Distribution of headlines by source
    "Reuters": 10,
    "Associated Press": 8,
    "CNN": 9
    // ... etc
  },
  "sample_headlines": [         // Up to 5 sample headlines
    "Example headline 1",
    "Example headline 2"
    // ... etc
  ]
}

News Sources

The server analyzes headlines from major US news sources including:

Associated Press
Reuters
CNN
Fox News
NBC News
ABC News
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
USA Today
Bloomberg
Business Insider
Time

Error Handling

The server provides clear error messages for common issues:

Invalid date formats
Unparseable natural language queries
No headlines found for the specified date
API errors from NewsAPI

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 "headline-vibes" '{"command":"node","args":["/path/to/headline-vibes/build/index.mjs"],"env":{"NEWS_API_KEY":"your-api-key-here"},"disabled":false,"autoApprove":[]}'

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": {
        "headline-vibes": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/headline-vibes/build/index.mjs"
            ],
            "env": {
                "NEWS_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "autoApprove": []
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "headline-vibes": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/headline-vibes/build/index.mjs"
            ],
            "env": {
                "NEWS_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "autoApprove": []
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect