WebResearch MCP server

The MCP Web Research Server enables real-time web browsing capabilities for Claude, letting you search Google, visit webpages, and capture screenshots while chatting. This integration brings up-to-date information directly into your conversations with Claude.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18 (includes npm and npx)
• Claude Desktop app

Installation

Follow these steps to set up the MCP Web Research Server:

1. Download and install the Claude Desktop app

2. Make sure you have npm installed (comes with Node.js)

3. Add this entry to your claude_desktop_config.json:

   On Mac, this file is located at: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "webresearch": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["-y", "@mzxrai/mcp-webresearch@latest"]
       }
     }
   }
   

This configuration allows Claude Desktop to automatically start the web research server when needed.

Usage

Basic Usage

Start a chat with Claude and send a prompt that requires web research. The server will automatically activate when needed.

Using the Built-in Research Prompt

For more comprehensive research, you can use the included agentic-research prompt:

1. Click the Paperclip icon in the chat input
2. Select Choose an integration
3. Navigate to webresearch
4. Select agentic-research

Available Tools

The server provides three main tools:

Search Google

Performs Google searches and returns results:

Arguments: { query: string }

Visit Page

Opens a webpage and extracts its content:

Arguments: { url: string, takeScreenshot?: boolean }

Take Screenshot

Captures a screenshot of the current webpage:

No arguments required

Resources

The server maintains two types of resources:

Screenshots

All captured screenshots are saved as MCP resources. Access them through the Paperclip icon in Claude Desktop.

Research Session

The server tracks your entire research session, including:

• Search queries
• Visited pages
• Extracted content
• Screenshots
• Timestamps

Tips for Better Results

If you're not using the agentic-research prompt, consider suggesting specific high-quality sources to Claude. For example:

• Instead of: "news today"
• Try: "news today from Reuters or AP"

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, check Claude Desktop's MCP logs:

tail -n 20 -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log

The MCP Web Research Server is currently verified on macOS, with Linux support in development.

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 "webresearch" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@mzxrai/mcp-webresearch@latest"]}'

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": {
        "webresearch": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@mzxrai/mcp-webresearch@latest"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "webresearch": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@mzxrai/mcp-webresearch@latest"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect