Fetch MCP server

The Fetch MCP Server provides web content fetching capabilities for LLMs, allowing them to retrieve and process content from web pages by converting HTML to markdown for easier consumption. It enables models to read webpages in chunks by specifying a start index, making it possible to process long documents efficiently.

Installation Options

Using uv (Recommended)

When using uv, no specific installation is needed. You can use uvx to run the server directly:

uvx mcp-server-fetch

Using PIP

Alternatively, install via pip:

pip install mcp-server-fetch

After installation, run it as a script:

python -m mcp_server_fetch

Optional: Node.js

Installing Node.js is optional but recommended as it enables a more robust HTML simplifier.

Configuration

For Claude.app

Add one of the following configurations to your Claude settings:

Using uvx:

"mcpServers": {
  "fetch": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["mcp-server-fetch"]
  }
}

Using docker:

"mcpServers": {
  "fetch": {
    "command": "docker",
    "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "mcp/fetch"]
  }
}

Using pip installation:

"mcpServers": {
  "fetch": {
    "command": "python",
    "args": ["-m", "mcp_server_fetch"]
  }
}

For VS Code

For manual installation, add the appropriate JSON block to your User Settings (JSON) file in VS Code:

Using uvx:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "fetch": {
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": ["mcp-server-fetch"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Using Docker:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "fetch": {
        "command": "docker",
        "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "mcp/fetch"]
      }
    }
  }
}

You can also add this configuration to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace to share it with others.

Customization Options

Robots.txt Behavior

By default, the server obeys robots.txt for model-initiated requests but not for user-initiated requests. To disable this behavior, add --ignore-robots-txt to the args list.

User-Agent Customization

The default user-agent can be customized by adding --user-agent=YourUserAgent to the args list.

Proxy Configuration

Configure a proxy by adding the --proxy-url argument with your proxy URL.

Available Tools

Fetch Tool

The fetch tool retrieves web content and converts it to markdown:

• Required parameters:

  • url (string): URL to fetch

• Optional parameters:

  • max_length (integer): Maximum number of characters to return (default: 5000)
  • start_index (integer): Start content from this character index (default: 0)
  • raw (boolean): Get raw content without markdown conversion (default: false)

Debugging

Use the MCP inspector to debug the server:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx mcp-server-fetch

For specific installations:

cd path/to/servers/src/fetch
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run mcp-server-fetch

Security Note

Exercise caution when using this MCP server as it can access local/internal IP addresses, which may present a security risk. Ensure it doesn't expose sensitive data.

How to add this MCP server to 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 > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

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

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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 explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.