Deep Web Research MCP server

The MCP Deep Web Research Server enables real-time web research in Claude with intelligent search queuing, enhanced content extraction, and deep research capabilities. It allows Claude to search the web, extract relevant information, and provide up-to-date answers based on online sources.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• Claude Desktop app

Installation

Global Installation (Recommended)

# Install globally using npm
npm install -g mcp-deepwebresearch

# Or using yarn
yarn global add mcp-deepwebresearch

# Or using pnpm
pnpm add -g mcp-deepwebresearch

Local Project Installation

# Using npm
npm install mcp-deepwebresearch

# Using yarn
yarn add mcp-deepwebresearch

# Using pnpm
pnpm add mcp-deepwebresearch

Claude Desktop Integration

After installing the package, add this entry to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Windows

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "deepwebresearch": {
      "command": "mcp-deepwebresearch",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Location: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

macOS

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "deepwebresearch": {
      "command": "mcp-deepwebresearch",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Location: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

First-time Setup

After installation, run this command to install required browser dependencies:

npx playwright install chromium

Usage

Simply start a chat with Claude and send a prompt that would benefit from web research. If you'd like a prebuilt prompt customized for deeper web research, you can use the agentic-research prompt provided through this package. Access that prompt in Claude Desktop by clicking the Paperclip icon in the chat input and then selecting Choose an integration → deepwebresearch → agentic-research.

Available Tools

deep_research

Performs comprehensive research with content analysis

Arguments:

{
  topic: string;
  maxDepth?: number;      // default: 2
  maxBranching?: number;  // default: 3
  timeout?: number;       // default: 55000 (55 seconds)
  minRelevanceScore?: number;  // default: 0.7
}

parallel_search

Performs multiple Google searches in parallel with intelligent queuing

Arguments:

{ 
  queries: string[], 
  maxParallel?: number 
}

Note: maxParallel is limited to 5 to ensure reliable performance

visit_page

Visit a webpage and extract its content

Arguments:

{ 
  url: string 
}

Included Prompts

agentic-research

A guided research prompt that helps Claude conduct thorough web research. The prompt instructs Claude to:

• Start with broad searches to understand the topic landscape
• Prioritize high-quality, authoritative sources
• Iteratively refine the research direction based on findings
• Keep you informed and let you guide the research interactively
• Always cite sources with URLs

Configuration Options

The server can be configured through environment variables:

• MAX_PARALLEL_SEARCHES: Maximum number of concurrent searches (default: 5)
• SEARCH_DELAY_MS: Delay between searches in milliseconds (default: 200)
• MAX_RETRIES: Number of retry attempts for failed requests (default: 3)
• TIMEOUT_MS: Request timeout in milliseconds (default: 55000)
• LOG_LEVEL: Logging level (default: 'info')

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Rate Limiting

   • Symptom: "Too many requests" error
   • Solution: Increase SEARCH_DELAY_MS or decrease MAX_PARALLEL_SEARCHES

2. Network Timeouts

   • Symptom: "Request timed out" error
   • Solution: Ensure requests complete within the 60-second MCP timeout

3. Browser Issues

   • Symptom: "Browser failed to launch" error
   • Solution: Ensure Playwright is properly installed (npx playwright install)

Debugging

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

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

# On Windows
Get-Content -Path "$env:APPDATA\Claude\logs\mcp*.log" -Tail 20 -Wait

Enable debug logging:

export LOG_LEVEL=debug

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 "deepwebresearch" '{"command":"mcp-deepwebresearch","args":[]}'

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": {
        "deepwebresearch": {
            "command": "mcp-deepwebresearch",
            "args": []
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "deepwebresearch": {
            "command": "mcp-deepwebresearch",
            "args": []
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect