Google Search MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that performs comprehensive web searches using Google Custom Search JSON API with advanced content extraction using Mozilla's Readability algorithm.

Features

Three Search Modes:
- google_search - Fast snippet-only search for quick lookups
- deep_search - Full content extraction with Readability algorithm
- deep_search_news - News-optimized deep search
Google Custom Search API - Uses official Google Custom Search JSON API
Advanced Content Extraction - Uses Mozilla's Readability algorithm (same as Firefox Reader View) for clean article extraction
Multiple Search Types - Web search, news search, and image search
Domain Filtering - Include or exclude specific domains from results
Retry Logic - Automatic retries with exponential backoff for reliability
Controlled Concurrency - Fetches pages in batches to avoid overwhelming servers

Prerequisites

Get Google Custom Search API Credentials

Go to Google Cloud Console
Create a new project or select an existing one
Enable the "Custom Search API"
Go to "Credentials" and create an API key
Go to Programmable Search Engine
Create a new search engine and get your Search Engine ID (CX)

You'll need:

GOOGLE_API_KEY - Your Google Cloud API key
GOOGLE_CX - Your Programmable Search Engine ID

Installation

Using npx (Recommended)

No installation needed - just configure your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@thejusdutt/google-search-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key",
        "GOOGLE_CX": "your-search-engine-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Global Installation

npm install -g @thejusdutt/google-search-mcp

Then configure:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "google-search-mcp",
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key",
        "GOOGLE_CX": "your-search-engine-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

`google_search`

Simple Google search for quick lookups. Returns snippets only without fetching full page content.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	required	The search query
`num_results`	number	10	Number of results (1-10)

Example:

// Quick search with snippets only
google_search({ query: "React hooks tutorial" })

`deep_search`

Comprehensive web search with full content extraction.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	required	The search query
`num_results`	number	10	Number of results (1-10)
`max_content_per_page`	number	50000	Max characters per page (5000-100000)
`search_type`	string	"web"	Search type: "web", "news", or "images"
`include_domains`	string	-	Comma-separated domains to include
`exclude_domains`	string	-	Comma-separated domains to exclude

Examples:

// Basic web search
deep_search({ query: "React best practices 2025" })

// News search
deep_search({ query: "AI announcements", search_type: "news" })

// Search specific sites only
deep_search({ 
  query: "TypeScript tips",
  include_domains: "github.com,dev.to"
})

// Exclude certain sites
deep_search({
  query: "web development trends",
  exclude_domains: "pinterest.com,facebook.com"
})

`deep_search_news`

Convenience wrapper for news search. Equivalent to calling deep_search with search_type: "news" and optimized content limits.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`query`	string	required	The news topic to search
`num_results`	number	10	Number of articles (1-10)
`max_content_per_page`	number	30000	Max characters per article

Example:

deep_search_news({ query: "OpenAI latest updates" })

Configuration

Kiro

Add to ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@thejusdutt/google-search-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key",
        "GOOGLE_CX": "your-search-engine-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@thejusdutt/google-search-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key",
        "GOOGLE_CX": "your-search-engine-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

How It Works

Search - Queries Google Custom Search API to get top results
Fetch - Downloads each result page with retry logic
Extract - Uses Mozilla Readability to extract clean article content
Format - Returns consolidated markdown with full content from each page

Requirements

Node.js 18+
Google Cloud API key with Custom Search API enabled
Programmable Search Engine ID (CX)

License

MIT

Author

thejusdutt

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome at GitHub

google-search-mcp