zoharbabin/web-researcher-mcp

Your AI research assistant that cites real sources and stays honest.
Search the entire web or narrow it down to just the sites you trust; medical journals, court databases, news outlets, academic papers. Analyze the full source, not just snippets. Links that work, citations you can trust, no made up closed garden pre-synthesized results.
⭐ If you're tired of AI making things up, and web-researcher-mcp helps you, give us a star ⭐ — it helps more teams discover the project.
Get started in 30 seconds
**Python users — uvx (no compile, any OS):**
uv fetches the right prebuilt binary for your platform and runs it — no Go, no compile, no manual PATH. Point any MCP client at uvx web-researcher-mcp. Also works with uv tool install web-researcher-mcp or pip install web-researcher-mcp.
Python SDK
Full documentation: docs/PYTHON_CLIENT.md
Sync wrapper (for scripts and notebooks that don't use async):
**macOS (Homebrew):**
**macOS / Linux (no package manager):**
**Windows (PowerShell):**
No dev tools needed — every method ships the same signed binary (the PyPI wheels vendor it; the others download it and verify its checksum) and puts it on your PATH. The curl/PowerShell installers also register it with Claude Code automatically when the claude CLI is present; Homebrew installs the binary, so run the claude mcp add line above to connect it.
**One-click install:**
The Cursor / VS Code / LM Studio buttons install the zero-config uvx setup (your editor prompts to confirm before adding it; needs uv — see above). It runs **DuckDuckGo web search with no API key** — great to try instantly; image_search/news_search and richer providers need a key (2 min, see Configuration). **Claude Desktop:** download the .mcpb bundle for your platform and double-click it (Settings → Extensions), or use the uvx line above.
**Using a different MCP client** or want to pass API keys? See Connect to Your AI Assistant for the per-app config, and Configuration to pick a search provider.
Your AI can now search the web, read full articles, find academic papers, look up patents, and run multi-step research — only from sources you pick.
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Why does this exist?
Perplexity gets its citations wrong over a third of the time. It links to papers that don't exist, invents DOIs, and presents SEO spam with the same confidence as peer-reviewed research. ChatGPT's web search isn't much better — it can't tell a blog post from a court filing.
If your work gets cited, published, submitted to a court, or shown to a client — you can't afford "probably real" sources.
**This tool fixes the root cause:** instead of searching the entire web and hoping, you tell your AI *exactly which sources to search*. We call these "search lenses" — curated lists of trusted sites for each field.
| What you get | What that means for you |
|---|---|
| **Search lenses** — choose your sources by field | Your AI only sees the sites you trust (PubMed, SEC.gov, arXiv — not random blogs) |
| **Research tools for every source type** | Papers, patents, SEC filings, US court records, economic data, news, web pages, images, full-text reading, grounded answers with citations, structured extraction, and multi-step deep research |
| **Always has a backup** | Multiple search engines working together — if one has issues, the others pick up automatically |
| **Reads full articles** | Doesn't just give you snippets — extracts and reads entire pages, PDFs, Word docs, even YouTube transcripts and Hacker News threads |
| **Real citations, formatted** | Every source comes with a proper APA/MLA citation and a link that actually works |
| **Your queries stay private** | Runs on your machine — nobody sees what you're researching. Not us, not anyone. |
| **Paper trail** | Every search is logged so you can reproduce your research process months later |
Works with Claude, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and any AI assistant that supports tool use.
Who uses this
- **Academic researchers** — "I need a literature review with real DOIs, not made-up citations"
- **Business analysts** — "My deliverable needs sources a client can actually click and verify"
- **Lawyers** — "If I cite a case that doesn't exist, I get fined $50,000"
- **Journalists** — "I need to cross-check government records and court filings, not Perplexity summaries"
- **Medical researchers** — "Clinical decisions based on a health blog could hurt someone"
- **Graduate students** — "I spent 3 hours tracking down a citation my AI invented"