octen-mcp — Claude Code MCP server: web search and URL extraction
Gives your agent live web search and turns URLs into clean markdown. Handy when the answer lives on a page, not in the repo.
claude mcp add --env OCTEN_API_KEY=<OCTEN_API_KEY> --env OCTEN_API_URL=<OCTEN_API_URL> --transport stdio octen-mcp -- npx -y octen-mcpWhat octen-mcp does
Six tools ship with the server. search and news_search query the live web with filters for domain, language and time. broad_search splits one query into sub-queries, runs them at once and groups the hits per sub-query. extract takes one or more links and returns clean, model-ready text. image_search and video_search are in beta and need access from the authors.
What extract returns matters as much as the body text. Every result carries category (the page topic), page_structure (the page type) and highlights — ranked snippets when you pass a query. An agent can drop login walls, nav pages and off-topic links before paying tokens for the full body.
Two ways to connect: the hosted endpoint at https://mcp.octen.ai/mcp, or a local process via npx -y octen-mcp. Local runs need Node >= 18.17, and releases 0.4.1 and older break on Node 26 and later with UND_ERR_INVALID_ARG — upgrading the package fixes it. An OCTEN_API_KEY comes from octen.ai, though clients that support OAuth can skip the key entirely. Send the key as an x-api-key header; in a URL it lands in proxy logs and browser history.
What it helps with
- pull an article into clean markdown for model context
- find fresh news on a topic within a date filter
- split a broad query into sub-queries and collect each result set
- filter out login and navigation pages before fetching full text
- bring current prices and page data into an answer
Example prompts for the agent
- Search the live web for recent coverage of this API and extract the text of the top three links
- Break the query "Node ORM comparison" into sub-queries and search each one
- Extract this page and show only the snippets that mention licensing
How to install octen-mcp
Platform CLI
claude mcp add --env OCTEN_API_KEY=<OCTEN_API_KEY> --env OCTEN_API_URL=<OCTEN_API_URL> --transport stdio octen-mcp -- npx -y octen-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
Platform CLI
codex mcp add octen-mcp --env OCTEN_API_KEY=<OCTEN_API_KEY> --env OCTEN_API_URL=<OCTEN_API_URL> -- npx -y octen-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
Config file
{
"mcpServers": {
"octen-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"octen-mcp"
],
"env": {
"OCTEN_API_KEY": "<OCTEN_API_KEY>",
"OCTEN_API_URL": "<OCTEN_API_URL>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values
Config file
{
"servers": {
"octen-mcp": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"octen-mcp"
],
"env": {
"OCTEN_API_KEY": "<OCTEN_API_KEY>",
"OCTEN_API_URL": "<OCTEN_API_URL>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values
Platform CLI
gemini mcp add -e OCTEN_API_KEY=<OCTEN_API_KEY> -e OCTEN_API_URL=<OCTEN_API_URL> octen-mcp npx -y octen-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about octen-mcp
How do I install octen-mcp in Claude Code?
Through the plugin marketplace: run claude plugin marketplace add Octen-Team/octen-mcp, then claude plugin install octen@octen. The plugin brings the hosted server plus two skills, octen-web-search and octen-research.
What does octen-mcp do?
It gives an agent live web search and turns pages into clean text. Results also carry a category label, the page type and ranked snippets for your query.
Do I need an API key?
An OCTEN_API_KEY from octen.ai works, but OAuth-capable clients can connect without one — the Claude plugin signs you in on the first call. If you do use a key, pass it in the x-api-key header rather than the URL.
