# octen-mcp

Gives your agent live web search and turns URLs into clean markdown. Handy when the answer lives on a page, not in the repo.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed, Gemini CLI · ★ 21
- Author: Octen-Team
- License: MIT · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/Octen-Team/octen-mcp
- Updated: 2026-10-14
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/octen-mcp

## What it 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.

## Requirements
- Needs: Node.js (commands run via npx)
- Environment variables: `OCTEN_API_KEY`, `OCTEN_API_URL` — keys and tokens: ask the human for the values, never commit them or put them in shared files.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Platform CLI**
```bash
claude mcp add --env OCTEN_API_KEY=<OCTEN_API_KEY> --env OCTEN_API_URL=<OCTEN_API_URL> --transport stdio octen-mcp -- npx -y octen-mcp
```
Replace <…> with your own values

### Codex

**Platform CLI**
```bash
codex mcp add octen-mcp --env OCTEN_API_KEY=<OCTEN_API_KEY> --env OCTEN_API_URL=<OCTEN_API_URL> -- npx -y octen-mcp
```
Replace <…> with your own values

### Cursor

**Config file**
File `.cursor/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "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

### GitHub Copilot

**Config file**
File `.vscode/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "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

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini mcp add -e OCTEN_API_KEY=<OCTEN_API_KEY> -e OCTEN_API_URL=<OCTEN_API_URL> octen-mcp npx -y octen-mcp
```
Replace <…> with your own values

## When to use it
- 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
- 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

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