Search1API — MCP server for Claude Code search
An MCP server that gives your coding agent web search, news, page retrieval and trending topics through Search1API. Useful when the agent should look things up itself.
claude mcp add --transport http search1api https://mcp.search1api.com/mcpWhat Search1API does
The server exposes search, news, ask and crawl. Search hits come back with id, title and url fields you can cite, and you fetch a full page by passing one of those URLs to crawl. Pick the backend with search_service — google by default, with bing, duckduckgo, github, arxiv, youtube, reddit and others available. Results can be limited to or excluded from specific sites.
Two ways to connect. Remote: point the client at https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp, nothing to install; OAuth-capable clients sign in through the browser, others send a key in a header or, in the older form, in the URL. Local: run npx -y search1api-mcp on Node.js 20 or newer and set SEARCH1API_KEY in the environment.
Every request needs a credential, including initialize and tools/list — without one the server answers with the OAuth challenge. A key in a URL query string can leak into logs and shell history, so the Authorization header is the safer choice. Self-hosted HTTP behind a proxy needs the comma-separated MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS, and browser clients that send an Origin header also need MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS, or their requests get rejected.
What it helps with
- find current web sources and return them with titles and links
- pull the full text of a page the agent found
- collect news on a topic for a given period
- search GitHub or Reddit discussions without switching tools
- render source cards in the client through
render_results
Example prompts for the agent
- Search the web for recent posts about pnpm monorepo setup and list the links
- Fetch the full text of this page and summarise the main points
- What was written about Rust in the last week? Give me the sources
How to install Search1API
1Platform CLI: remote server
claude mcp add --transport http search1api https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp2Platform CLI
claude mcp add --env SEARCH1API_KEY=<SEARCH1API_KEY> --transport stdio search1api -- npx -y search1api-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
1Platform CLI: remote server
codex mcp add search1api --url https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp2Platform CLI
codex mcp add search1api --env SEARCH1API_KEY=<SEARCH1API_KEY> -- npx -y search1api-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
Config file
{
"mcpServers": {
"search1api": {
"url": "https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp"
}
}
}{
"mcpServers": {
"search1api": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"search1api-mcp"
],
"env": {
"SEARCH1API_KEY": "<SEARCH1API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values
Config file
{
"servers": {
"search1api": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp"
}
}
}{
"servers": {
"search1api": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"search1api-mcp"
],
"env": {
"SEARCH1API_KEY": "<SEARCH1API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values
1Platform CLI: remote server
gemini mcp add -t http search1api https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp2Platform CLI
gemini mcp add -e SEARCH1API_KEY=<SEARCH1API_KEY> search1api npx -y search1api-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 Search1API
How do I install Search1API in Claude Code?
For the remote server run claude mcp add --transport http search1api https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp and sign in from the browser. For local mode run claude mcp add --env SEARCH1API_KEY=<SEARCH1API_KEY> --transport stdio search1api -- npx -y search1api-mcp.
What does Search1API do?
It gives the agent web search, news, page retrieval and sitemap tooling through one API. Search results carry URLs and titles you can cite directly.
Can I connect without an API key?
Only with a client that supports OAuth 2.1: connect to https://mcp.search1api.com/mcp and approve access in the browser. Otherwise you need a key from the Search1API dashboard.
