🌐 WebFetch.MCP v0.1.8

Live Web Access for Your Local AI — Tunable Search & Clean Content Extraction

🚨 The Problem

Local LLMs can't browse the web. Out of the box, LM Studio — and most MCP setups — leave your model stuck in 2023 or earlier. No live data. No current events. Paste a URL into chat and all you get back is:

"I can't access the web." A few third-party MCP servers exist, but they’re API-locked, incomplete, or a pain to run. That means LM Studio users are flying blind — unable to fetch or search live content reliably.

✅ The Solution — WebFetch.MCP

WebFetch.MCP is a drop-in, self-hosted MCP server that brings your local AI:

• 🕒 Fresh, Real-Time Data — Go beyond your model’s training cutoff.
• 🌐 Reliable URL Fetch — Paste a link, get the clean content.
• 🎛 Full Search Control — Choose engines, boost sources, filter by type/date/language.
• 🔓 API-Free Freedom — No API keys, quotas, or tracking.
• 🧠 AI-Ready Output — Structured, clean, distraction-free text your LLM can actually use.

Privacy Note: Search requests and web fetches are visible to your ISP and target sites. Use a VPN for enhanced privacy.

🏆 Why It’s Different

| Feature | WebFetch.MCP | mrkrsl-web-search | mcp-server-fetch-python | Crawl4AI | |:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:| | Live Web Search | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | | URL Content Fetch | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | | Search Tunability | ✅ Full Control | ❌ API-limited | ❌ Basic | ⚠️ Limited | | 70+ Search Engines | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ⚠️ Few | | Scientific/Technical Focus | ✅ Configurable | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | | No API Keys | ✅ Yes | ❌ Required | ❌ Required | ✅ Basic only | | Content Quality | ✅ Mozilla Readability | ⚠️ Basic | ⚠️ Basic | ✅ Advanced | | JS Execution | ✅ Yes (JSDOM) | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | | Setup Simplicity | ✅ Easy | ⚠️ Medium | ❌ Complex | ❌ Very Complex | | Cost | ✅ Free | 💰 API costs | 💰 API costs | ✅ Free |

✨ Core Features

🎯 Precision Search

• 70+ configurable engines — Google Scholar, arXiv, PubMed, IEEE, GitHub, Stack Overflow, weather.gov, and more.
• Weighted source control — Boost authoritative and academic sources.
• Data type filters — Papers, docs, code, or news only.
• Freshness filters — Recent publications, latest docs, breaking news.

🔬 Scientific & Technical Focus

• Academic: arXiv, PubMed, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library.
• Technical: MDN, Stack Overflow, GitHub, official docs.
• Government: weather.gov, data.gov, NASA, NOAA.

📄 Clean Content Extraction

• Mozilla Readability — industry-standard parsing.
• JavaScript execution — handles SPAs & dynamic pages.
• Removes ads, menus, widgets.
• Optimized handling for research papers & technical docs.

⚙️ Complete Control

• Enable only trusted engines.
• Language & region targeting.
• Domain/site restrictions.
• Custom weighting per source.

📋 Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ → Download
• Docker & Docker Compose → Install
• LM Studio → Download

⚡ Quick Start

1️⃣ Install SearxNG (5 min)

Docker Compose (Recommended)

git clone https://github.com/searxng/searxng-docker.git
cd searxng-docker
sed -i "s|ultrasecretkey|$(openssl rand -hex 32)|g" searxng/settings.yml
docker compose up -d

Test SearxNG

curl "http://localhost:8080/search?q=test&format=json"

📖 SearxNG Installation Guide

2️⃣ Install WebFetch.MCP

git clone https://github.com/manull/webfetch-mcp.git
cd webfetch-mcp
npm install
node server.mjs

3️⃣ Connect to LM Studio

In LM Studio → Settings → Developer → MCP Servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webfetch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/full/path/to/webfetch-mcp/server.mjs"],
      "env": {
        "SEARXNG_BASE": "http://localhost:8080",
        "DEBUG": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart LM Studio — web_search and web_fetch tools will now be available.

4️⃣ Test It

In LM Studio:

🔍 Search for recent AI research on transformer architectures
📄 Fetch content from https://example.com/article

🔧 Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | |:-:|:-:|:-:| | SEARXNG_BASE | http://localhost:8080 | SearxNG instance URL | | DEBUG | false | Debug logging | | DETAILED_LOG | true | Detailed log output |

⏱️ Smart Rate Limiting

WebFetch.MCP uses intelligent time-based rate limiting designed for real research workflows:

📊 Rate Limits:

• 12 calls per 5-minute window - Generous limit for research sessions
• 8 calls per 30-second burst - Prevents LLM spam while allowing quick queries
• Automatic reset - No need to restart LM Studio between research sessions

🎯 Why This Works Better:

• ✅ Research-friendly - Supports extended research sessions
• ✅ Anti-spam protection - Prevents runaway LLM tool calling
• ✅ No restarts needed - Limits reset automatically over time
• ✅ Clear feedback - Shows remaining calls and reset times

📈 Example Usage Patterns:

• Quick research: 5-8 rapid calls, then brief pause
• Extended research: 12 calls spread over 5 minutes
• Continuous work: Limits reset as you work, no interruption

📊 Example Usage

Search

🔍 Find Python asyncio docs site:python.org
🔍 Search for recent climate data from government sources

Fetch

📄 Extract content from https://news.example.com/article
📄 Get main text from https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.12345

🧪 Testing

curl "http://localhost:8080/search?format=json&q=test&count=5"
DEBUG=true node server.mjs

🤝 Contributing

We welcome:

• 🐛 Bug reports → Open an issue
• 🔧 Code PRs
• 📖 Documentation improvements

📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• SearxNG — Privacy-focused metasearch engine.
• Mozilla Readability — Clean content extraction.
• LM Studio — Local AI runtime.
• Model Context Protocol — AI tool integration standard.

Built for LM Studio and local LLM users who need real-time, reliable, tunable access to the web.

⭐ Star this repo if you're done with "I can't access the web" from your AI.