ddg-search-mcp

MCP server for DuckDuckGo — AI answers, web search, news, images, videos, URL fetch, suggestions, definitions, and currency conversion. No API key needed.

Rivals Exa AI for the free tier. Powered by DuckDuckGo's undocumented QnA endpoint, with browser-grade TLS fingerprinting.

Features

| Tool | Description | Parameters | |------|-------------|------------| | ddg_get_answer | AI answer with sources (like Exa Answer API) | query, region | | ddg_search | Web search | query, maxResults, region, safesearch, freshness | | ddg_search_news | News search | query, maxResults, region, safesearch, freshness | | ddg_search_images | Image search | query, maxResults, region, safesearch, freshness, size, color, type, layout, license | | ddg_search_videos | Video search | query, maxResults, region, safesearch, freshness, resolution, duration, license | | ddg_fetch_content | URL content extraction with TLS fingerprint | url, maxLength | | ddg_get_suggestions | Search suggestions / auto-complete | query, region | | ddg_get_definition | Dictionary definitions via DDG | word | | ddg_convert_currency | Currency conversion via DDG | amount, from, to |

Quick Start

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ddg-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["ddg-search-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

CLI

npx ddg-search-mcp

Search Parameters

| Parameter | Tools | Values | |-----------|-------|--------| | region | All except fetch | 'us-en', 'vn-vi', 'wt-wt' (worldwide) | | safesearch | search, news, images | 'on', 'moderate', 'off' | | freshness | search, news, images | 'day', 'week', 'month', 'year' | | size | images | 'Small', 'Medium', 'Large', 'Wallpaper' | | color | images | 'Monochrome', 'Red', 'Blue', 'Green', etc. | | type | images | 'photo', 'clipart', 'gif', 'transparent', 'line' | | layout | images | 'Square', 'Tall', 'Wide' | | license | images | 'Share', 'ShareCommercially', 'Modify', 'ModifyCommercially' |

Example Queries (for AI assistants)

// Get AI answer
{ "query": "what is quantum computing" }

// Web search with filters
{ "query": "latest AI news", "freshness": "week", "safesearch": "moderate" }

// News in a specific region
{ "query": "technology", "region": "us-en", "freshness": "day" }

// Image search
{ "query": "mountain landscape", "size": "Wallpaper", "color": "Green" }

// Fetch page content
{ "url": "https://example.com/article" }

Why DuckDuckGo?

| Feature | Exa AI | ddg-search-mcp | |---------|--------|----------------| | Search | $7/1K req | Free | | Answer | $5/1K req | Free (qna.js) | | Content Fetch | $1/1K pages | Free | | Image Search | — | Free | | API Key | Required | Not needed |

Technical Highlights

• No API key required — uses DuckDuckGo's public API endpoints
• Browser-grade TLS — custom TLS agent with Chrome 134 cipher suite order, avoids bot detection
• VQD token management — automatic VQD acquisition with 5-minute cache
• Rate limiting — 200ms minimum gap between requests
• Safe content fetch — blocks private IPs, localhost, and SSRF attack vectors
• All outputs in Markdown — AI-friendly structured output

Development

git clone https://github.com/hung319/duck-mcp
cd duck-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test        # 88+ tests
npm start       # Run MCP server

License

MIT