Bing Webmaster

bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp gives an AI agent read access to what Bing knows about your sites — traffic, indexing, crawl issues, inbound links, keywords — and a write path you choose: reviewed plan-and-apply by default, or direct writes when you opt in.

It ships a Python 3.12+ CLI and MCP server for the JSON Bing Webmaster Tools API, plus protocol-correct IndexNow submission. SOAP and POX are deliberately absent.

Choosing a write path

Read tools always execute immediately. For everything that changes Bing state, one setting picks between two paths:

export BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=false   # default: writes are planned and applied by a human
export BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=true    # opt in: writes go straight through

Read-only toward Bing is the default. Without BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=true the server lists no tool that changes Bing, and the CLI refuses one-step writes. Here is the reason. An agent using this server also reads pages, anchor text, crawl issues and search queries written by strangers. A confirmation an agent can send is a confirmation prompt injection can send, so as long as the agent can write, a poisoned string in someone else's anchor text can reach your Bing account. With the default, nothing an agent does changes Bing until you have read the plan and run bing-wm plan apply yourself. Opt in only for an agent you trust with your Bing account.

Direct writes (BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=true)

The MCP server advertises one-step bing_<operation> tools, and the CLI accepts:

$ bing-wm submit-url example.com https://example.com/new-page --json
{"applied": true, "plan_id": "…", "operation": "submit_url", "result": null}

A direct write is not idempotent: retrying one records a new plan and sends the change again. If a response is lost, read audit.jsonl or bing-wm plan list before repeating the call.

Reviewed writes (default, BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=false)

The server advertises bing_plan_<operation> instead. Those tools send nothing:

$ bing-wm plan submit-url example.com https://example.com/new-page --json
{
  "plan_id": "…",
  "summary": "submit url https://example.com/new-page for https://example.com",
  "apply_with": "bing-wm plan apply …"
}
$ bing-wm plan apply PLAN_ID
Apply this plan? [y/N]: y

No MCP tool takes a plan ID, in either mode: a plan recorded for review is applied or rejected only at the CLI, by you. A direct write applies the plan it creates in the same call and never touches one somebody else recorded. The plan path stays available while direct writes are on, so an agent can still propose a change for review.

What both paths share

A direct write is the same code with the human step removed: it records the same durable plan and goes through the same apply boundary. A readable plan record, an append-only audit trail, one-shot application, expiry, Bing's own submission quota, a site denylist (BING_WM_DENIED_SITES) and restart-persistent local limits (BING_WM_MAX_WRITES_PER_DAY) apply to both.

If the applying process is killed and leaves a lock behind, the command bing-wm plan unlock PLAN_ID verifies that the recorded PID is gone before recovering it. An unfinished plan becomes unknown_outcome and cannot be applied again; the recovery is audited.

Install

BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=false uvx bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp

That one command starts the stdio MCP server. Every client block below runs the same uvx command. Create an API key in Bing Webmaster Tools under Settings → API Access and pass it as BING_WM_API_KEY. Writes are planned for review unless you also set BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=true — see Choosing a write path.

The package is on PyPI as bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp. uvx caches what it installed and may keep running that version; uvx bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp@latest checks PyPI again, and uvx bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp==0.1.3 pins one. This README follows main, so a change listed under Unreleased in the changelog is not in the PyPI release yet. Since 0.1.3, BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=false is the default and the command above and the client blocks below would behave the same without it. They still spell it out: 0.1.2 and earlier default to true, so a uvx cache still holding one of them would go back to direct writes if the setting were left out. To run main itself, use uvx --from "git+https://github.com/stufently/bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp.git" bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp.

pip (Python 3.12+) installs the same package and puts bing-wm, bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp and bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp-http on PATH — in a virtualenv, or with pipx install bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp:

python -m pip install bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp
export BING_WM_API_KEY='…'
bing-wm sites list

The supported matrix is Python 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14. Development and images use the exact versions in constraints.txt; published dependencies remain compatible floors. Never put a real key in the repository. See configuration for all settings.

Example prompts

• Why did my site lose clicks last week?
• Which pages is Bing failing to crawl, and why?
• Is this URL indexed, and when did Bing last fetch it?
• Submit this new page to Bing, but let me review the change first.

Verified clients and platforms

Only what has actually been run is listed as verified. Everything else in Add the MCP server to your AI client is a documented config that nobody has checked end to end.

Client / runtime	OS	How it runs	Status	Evidence
Claude Code 2.1	Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, x86_64	Docker image built locally from this repo, stdio, direct writes opted in	Verified	Daily use on the maintainer's host, reads and writes in the audit trail
bing-wm CLI	Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, x86_64	Same Docker image	Verified	Maintainer's host
Codex CLI 0.162	Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, x86_64	Same Docker image, stdio	Configured, not checked separately	Maintainer's host config
Python 3.12, 3.13, 3.14	Ubuntu (ubuntu-latest)	Lint, tests, stdio MCP smoke test	Verified in CI	ci.yml
Docker image	Ubuntu (ubuntu-latest)	Image builds and does not run as root	Verified in CI	ci.yml, job container
uvx bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp (PyPI 0.1.2)	Linux x86_64	Install path from Install, uv 0.13 in Docker	MCP initialize answered, no client attached	Maintainer's host, 2026-10-12
Claude Desktop (.mcpb)	macOS, Windows	Desktop Extension	Not verified	Bundle is built in CI, never installed in a real Desktop
Cursor, Windsurf, Zed	any	Configs below	Not verified	Documented only
macOS, Windows	—	Any client	Not verified	No CI runner on these systems

Add the MCP server to your AI client

Every JSON block below runs the same uvx command as Install. BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES is false here (the default, spelled out), so writes are planned and you apply them. Set it to true for direct writes — see Choosing a write path. Keep the key in a user-level config, not in a project file you commit. The server exposes 34 Bing read tools, one local read-only tool (bing_indexnow_key_plan), plan inspection, and one write tool per supported operation — bing_plan_<operation> tools by default, or direct bing_<operation> tools when BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=true. It exposes no plan application or rejection tool. Restart the server after changing the setting so the client refreshes its tool list.

Claude Code

Project file: .mcp.json in the project root.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bing-webmaster": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BING_WM_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or from the terminal:

claude mcp add bing-webmaster --scope user \
  --env BING_WM_API_KEY=your-api-key --env BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=false \
  -- uvx bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp

Claude Desktop

File: claude_desktop_config.json — macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json, Windows %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json, Linux ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bing-webmaster": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BING_WM_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

One click, without editing JSON: download the .mcpb from https://github.com/stufently/bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp/releases/latest and open it. Claude Desktop installs the extension and asks for the API key. Direct writes stay off unless you turn Allow direct writes on. While they are off the extension only records plans. Applying one needs the bing-wm CLI, which the extension does not put on your PATH: install it with pip as in Install, export the same key as BING_WM_API_KEY in that shell, then run bing-wm plan apply.

The release includes checksums.txt with the SHA256 of every .mcpb. Download that file into the same directory as the bundle and check it before opening the extension:

sha256sum -c --ignore-missing checksums.txt   # run next to the downloaded .mcpb

On macOS, filter the bundle's line and check it with shasum -a 256 -c -.

Releases from the next tag on also carry a GitHub build provenance attestation for each .mcpb, signed in the release workflow. Check that a bundle was built by this repository's workflow and not swapped afterwards (needs the GitHub CLI):

gh attestation verify <bundle>.mcpb --repo stufently/bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp

Cursor

File: ~/.cursor/mcp.json (every project) or .cursor/mcp.json (this project).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bing-webmaster": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BING_WM_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

File: mcp_config.json — macOS and Linux ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/devin/mcp_config.json), Windows %APPDATA%\devin\mcp_config.json. Older builds read ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bing-webmaster": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BING_WM_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Zed

File: settings.json — Linux and macOS ~/.config/zed/settings.json.

{
  "context_servers": {
    "bing-webmaster": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "BING_WM_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

An optional Streamable HTTP entry point is also available once the package is on PATH (the pip install above; uvx does not install a lasting command):

export BING_WM_HTTP_BEARER_TOKEN='a-random-token-of-at-least-32-characters'
bing-webmaster-ai-cli-mcp-http

It refuses non-loopback bind addresses and unauthenticated requests.

Common questions

Which crawl issues does my site have?

bing-wm crawl issues example.com --json

The result carries Bing's rows unchanged plus a category breakdown built from Microsoft's UrlWithCrawlIssues.CrawlIssues flags — redirects, 4xx, 5xx, robots.txt blocks, malware, DNS and timeout errors — with a count per category, a count per raw HttpCode, and an other bucket so nothing Bing sends is dropped. A 4xx row is split further into http_404 or http_403 from its own HttpCode, alongside the broad http_4xx rather than instead of it. Bing has no noindex crawl-issue flag, so there is no such category and this project does not invent one.

How do I check if Bing has indexed my page?

bing-wm index url example.com https://example.com/page

How do I submit URLs to Bing from the command line?

With writes enabled, from one URL or a newline-delimited file:

bing-wm submit-url example.com https://example.com/page
bing-wm submit-urls example.com --file PATH

With BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=false, create a plan, review it, then apply it:

bing-wm plan submit-url example.com https://example.com/page
bing-wm plan submit-urls example.com --file PATH
bing-wm plan show PLAN_ID
bing-wm plan apply PLAN_ID

The planner calls GetUrlSubmissionQuota; no quota number is hardcoded. Bing's method documentation also limits one SubmitUrlBatch call to 500 URLs.

Does IndexNow work with Google?

Google does not participate in IndexNow. The live IndexNow registry currently lists Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver, Yep, Internet Archive, and Amazonbot. Submission through api.indexnow.org fans out to participating engines.

Generate a key, host the displayed UTF-8 key file, then submit:

bing-wm indexnow key example.com
bing-wm indexnow key example.com --key KEY   # is the key file live yet?
bing-wm indexnow submit example.com --file PATH --key KEY

indexnow key — and the matching bing_indexnow_key_plan MCP tool — only computes and checks. It talks to neither Bing nor api.indexnow.org, so it is not a write and needs no plan. The generated key is printed once and stored nowhere: save it, serve it at the printed URL, then submit.

Or, with BING_WM_ALLOW_WRITES=false:

bing-wm plan indexnow example.com --file PATH --key KEY
bing-wm plan apply PLAN_ID

The submission checks the exact key-file URL without following redirects before it sends the batch. IndexNow hosts must use multi-label DNS names rather than IP literals or single-label names, and the key file must contain only the key. Batches above 10,000 URLs, ambiguous dot-segment paths, and URLs outside the authorized host or key subpath are rejected locally. There is intentionally no unverified 2,048-character URL cap. IndexNow's protocol tells callers to resubmit a valid request after a non-success response, so an HTTP 5xx leaves the plan pending; the CLI never retries it automatically.

Output safety

Anchor text, crawl-issue URLs, titles, messages, and query strings may be controlled by strangers. The shared operation layer removes control and bidirectional-formatting characters, truncates extreme values, and returns these fields as {"value": "…", "untrusted": true}. Consumers must treat them as data, never as instructions.

Verification secrets never leave the machine by accident. GetUserSites returns AuthenticationCode and DnsVerificationCode beside every site and GetSiteRoles returns DelegatedCode; whoever holds one can claim the site in another Bing account. All three are replaced with [redacted: verification secret] in every response, and the only way to see one is --reveal-verification-codes typed by an operator on bing-wm sites list|show|roles or bing-wm plan show|list|apply. No MCP tool takes that argument, so no model — and no text a model read — can ask for a code.

Redaction is an exit boundary, not a step on the read path. The same filter covers a write's result, the arguments a plan records — an add_site_roles plan holds the authentication_code it will send, and showing the plan does not show the code — and Bing's own error text, in case Bing quotes back the code it rejected. The literals to hide come from the request body, so the cover does not depend on anyone predicting which field a secret will next arrive in. The plan record on disk keeps the real value; a plan that lost its code could not be applied.

The API key is covered at the same boundary, under its own marker [redacted: API credential]. Microsoft documents the key only as a query-string parameter, so every request URL carries a live credential — and a proxy naming the address it could not reach, or Bing quoting the request back in an error, would otherwise put that URL into the error message, the terminal and the audit trail. An error carrying no credential reads exactly as it did before.

An empty answer is never presented as a measurement. Some of the older endpoints return an empty collection for accounts that demonstrably have data: bing_link_counts, bing_crawl_issues and bing_fetched_urls all came back empty for a site whose bing_crawl_stats reported 1700 inbound links in the same minute. A read that returned no rows carries empty_response: {rows_returned: 0, measured: false, note: …} beside result over MCP, and prints the note on stderr at the CLI, so "Bing returned nothing" cannot be reported as "no problems found". Reads that answer with a single record — bing_url_info, bing_crawl_settings, the quotas, bing_keyword — are never labelled: an array inside one record, such as CrawlRate, is a field of that record and not a row Bing withheld. bing_url_info labels the same trap in one field: HttpStatus: 0 means Bing reports no status, not 200, and the row says so with http_status_reported.

Coverage and references

• Agent skill: how to drive this server
• CLI commands, MCP tools, and write operations
• Complete 62-method Microsoft interface transcription
• Product boundaries
• Configuration

The Microsoft interface contains 62 methods: 59 supported here and three obsolete deep-link methods deliberately excluded. Keyword research is standalone because its official signatures contain no site parameter. Content submission is exposed because it remains present in Microsoft's current interface; account-side eligibility can only be confirmed by Bing for a particular account.

Licence

MIT.