WebResearch

An AI-ready MCP Server that performs intelligent web searches using SearxNG and Playwright — all containerized for one-step setup. This project provides both manual and Docker installation options for developers and Cline users.

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🚀 Features

• 🔍 Integrated SearxNG meta search engine
• 🧭 Web automation via Playwright
• 🐳 One-command Docker setup (runs MCP + SearxNG together)
• 🧩 Supports JSON search results for easy AI processing

Newly added features

• Now you can save the screenshots in your permanent memory. Just tell your AI to save the screen shot permanently.
• You can ask the AI to list the screenshots. This will give you the path at which the screenshots are saved.
• More features are incoming...

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🧰 Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• Docker installed
• Docker Compose installed
• (Optional) Node.js ≥ 18 if you want to run it manually

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⚡ Quick Setup (Recommended via Docker)

This is the easiest way to get everything running.

1. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/damameet14/mcp-webresearch.git
   cd mcp-webresearch
   

2. Build and start the container

   docker-compose up -d
   

   That’s it! 🎉

   • This automatically installs all dependencies.
   • Starts SearxNG on port 8080.
   • Waits until it’s ready.
   • Then launches your MCP server.

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🔧 Cline MCP Configuration

Once the container is running, edit your mcp_settings.json:

"mcpServers": {
  "webresearch": {
    "command": "docker",
    "args": ["exec", "-i", "mcp-webresearch", "node", "/app/index.js"]
  }
}

This connects Cline directly to your running container.

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🧱 Manual Setup (Without Docker)

If you don’t want to use Docker:

# Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/damameet14/mcp-webresearch.git
cd mcp-webresearch

# Install MCP dependencies
npm install

# Clone and setup SearxNG
git clone https://github.com/searxng/searxng.git
cd searxng
make install

# Enable JSON output (important)
# Add "-json" to line 78 of searx/settings.yml manually

# Start SearxNG
make run # Note that you will have to start the searxng instance everytime you want to use the mcp server.

I am working on making "no docker" setup too a one command setup. But for now, I recommend going with Docker or go through this tiring process.

🔧 Cline MCP Configuration (for manual setup)

Once the container is running, edit your mcp_settings.json:

"mcpServers": {
  "webresearch": {
    "command": "node",
    "args": ["<path_to>/mcp-webresearch/index.js"]
  }
}

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🧠 How It Works

Inside the container:

1. SearxNG launches in the background.
2. A small startup script (start.sh) waits until SearxNG is responsive.
3. Then your MCP server (index.js) starts.

Both processes share the same network and communicate via localhost:8080.

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🧩 Project Structure

mcp-webresearch/
├── index.js
├── package.json
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── start.sh
└── etc...

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⚠️ Notes

• The default SearxNG config is patched automatically to support JSON output (-json format).
• The container is lightweight and will stay idle when unused.
• You can stop it anytime to free memory.

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💡 Future Plans

• Add Windows-compatible setup
• Publish image to Docker Hub and MCP Registry for AI code editors
• Add more tools

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Compatibility

• This is intended for Linux and MacOS.
• But if you want to use it on windows, you can do so with wsl (You can download it from Microsoft Store)

🧑‍💻 Author

Meet Dama (@damameet14) Creator of the MCP WebResearch Server

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