DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides web search capabilities through DuckDuckGo, with additional features for content fetching and parsing.

Features

Web Search: Search DuckDuckGo with advanced rate limiting and result formatting
Content Fetching: Retrieve and parse webpage content with intelligent text extraction
Rate Limiting: Built-in protection against rate limits for both search and content fetching
Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling and logging
LLM-Friendly Output: Results formatted specifically for large language model consumption

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install DuckDuckGo Search Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @nickclyde/duckduckgo-mcp-server --client claude

Installing via `uv`

Install directly from PyPI using uv:

uv pip install duckduckgo-mcp-server

Usage

Running with Claude Desktop

Download Claude Desktop
Create or edit your Claude Desktop configuration:
- On macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- On Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the following configuration:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "ddg-search": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": ["duckduckgo-mcp-server"]
        }
    }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

Development

For local development, you can use the MCP CLI:

# Run with the MCP Inspector
mcp dev server.py

# Install locally for testing with Claude Desktop
mcp install server.py

Available Tools

1. Search Tool

async def search(query: str, max_results: int = 10) -> str

Performs a web search on DuckDuckGo and returns formatted results.

Parameters:

query: Search query string
max_results: Maximum number of results to return (default: 10)

Returns:Formatted string containing search results with titles, URLs, and snippets.

2. Content Fetching Tool

async def fetch_content(url: str) -> str

Fetches and parses content from a webpage.

Parameters:

url: The webpage URL to fetch content from

Returns:Cleaned and formatted text content from the webpage.

Features in Detail

Rate Limiting

Search: Limited to 30 requests per minute
Content Fetching: Limited to 20 requests per minute
Automatic queue management and wait times

Result Processing

Removes ads and irrelevant content
Cleans up DuckDuckGo redirect URLs
Formats results for optimal LLM consumption
Truncates long content appropriately

Error Handling

Comprehensive error catching and reporting
Detailed logging through MCP context
Graceful degradation on rate limits or timeouts

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome! Some areas for potential improvement:

Additional search parameters (region, language, etc.)
Enhanced content parsing options
Caching layer for frequently accessed content
Additional rate limiting strategies

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server