DuckDuckGo MCP Server 🦆

A fast, free, and unlimited web search MCP server using DuckDuckGo. No API keys required!

Why This MCP?

• ✅ 100% Free - No API keys, no subscriptions, no rate limits
• ✅ Works Everywhere - DuckDuckGo HTML endpoint bypasses CAPTCHA
• ✅ 3 Powerful Tools - Search, crawl, and research with AI ranking
• ✅ Parallel Crawling - Fetch multiple pages simultaneously
• ✅ Smart Ranking - Research tool ranks results by relevance to your question

Installation

For Claude Desktop / 100xprompt / Cursor / Windsurf

Add to your MCP config:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "duckduckgo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "duckduckgo-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

From Source

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/duckduckgo-mcp.git
cd duckduckgo-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Then add to config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "duckduckgo": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/duckduckgo-mcp/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

1. search

Quick web search. Returns titles, URLs, and descriptions.

{
  "name": "search",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "latest AI news 2026",
    "count": 10
  }
}

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Max	Description
query	string	required	-	Search query
count	number	10	20	Number of results

---

2. search_and_crawl

Search + crawl all result pages in parallel. Get full content from each source.

{
  "name": "search_and_crawl",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "best JavaScript frameworks 2026",
    "count": 5,
    "maxContentLength": 3000
  }
}

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Max	Description
query	string	required	-	Search query
count	number	5	10	Number of results to crawl
maxContentLength	number	3000	10000	Max characters per page

---

3. research ⭐

Best for answering questions. Searches, crawls in parallel, then ranks results by relevance to your question using:

Scoring Factor	Weight	Description
Keywords	30%	How many question keywords appear in content
Content Quality	25%	Length, structure, no paywalls
Source Authority	20%	Domain reputation (Wikipedia=10, Reuters=9, etc.)
Relevance	25%	Question type matching (how-to, what, why, etc.)

{
  "name": "research",
  "arguments": {
    "question": "How does Starlink help Ukraine in the war?",
    "count": 5,
    "maxContentLength": 3000
  }
}

Example Output:

[1] Wikipedia - Score: 6.4/10
    Keywords: 10 | Quality: 5 | Authority: 10 | Relevance: 0.6

[2] Defense Magazine - Score: 5.8/10
    Keywords: 10 | Quality: 7.5 | Authority: 3 | Relevance: 1.2

Usage Examples

With Claude / 100xprompt

Just ask naturally:

• "Search for the latest news about Tesla"
• "Research how quantum computing works"
• "Find and compare React vs Vue performance"

Programmatic

// Search
const results = await mcp.callTool("search", {
  query: "TypeScript best practices",
  count: 10,
});

// Research with ranking
const research = await mcp.callTool("research", {
  question: "What are the best practices for securing REST APIs?",
  count: 5,
});

How It Works

1. DuckDuckGo HTML Endpoint - Uses html.duckduckgo.com which returns static HTML
2. No CAPTCHA - Unlike Google, DuckDuckGo doesn't block automated requests
3. Parallel Crawling - All URLs fetched simultaneously for speed
4. Smart Extraction - Removes nav, ads, sidebars; extracts main content

Source Authority Scores

High-authority domains get better rankings:

Domain	Score
Wikipedia	10
Reuters, AP News, BBC	9
NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg	8
.gov sites	8
.edu sites	7
TechCrunch, Wired, Ars	6
Medium, Reddit	3-4

Comparison

Feature	DuckDuckGo MCP	Tavily	Google Search API
Free	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No
API Key	❌ Not needed	✅ Required	✅ Required
Rate Limits	❌ None	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
CAPTCHA Issues	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Yes
Parallel Crawl	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No
Result Ranking	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No

Limitations

• Some sites block scrapers (403 errors) - this is normal
• Content quality varies by source
• Not suitable for JavaScript-heavy SPA pages

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Test
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"search","arguments":{"query":"test"}},"id":1}' | node build/index.js

Contributing

PRs welcome! Ideas:

• Add more authority domains
• Improve content extraction
• Add caching layer
• Support for images/news search

License

MIT © 2026

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