ask-web-search-mcp

A minimal MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes an ask_web_search tool backed by SearXNG. Designed for use with MCP-compatible clients like ZCode, Claude Code, Codex, and others.

Prerequisites

A running SearXNG instance. The default endpoint is http://localhost:8888.

docker run -d --name searxng -p 8888:8080 searxng/searxng

Or use the provided docker-compose.yml in the searxng directory:

cd searxng
docker compose up -d

You can customise the SearXNG URL via the SEARXNG_URL environment variable.

Installation

gem install ask-web-search-mcp

Or in your Gemfile:

gem "ask-web-search-mcp"

Usage

Standalone

ask-web-search-mcp

The server reads JSON-RPC messages on stdin and writes responses to stdout (the standard MCP stdio transport).

With ZCode

Add the server to your ZCode user configuration (~/.zcode/v2/config.json):

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "ask-web-search-mcp": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "ask-web-search-mcp",
        "args": []
      }
    }
  }
}

After restarting ZCode, the ask_web_search tool will be available to the model.

With Claude Code

claude mcp add ask-web-search-mcp -- npx -y @anthropic-ai/mcp-serve ask-web-search-mcp

Development

git clone https://github.com/ask-rb/ask-web-search-mcp
cd ask-web-search-mcp
bin/setup
bundle exec rake test

License

MIT — see LICENSE.