MCP server

The webclaw MCP (Model Context Protocol) server exposes the full extraction engine as tools that AI agents can call directly. Works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, Codex, Antigravity, and any MCP-compatible client.

What is MCP

Model Context Protocol is an open standard for connecting AI models to external tools and data sources. Instead of making HTTP calls manually, an AI agent discovers available tools through the MCP server and calls them natively. The webclaw MCP server communicates over stdio transport and exposes 12 tools covering scraping, crawling, extraction, and more.

Setup

Claude Desktop

Add webclaw to your Claude Desktop config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webclaw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@webclaw/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WEBCLAW_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

npx fetches the launcher automatically — no build or PATH setup. The WEBCLAW_API_KEY enables automatic cloud fallback for bot-protected pages and JavaScript-heavy sites. Without it, extraction uses local HTTP; success depends on the target page.

Claude Code

claude mcp add webclaw -- npx -y @webclaw/mcp

Use the CLI command above to register the server in Claude Code. Check the client's MCP settings to confirm the server is connected.

Cursor

Add webclaw to your Cursor MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webclaw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@webclaw/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WEBCLAW_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add webclaw to your Windsurf MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webclaw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@webclaw/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WEBCLAW_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

OpenCode

Add webclaw to your OpenCode config:

{
  "mcp": {
    "webclaw": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["npx", "-y", "@webclaw/mcp"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Codex

Add webclaw to your Codex config. Codex supports both a CLI and desktop app:

[mcp_servers.webclaw]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@webclaw/mcp"]
enabled = true

Antigravity

Antigravity uses the same mcpServers JSON format as Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webclaw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@webclaw/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WEBCLAW_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Other MCP clients

Any MCP client that supports stdio transport can connect to webclaw-mcp. Point the client at the binary and it will discover all available tools through the standard MCP handshake.

Smart Fetch

The MCP server uses a local-first architecture. Most scrapes happen locally over HTTP (free, no API credits). When a page is bot-protected or JavaScript-heavy, it automatically falls back to the webclaw cloud API when a key is configured. The fallback may still fail; inspect the result.

Environment variables

Tools

The MCP server exposes 12 tools. Their parameters and text results differ from hosted REST requests and responses.

Example conversations

Here is how an AI agent might use the webclaw MCP tools in practice.

{
  "url": "https://stripe.com/pricing",
  "prompt": "Extract all plan names, monthly prices, and included features"
}

{
  "url": "https://nextjs.org/docs"
}

{
  "urls": [
    "https://nextjs.org/docs",
    "https://nextjs.org/docs/getting-started",
    "https://nextjs.org/docs/routing",
    "https://nextjs.org/docs/rendering",
    "https://nextjs.org/docs/data-fetching"
  ],
  "format": "llm"
}