# mcp-server-scraper
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[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mcp-server-scraper)
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[](https://agent-plugins.org)
Extract clean, readable content from any URL. Returns markdown text, links, and metadata. No API keys, no config. A free alternative to Firecrawl for scraping docs, blogs, and articles.
```bash
npx mcp-server-scraper
```
> Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, and any MCP client. No accounts or API keys needed.
Demo built with remotion-readme-kit
## Why
When you're working with an AI assistant and need to reference a docs page, a blog post, or an API reference, you usually end up copy-pasting content manually. Tools like Firecrawl solve this but require a paid API key. This server does the same thing for free. It fetches a URL, runs it through Mozilla Readability (the same engine behind Firefox Reader View), and returns clean markdown. It works well for server-rendered content like documentation sites, blog posts, and articles. It won't handle JavaScript-heavy SPAs, but for the most common use case of "read this docs page and summarize it," it does the job.
## Tools
| Tool | What it does |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `scrape_url` | Extract clean text content from a URL (Readability-powered) |
| `extract_links` | Get all links with href and anchor text |
| `extract_metadata` | Get title, description, OG tags, canonical, favicon |
| `search_page` | Search for a query string within the page, return matching lines |
| `scrape_multiple` | Batch scrape multiple URLs, get title + excerpt per URL |
## Quick Start
### Cursor
Add to `.cursor/mcp.json`:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"scraper": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-server-scraper"]
}
}
}
```
### Claude Desktop
Add to `claude_desktop_config.json`:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"scraper": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-server-scraper"]
}
}
}
```
### VS Code
Add to your MCP settings (e.g. `.vscode/mcp.json`):
```json
{
"mcp": {
"servers": {
"scraper": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-server-scraper"]
}
}
}
}
```
## Examples
- "Scrape the API docs from https://docs.example.com and summarize them"
- "Extract all links from this page"
- "What's the OG image and description for this URL?"
- "Search this page for mentions of 'authentication'"
- "Scrape these 5 URLs and give me a summary of each"
## How it works
Uses [Mozilla Readability](https://github.com/mozilla/readability) (the engine behind Firefox Reader View) plus [linkedom](https://github.com/WebReflection/linkedom) for fast HTML parsing in Node. No headless browser needed. Works best with server-rendered pages: docs, blogs, articles, news sites.
## Agent Plugins
This repo is an [Agent Plugins](https://agent-plugins.org) 1.0.0 package: `plugin.json`, portable `mcp.json`, and `skills/` ship together with the MCP server.
For Cursor, clone the repo and copy or symlink it to `~/.cursor/plugins/local/mcp-server-scraper`, then reload the window. Skills and MCP show up under Customize > Plugins.
The Cursor and VS Code install buttons above still work: they add the same `npx -y mcp-server-scraper` stdio server as manual JSON.
## FAQ
### What is mcp-server-scraper?
A free MCP server that turns public web pages into clean markdown using Mozilla Readability. No Firecrawl or other scrape API key.
### Does it run JavaScript or SPAs?
No. It fetches HTML and parses it in Node. Use a browser MCP for React dashboards and other client-rendered sites.
### How is this different from Firecrawl?
Firecrawl is a hosted scrape API with billing. This server runs locally via `npx`, costs nothing, and fits doc/blog/article URLs.
### Can I install it as an Agent Plugin in Cursor?
Yes. Use the local plugin path under `~/.cursor/plugins/local/mcp-server-scraper` so the bundled `web-scraping` skill loads with the MCP config.
### Do I need API keys or env vars?
No. Point your MCP client at `npx -y mcp-server-scraper` only.
## Development
```bash
npm install
npm run typecheck
npm run build
npm test
```
## See also
More MCP servers and developer tools on my [portfolio](https://gitshow.dev/ofershap).
## Author
[](https://gitshow.dev/ofershap)
[](https://linkedin.com/in/ofershap)
[](https://github.com/ofershap)
---
README built with [README Builder](https://ofershap.github.io/readme-builder/)
## License
[MIT](LICENSE) © [Ofer Shapira](https://github.com/ofershap)