idapixl/idapixl-web-research-mcp
source synthesis. Cleans HTML to markdown, extracts excerpts, and produces structured research briefs. Available on Apify.
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Web Research MCP β Search, Fetch & Synthesize
An MCP server for AI agents that need to search the web, read pages, and synthesize research β all in a single tool call.
Pay-per-use. No subscription. No idle charges. Powered by Apify Standby.
What it does
Three tools, designed to work together:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
web_search | Search the web. Returns titles, URLs, and snippets. Uses Brave Search API (if configured) or DuckDuckGo fallback. |
fetch_page | Fetch any URL and return clean markdown. Strips ads, nav, and boilerplate. Supports article, full-body, or links-only extraction. |
research_topic | Multi-step research in one call: search β fetch β score relevance β deduplicate β extract key facts β synthesize. |
Quick connect
Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"web-research": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://idapixl--web-research-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN"
}
}
}
}
Replace YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN with your token from apify.com/account/integrations.
Claude Code:
claude mcp add web-research https://idapixl--web-research-mcp.apify.actor/mcp --transport http
Cursor / Windsurf β add via Settings > MCP Servers > HTTP URL.
Pricing
Pay only for what you use. Charged per tool call.
| Event | Price |
|---|---|
web_search | $0.003 |
fetch_page | $0.005 |
research_topic | $0.025 (single charge, includes all sub-calls) |
Brave Search API setup (optional but recommended)
By default the actor uses DuckDuckGo HTML scraping, which works without any key. For better results and freshness filtering:
- Go to brave.com/search/api and sign up for the free tier (2,000 queries/month)
- Copy your API key
- In the actor input, set Brave Search API Key (stored as secret β never exposed in logs)
When the key is set, web_search and research_topic will use Brave Search automatically. DuckDuckGo is the fallback on error.
Example tool calls
Search with freshness filter (Brave only)
{
"tool": "web_search",
"arguments": {
"query": "Claude 4 release announcement",
"maxResults": 5,
"freshness": "pw"
}
}
Read a page β links extraction mode
{
"tool": "fetch_page",
"arguments": {
"url": "https://docs.anthropic.com/en/api/getting-started",
"extractMode": "links"
}
}
Deep research with focus
{
"tool": "research_topic",
"arguments": {
"topic": "Model Context Protocol",
"maxSources": 3,
"focus": "pricing and monetization"
}
}
Input configuration
| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
braveApiKey | string (secret) | β | Brave Search API key for higher-quality search |
maxSearchResults | integer | 5 | Max results per web_search call (1β10) |
fetchTimeoutSecs | integer | 30 | Page fetch timeout in seconds (5β120) |
proxyConfiguration | object | β | Apify Proxy config (residential recommended for best success rates) |
Tool reference
web_search
query(required) β search query, max 500 charsmaxResults(optional) β 1β10, default 5freshness(optional) βpdpast day,pwpast week,pmpast month,pypast year (Brave only)
fetch_page
url(required) β page URLtimeoutSecs(optional) β 5β120, default 30extractMode(optional) βarticlemain content (default),fullentire body,linksall links
research_topic
topic(required) β research topic or question, max 500 charsmaxSources(optional) β 1β5, default 3focus(optional) β sub-question to narrow the research (e.g. "performance benchmarks"), max 200 chars
Notes
- Stateless: each MCP request gets an isolated server instance
research_topicscores relevance, deduplicates near-duplicate sources (>70% sentence overlap filtered), and extracts key sentences containing your query terms- Proxy: Apify Residential proxies improve success rates on pages that block datacenter IPs
- Charges fire before execution β if a page fails to load after charging, the tool returns an error
Built by Idapixl. TypeScript, MCP SDK 1.x, Apify SDK 3.x.
