Webpawm

Webpawm is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides web search capabilities with multiple search engine support.

Features

• Multiple Search Engines: Supports SearXNG, Google, Bing, Brave, Bing CN (China), and Arxiv
• Multiple Transport Modes:
  • HTTP/SSE mode (via webpawm web command)
  • Stdio mode (via webpawm or webpawm std command)
• Unified Search: Single web_search tool with smart defaults (multi-engine, query expansion, deduplication)
• Flexible Configuration: Support for config file (~/.webpawm/config.json) and environment variables
• Access Logging: Built-in slog-based HTTP access logging
• API Key Authentication: Optional API key protection for HTTP endpoint (X-API-Key or Bearer token)

Installation

go install github.com/liut/webpawm@latest

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/liut/webpawm.git
cd webpawm
make main
install dist/webpawm /usr/local/bin/

Usage

Stdio Mode (Default)

Run as a local MCP tool:

webpawm

HTTP/SSE Mode

Start the web server (with optional API key authentication):

webpawm web --listen localhost:8087

The server provides two endpoints:

• HTTP: http://localhost:8087/mcp
• SSE: http://localhost:8087/mcp/sse

With URI prefix:

webpawm web --listen localhost:8087 --uri-prefix /api

Endpoints become:

• HTTP: http://localhost:8087/api/mcp
• SSE: http://localhost:8087/api/mcp/sse

Authentication

When api_key is configured in the config file or WEBPAWM_API_KEY environment variable, the HTTP endpoint requires authentication.

Request with X-API-Key header:

curl -H "X-API-Key: your-secret-key" http://localhost:8087/mcp

Or with Authorization: Bearer header:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer your-secret-key" http://localhost:8087/mcp

MCP Tools

Webpawm provides two MCP tools:

web_search

Unified search tool with intelligent defaults. Supports single engine, multi-engine parallel search, and automatic query expansion with deduplication.

Parameter	Type	Description
query	string	The search query (required)
engine	string	Single search engine to use (optional, mutually exclusive with engines)
engines	array	List of search engines to use (optional, mutually exclusive with engine)
max_results	integer	Maximum results to return (default: 10)
language	string	Language code for search results (e.g., 'en', 'zh')
arxiv_category	string	Arxiv category for academic paper search (e.g., 'cs.AI', 'math.CO')
search_depth	string	'quick' (1 query), 'normal' (2 queries), 'deep' (3 queries). Default: 'normal'
include_academic	boolean	Include academic papers from Arxiv (default: false)
auto_query_expand	boolean	Automatically expand query with variations (default: true)
auto_deduplicate	boolean	Automatically deduplicate results by URL (default: true)

Note: engine and engines support enum values - available engines are listed in the tool schema.

web_fetch

Fetch a website and return its content with HTML to Markdown conversion.

Parameter	Type	Description
url	string	URL of the website to fetch (required)
max_length	integer	Maximum number of characters to return (default: 5000)
start_index	integer	Start content from this character index (default: 0)
raw	boolean	Return raw HTML including script and style blocks (default: false)

Configuration

Config File

Create ~/.webpawm/config.json:

{
  "searchxng_url": "https://searchx.ng",
  "google_api_key": "your-api-key",
  "google_cx": "your-search-engine-id",
  "bing_api_key": "your-bing-api-key",
  "brave_api_key": "your-brave-api-key",
  "api_key": "your-api-key",
  "max_results": 10,
  "default_engine": "searchxng",
  "listen_addr": "localhost:8087",
  "uri_prefix": "",
  "log_level": "info"
}

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
WEBPAWM_SEARCHXNG_URL	SearXNG base URL
WEBPAWM_GOOGLE_API_KEY	Google Custom Search API key
WEBPAWM_GOOGLE_CX	Google Search Engine ID
WEBPAWM_BING_API_KEY	Bing Search API key
WEBPAWM_BRAVE_API_KEY	Brave Search API key
WEBPAWM_API_KEY	API key for HTTP endpoint authentication
WEBPAWM_MAX_RESULTS	Default max results
WEBPAWM_DEFAULT_ENGINE	Default search engine
WEBPAWM_LISTEN_ADDR	HTTP listen address
WEBPAWM_URI_PREFIX	URI prefix for endpoints
WEBPAWM_LOG_LEVEL	Log level: debug, info, warn, error

Priority

Configuration priority (highest to lowest):

1. CLI flags
2. Environment variables
3. Config file
4. Default values

License

MIT