How do I install Decodo?

Copy the stdio config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does Decodo need an API key?

No required environment variable is listed on this record.

What transport does Decodo use?

Decodo runs locally over stdio.

When was Decodo last checked?

Last checked 2026-11-09. Enable your AI agents to scrape and parse web content dynamically, including geo-restricted sites

Decodo MCP server

Decodo MCP Server

Connect LLMs and AI agents to live web data using MCP (Model Context Protocol). The Decodo MCP Server lets you scrape websites, search engines, eCommerce platforms, and social media directly from AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and Windsurf, all without the need to build scraping infrastructure from scratch.

Structured outputs in JSON, Markdown, and screenshots
Server-side JavaScript rendering and anti-bot handling
125M+ IPs across 195+ locations

What is Decodo MCP server?

The Decodo MCP Server is a web scraping layer for AI agents. It connects MCP-compatible clients to Decodo's Web Scraping API, enabling:

Web scraping for LLMs
Real-time data retrieval for RAG
AI agent browsing and research
Structured data extraction from dynamic websites

Instead of maintaining proxies, parsers, and retry logic, you get a single integration point for reliable web data access.

Why use MCP for web scraping?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the emerging standard for connecting AI agents to external tools and data sources. With MCP:

Agents can call tools dynamically
Integrations stay standardized
Workflows scale across environments

The Decodo MCP Server gives your agents reliable, production-ready web access through this standard.

Key features

Web scraping for AI agents, no infrastructure required. Scrape any website, including JavaScript-heavy pages, without handling proxy rotation, CAPTCHA solving, or anti-bot systems.

Structured outputs for LLM workflows. Markdown (LLM-ready), JSON (for structured pipelines), and screenshots (for visual context), built for RAG pipelines, AI research agents, and automation flows.

Built-in support for popular targets. Ready-made tools for Google and Bing (SERPs), Amazon, Walmart, and Target (eCommerce), Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube (social media), and ChatGPT and Perplexity (AI search).

Global proxy infrastructure. 125M+ residential IPs, 195+ geo-locations, and a 99.99% success rate on even the most protected targets.

Modular MCP toolsets. Enable only what you need: web, search, ecommerce, social_media, ai for cleaner tool selection and better agent performance.

Fast time to value. From API key to first scrape in minutes, no setup overhead.

Use cases

Use the Decodo MCP Server when you need web scraping for AI agents, structured data extraction at scale, reliable access to dynamic websites, real-time data for RAG, or an alternative to building scraping infrastructure from scratch. Common scenarios:

AI-powered web scraping – give LLMs the ability to collect fresh data instead of relying on static training data.
RAG with live data – pull real-time Google, Bing, and AI search results into retrieval pipelines.
eCommerce intelligence – track product prices, listings, and sellers across marketplaces without getting blocked.
Social media data collection – gather posts, channels, and engagement data from Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube.
Travel and price aggregation – build tools that collect live pricing and availability across websites.

Quick start

Create a free account at dashboard.decodo.com – up to 2K free requests, no credit card required.
Get your API key. Copy your Web Data API key from your Web Data API subscription on the dashboard. Older plans have a basic authentication token, which also works (see Authentication).
Download Node.js 18+ from https://nodejs.org.
Get MCP client like Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf or other MCP-compatible tools.
Configure the MCP server in your AI client (see configuration examples below).

Connecting to Decodo's MCP server

Open your preferred MCP client and add the following configuration (see examples for Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf bellow):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Decodo": {
      "url": "https://mcp.decodo.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <api_key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Authentication

Credential	Where to get it	Hosted server header	Local server env
API key (recommended)	Web Data API subscription on the dashboard	`Authorization: Bearer <api_key>`	`SCRAPER_API_TOKEN=<api_key>`
Basic authentication token (older plans)	Web Scraping API page on the dashboard	`Authorization: Basic <basic_auth_token>`	`SCRAPER_API_TOKEN=<basic_auth_token>`

The local server reads either credential from SCRAPER_API_TOKEN and works out which one it got.

Claude Desktop

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config.
Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Decodo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@decodo/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SCRAPER_API_TOKEN": "<api_key>",
        "TOOLSETS": "web,ai"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save and restart Claude Desktop.

Cursor

Open Settings → MCP.
Click Add a new global MCP server (opens mcp.json).
Add the same configuration as above.
Save — look for a green status indicator next to Decodo.

Windsurf

Open Settings → Windsurf Settings.
Scroll to Cascade → Add custom server + (opens mcp_config.json).
Add the same configuration as above.
Save and restart Windsurf.

Test your setup

Once connected, try this prompt in your client:

▎ "Scrape the titles of the top 5 articles from Hacker News"

You should get a structured list back within seconds. If you see an auth error, double-check your API key on the dashboard.

Optional: enable specific toolsets

Running the MCP server locally

Prerequisites

Node.js 18.0+
An MCP client - popular choices are Claude Desktop and Cursor

Step-by-step guide

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/Decodo/mcp-server

Run the following commands in the terminal:

cd decodo-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Take note of your build location:

cd build/
pwd

Adding index.js to the end of this directory, your build file location should look something like this:

/Users/your.user/projects/decodo-mcp/build/index.js

Update your MCP client with the server information:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "decodo-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/your.user/projects/decodo-mcp/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "SCRAPER_API_TOKEN": "<api_key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Toolsets

Tools are organized into toolsets. You can selectively enable specific toolsets by passing a comma-separated list via the toolsets query parameter:

    "Decodo MCP Server": {
      "url": "https://mcp.decodo.com/mcp?toolsets=web,ai",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <api_key>"
      }
    }

When no toolsets are specified, all tools are registered.

Toolset	Tools
`web`	`scrape_as_markdown`, `screenshot`, `map`, `crawl_start`, `crawl_status`, `crawl_results`, `crawl_cancel`
`search`	`search`, `google_search`, `google_ads`, `google_lens`, `google_travel_hotels`, `bing_search`
`ecommerce`	`amazon_search`, `amazon_product`, `amazon_pricing`, `amazon_sellers`, `amazon_bestsellers`, `walmart_search`, `walmart_product`, `target_search`, `target_product`, `tiktok_shop_search`, `tiktok_shop_product`, `tiktok_shop_url`
`social_media`	`reddit_post`, `reddit_subreddit`, `reddit_user`, `tiktok_post`, `youtube_metadata`, `youtube_channel`, `youtube_subtitles`, `youtube_search`
`ai`	`chatgpt`, `perplexity`, `google_ai_mode`

Tools

The server exposes the following tools:

Tool	Description	Example prompt
`scrape_as_markdown`	Scrapes any target URL, expects a URL to be given via prompt. Returns results in Markdown.	Scrape peacock.com from a US IP address and tell me the pricing.
`screenshot`	Captures a screenshot of any webpage and returns it as a PNG image.	Take a screenshot of github.com from a US IP address.
`map`	Lists the URLs on a website without fetching their content. API key only.	Map docs.decodo.com and list the pages under /scraping-api.
`crawl_start`	Starts crawling a website and returns the crawl id without waiting. API key only.	Crawl the first 10 pages of decodo.com/blog.
`crawl_status`	Reports a crawl's progress: pages discovered, completed and failed. API key only.	Is my crawl finished yet?
`crawl_results`	Returns crawled pages as Markdown, a few at a time with a cursor. API key only.	Show me the pages my crawl found.
`crawl_cancel`	Stops a running crawl; pages crawled so far stay readable. API key only.	Cancel my crawl.
`search`	Searches the web and returns ranked results. API key only.	Search the web for MCP server hosting options.
`google_search`	Scrapes Google Search for a given query, and returns parsed results.	Scrape Google Search for shoes and tell me the top position.
`google_ads`	Scrapes Google Ads search results.	Scrape Google Ads for laptop and show me the top ads.
`google_lens`	Scrapes Google Lens image search results.	Search Google Lens for this image: https://example.com/image.jpg
`google_ai_mode`	Scrapes Google AI Mode (Search with AI) results.	Ask Google AI Mode: What are the top three dog breeds?
`google_travel_hotels`	Scrapes Google Travel Hotels search results.

Parameters

The following parameters are inferred from user prompts:

Parameter	Description
`jsRender`	Renders target URL in a headless browser.
`geo`	Sets the country from which the request will originate.
`locale`	Sets the locale of the request.
`tokenLimit`	Maximum number of characters to return (default 45000). Useful if the context window is small.
`prompt`	Prompt to send to AI tools (`chatgpt`, `perplexity`).
`search`	Activates ChatGPT's web search functionality (`chatgpt` only).
`xhr`	When true, includes XHR or fetch responses in the scrape result where supported (e.g. `tiktok_post`).
`deviceType`	Device type to emulate (`desktop`, `mobile`, `tablet`). Parsed targets are stricter: Amazon tools are desktop-only so they omit it, and `bing_search`/`google_ai_mode` accept `desktop` and `mobile` only.
`domain`	Domain to use for the request (e.g., `amazon.com`, `amazon.co.uk`, `bing.com`).
`pageFrom`	Starting page number for pagination.
`deliveryZip`	ZIP code for delivery location (Target, Walmart).
`storeId`	Store ID for local inventory (Walmart).
`country`	Country for TikTok Shop requests.
`limit`	Maximum number of results to return (e.g., YouTube channel videos).
`language_code`	Language code for subtitles (e.g., `en`, `es`).

Examples

Scraping geo-restricted content

Query your AI agent with the following prompt:

Scrape peacock.com from a German IP address and tell me the pricing.

This prompt will say that peacock.com is geo-restricted. To bypass the geo-restriction:

Scrape peacock.com from a US IP address and tell me the pricing.

Limiting number of response tokens

If your agent has a small context window, the content returned from scraping will be automatically truncated, in order to avoid context-overflow. You can increase the number of tokens returned within your prompt:

Scrape hacker news, return 50k tokens.

If your agent has a big context window, tell it to return full content:

Scrape hacker news, return full content.

Use with Decodo agent skills

This server gives your agent the scraping tools. Decodo/agent-skills teaches it when to reach for them, which surface to use, and how to call it — so the agent picks the right tool and parameters on its own instead of guessing.

The skills route across the decodo CLI, this hosted MCP server, and the raw HTTP API, and fall back to the MCP server automatically when no shell is available. Pairing the two gives your agent both the execution layer (this server) and the decision layer (the skills) in a single setup.

Quick start (Claude Code):

/plugin marketplace add Decodo/agent-skills
/plugin install decodo@decodo-skills

See the agent-skills README for manual install and other agents (Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Windsurf).

Related repositories

Web Scraping API, Decodo agent skills, Decodo OpenClaw skill

Try it

Plug Decodo MCP Server into your AI workflow in just a few clicks and equip your AI agents with real-time data from any website.

Start for free | Docs | Discord

License

All code is released under the MIT License.

Decodo

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Server facts

Tools

Questions

How do I install Decodo?

Does Decodo need an API key?

What transport does Decodo use?

When was Decodo last checked?

Documentation

Decodo MCP Server

What is Decodo MCP server?

Why use MCP for web scraping?

Key features

Use cases

Quick start

Connecting to Decodo's MCP server

Authentication

Claude Desktop

Cursor

Windsurf

Test your setup

Optional: enable specific toolsets

Running the MCP server locally

Prerequisites

Step-by-step guide

Toolsets

Tools

Parameters

Examples

Scraping geo-restricted content

Limiting number of response tokens

Use with Decodo agent skills

Related repositories

Try it

License