MCP Server

Introduction

The You.com MCP Server is the fastest path from zero to web-grounded AI agents. Give your agents real-time access to the latest web information through the Model Context Protocol. Search current content, get up-to-date answers, and extract live web pages—whether in your IDE or deployed agentic workflows. Built on MCP to work everywhere your agents do—one integration, unlimited compatibility across IDEs, frameworks, and production systems.

Key Features:

• Free to start locally — run the NPM package without an API key or account
• Web and news search with advanced filtering
• Content extraction from URLs in markdown or HTML format
• Multiple deployment options: Remote server (recommended) or local NPM package
• Optional API key for higher rate limits
• OAuth 2.1 support on the remote server — any MCP client that implements the OAuth 2.1 authorization flow connects without managing API keys
• Works seamlessly with Windsurf, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, JetBrains, and other MCP-enabled IDEs

Getting started

Get up and running with the You.com MCP Server in three simple steps:

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{
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  "mcpServers": {
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    "ydc-server": {
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      "type": "http",
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      "url": "https://api.you.com/mcp",
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      "headers": {
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        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-api-key>"
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      }
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    }
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  }
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}

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{
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  "mcpServers": {
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    "ydc-server": {
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      "command": "npx",
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      "args": ["@youdotcom-oss/mcp"]
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    }
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  }
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}

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{
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  "mcpServers": {
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    "ydc-server": {
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      "command": "npx",
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      "args": ["@youdotcom-oss/mcp"],
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      "env": {
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        "YDC_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>"
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      }
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    }
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  }
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}

Authentication

Remote server (https://api.you.com/mcp) requires one of:

• Bearer token — pass Authorization: Bearer <your-api-key> as a request header. Get a key at you.com/platform.
• OAuth 2.1 — no API key needed. Any MCP client that implements MCP Authorization will automatically handle the flow. When you connect without credentials, the server responds with 401 Unauthorized and a WWW-Authenticate header pointing to the You.com authorization server. Your client opens a browser for you to sign in, then retries the connection with the issued token.

Local NPM package (npx @youdotcom-oss/mcp) uses STDIO transport:

• Free tier — run without any YDC_API_KEY env var. Subject to free-tier rate limits.
• API key — set YDC_API_KEY=<your-api-key> in the environment for higher rate limits.

Available tools

The You.com MCP Server provides three powerful tools that work with your AI assistant. Simply ask in natural language what you want to do—your MCP client automatically handles the rest.

you-search

Comprehensive web and news search with advanced filtering capabilities. Use this when you need to search the web for information, filter by specific sites or file types, or get the latest news on a topic.

you-contents

Extract full page content from URLs in markdown or HTML format. Use this when you need to extract and analyze content from web pages for reading or processing in your workflow.

you-research

Comprehensive web research that returns synthesized, citation-backed answers. Use this when you need in-depth analysis of a topic rather than raw search results. Supports configurable effort levels—lite, standard, deep, and exhaustive—so you can balance speed against thoroughness.

Disabling tools

When you use HTTP transport (for example https://api.you.com/mcp), you can hide tools from the MCP session by sending the X-Disable-Tools header on each request. List tool names as a comma-separated list. Names are trimmed of leading and trailing whitespace. Omit the header or leave it empty to register all tools. Add the header in your MCP client configuration alongside any other headers (for example Authorization):

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{
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  "mcpServers": {
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    "ydc-server": {
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      "type": "http",
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      "url": "https://api.you.com/mcp",
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      "headers": {
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        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-api-key>",
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        "X-Disable-Tools": "you-research,you-contents"
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      }
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    }
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  }
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}

This applies to Streamable HTTP connections. The local NPM package uses STDIO transport and does not use this header.

Use cases & examples

Here are practical examples showing how to use the You.com MCP tools in your daily workflow:

Research & information gathering

Finding specific information:

• “Find recent research papers about quantum computing on arxiv.org”
• “Search for TypeScript documentation about generics”
• “Get the latest news about renewable energy from the past week”
• “Find PDF files about machine learning algorithms”

Content extraction & analysis

Extracting web content:

• “Extract the content from this blog post: https://example.com/article”
• “Get the documentation from these three URLs in markdown format”
• “Pull the HTML content from this page preserving the layout”
• “Batch extract content from these 5 documentation pages”

Combined workflows

Your AI assistant can orchestrate multiple tools to complete complex tasks:

1. Research + extract: “Search for the best TypeScript tutorials, then extract the content from the top 3 results”
2. Question + deep dive: “What is WebAssembly? Then search for real-world examples and extract code samples”
3. News + analysis: “Find recent articles about AI regulation, then summarize the key points”

Pro tips

• Be specific: Include domains, date ranges, or file types when searching for more precise results
• Use natural language: You don’t need to memorize parameters - just describe what you want
• Ask follow-up questions: Refine results and dig deeper by asking your AI assistant to clarify or expand
• Let your agent orchestrate: For complex workflows, your AI assistant will automatically use multiple tools together

Setup guides

$
claude mcp add --transport http ydc-server https://api.you.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <your-api-key>"

$
claude mcp add --transport http ydc-server https://api.you.com/mcp

$
code --add-mcp '{"name":"ydc-server","url":"https://api.you.com/mcp","type":"http","headers":{"Authorization":"Bearer <your-api-key>"}}'

Additional resources

For complete details on search parameters, response formats, and advanced usage, see the Search API Reference.

Troubleshooting

Report an issue

If you’re experiencing issues, we’re here to help:

• Email: [email protected]
• Web: You.com Support
• GitHub: Report an issue

For contributors

Interested in contributing to the You.com MCP Server? We’d love your help!

Need technical details? Check AGENTS.md for complete development setup, architecture overview, code patterns, and testing guidelines.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch following naming conventions in CONTRIBUTING.md
3. Follow the code style guidelines and use conventional commits
4. Write tests for your changes (maintain >80% coverage)
5. Run quality checks: bun run check && bun test
6. Submit a pull request with a clear description

We appreciate all contributions, whether it’s:

• Bug fixes
• New features
• Documentation improvements
• Performance optimizations
• Test coverage improvements

Transport protocols

The MCP server supports two transport protocols:

Resources

Explore further