SerpMCP

PyPI version PyPI downloads Python 3.10+ License: MIT MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Google search using SERP API through the AceDataCloud API.

Perform Google searches and get structured results directly from Claude, VS Code, or any MCP-compatible client.

Features

• Web Search - Regular Google web search with structured results
• Image Search - Search for images with URLs and thumbnails
• News Search - Get latest news articles on any topic
• Video Search - Find videos from YouTube and other sources
• Places Search - Search for local businesses and places
• Maps Search - Find locations and geographic information
• Knowledge Graph - Get structured entity information
• Localization - Support for multiple countries and languages
• Time Filtering - Filter results by time range

Tool Reference

Tool	Description
serp_google_search	Search Google and get structured results using the SERP API.
serp_google_images	Search Google Images and get image results.
serp_google_news	Search Google News and get news article results.
serp_google_videos	Search Google Videos and get video results.
serp_google_places	Search Google for local places and businesses.
serp_google_maps	Search Google Maps for locations.
serp_list_search_types	List all available Google search types.
serp_list_countries	List commonly used country codes for Google search.
serp_list_languages	List commonly used language codes for Google search.
serp_list_time_ranges	List available time range filters for Google search.
serp_get_usage_guide	Get a comprehensive guide for using the Google SERP tools.

Connect: hosted OAuth, API token, or local stdio

The hosted endpoint is https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp. Choose one route for the MCP client:

Route	When to use it	Credential setup
Hosted OAuth	The client supports remote MCP OAuth	Add only the URL, then sign in to AceDataCloud and approve access. No token needs to be pasted into client configuration.
Hosted API token	The client cannot finish OAuth, or you need an explicit integration credential	Send an AceDataCloud API token in the Authorization: Bearer … header. Keep it in a local secret store or environment variable.
Local stdio	The client runs a local MCP process	Install mcp-serp and pass ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN to that process. It still calls the AceDataCloud API.

The hosted service advertises OAuth metadata and Dynamic Client Registration (DCR). DCR registers the client application; it is not an API key. OAuth signs you in and the client sends the resulting Bearer token; it may reuse or create an API credential for the account. Browser sign-in still requires an AceDataCloud account. The hosted service can be metered: review current service documentation and displayed pricing before a real operation. Do not configure both an OAuth login and a fixed Authorization header for the same server.

Hosted OAuth examples

• Claude and Claude Desktop chat: Add a remote custom connector in Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector, enter https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp, select sign-in, and choose Register automatically if Claude asks how to register its OAuth client. Complete consent. Claude Desktop's local claude_desktop_config.json is a separate setup. Claude connector guide.
• Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http --scope user serp https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp, then start claude, open /mcp, and authenticate the Serp server. Claude Code MCP guide.
• Cursor: Add a remote server with only https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp. For a project, merge the entry below into <project>/.cursor/mcp.json; for personal use, use ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Cursor MCP guide.
• VS Code / Copilot: Run MCP: Add Server, select HTTP, enter https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp, then finish the browser sign-in. New portable workspace configs use <project>/.mcp.json; the VS Code-specific format below uses <project>/.vscode/mcp.json or the user profile. Check MCP: List Servers. VS Code MCP setup.
• Codex: codex mcp add serp --url https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp, then codex mcp login serp. Its user settings are in ~/.codex/config.toml. Official Codex MCP guide.

Cursor project config (OAuth):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serp": {"url": "https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp"}
  }
}

VS Code-specific workspace config (OAuth):

{
  "servers": {
    "serp": {"type": "http", "url": "https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp"}
  }
}

Hosted API token

1. Open Ace Data Cloud → Applications. Sign in, or register an account first.
2. Find General application. If it has not been created, choose Initialize General Application. A general key can use the services available to your account; a dedicated application's key is limited to its service. Check the required service/model access and current pricing.
3. Copy the API Key from the application card, or open Keys / Manage Keys → Create to create a separate key for this integration. Give it a recognizable name so you can revoke or rotate it independently.
4. When creating a key, review Expiration Time, Set Usage Limitation, and Allowed APIs. Enable only the restrictions you need, allow the operations you will call, then click Create and copy the token from the key list. Task lookup does not grant permission to submit a generation. Confirm the application's balance can cover your first request; any trial allowance is whatever your account currently displays.
5. Copy only the token value, without quotation marks, spaces, or Bearer . An API Key / API Token field expects this raw value; only a manually configured HTTP Authorization header needs the Bearer prefix. A platform-... account-management token cannot replace a generation API key.

Save the key in the client's credential store or the environment variable shown below. Never put it in a prompt, shared workflow, screenshot, or Git commit. If authentication fails, check the full copied value, application/service access, expiration, usage limit, and balance before creating another key.

A fixed Bearer header bypasses OAuth. If the header is invalid, remove it before trying browser sign-in; keep the saved credential private.

For Claude Code, the shell expands the token when you add the server; treat the saved user MCP config as a secret:

export ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN='YOUR_API_TOKEN'
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user serp https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN"

For a Claude Code project config, put a variable reference in <project>/.mcp.json and set that variable in the environment that launches Claude Code:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp",
      "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer ${ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN}"}
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses a different environment-variable syntax in ~/.cursor/mcp.json or an uncommitted project config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serp": {
      "url": "https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp",
      "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer ${env:ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN}"}
    }
  }
}

In VS Code, run MCP: Open User Configuration and merge this server plus its masked input; ${input:...} is for VS Code's user/workspace format and is not portable to the Agent Host .mcp.json format:

{
  "inputs": [
    {"id": "acedata-serp-token", "type": "promptString", "description": "AceDataCloud API token", "password": true}
  ],
  "servers": {
    "serp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/mcp",
      "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer ${input:acedata-serp-token}"}
    }
  }
}

For Cline, use its MCP configuration UI or CLI file ~/.cline/data/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json; its remote transport value is streamableHttp. For JetBrains AI Assistant, add a remote URL from Settings → Tools → AI Assistant → Model Context Protocol (MCP). For Zed, use a context_servers entry with the URL only for OAuth or add a local Bearer header. These clients have different configuration schemas; follow their current UI rather than copying another client's JSON. Cline · JetBrains · Zed.

Local stdio

Install the package and give the local process an API token:

python -m pip install mcp-serp
export ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN='YOUR_API_TOKEN'
mcp-serp

For Claude Desktop local MCP, merge this entry into the file opened by its developer settings (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS). uvx requires uv on PATH:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-serp"],
      "env": {"ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN": "YOUR_API_TOKEN"}
    }
  }
}

Keep this user-level file private. Self-hosted HTTP uses mcp-serp --transport http --port 8000; expose it only with suitable network and TLS controls. Local execution still calls the AceDataCloud API.

Check before using the service

1. https://serp.mcp.acedata.cloud/health returning {"status":"ok"} checks endpoint reachability only.
2. Confirm that the MCP client loads tools. serp_list_search_types and serp_get_usage_guide are local reference tools with no search API charge; they do not verify downstream API access or balance. Search tools are read-only but consume Credits, and repeating a search can incur another charge.
3. If you need a full API check, call serp_google_search with your own valid input after reviewing current service documentation and displayed pricing.

For 401, check which auth route the client used and whether the token or OAuth session is valid. A 403 may mean an account permission or content moderation failure; read the returned error. Insufficient balance and downstream service failures need their own diagnosis. A listed tool or submitted task does not prove a successful result.

Available Tools

Search Tools

Tool	Description
serp_google_search	Flexible Google search with all options
serp_google_images	Search for images
serp_google_news	Search for news articles
serp_google_videos	Search for videos
serp_google_places	Search for local places/businesses
serp_google_maps	Search for map locations

Information Tools

Tool	Description
serp_list_search_types	List available search types
serp_list_countries	List country codes for localization
serp_list_languages	List language codes for localization
serp_list_time_ranges	List time range filter options
serp_get_usage_guide	Get comprehensive usage guide

Usage Examples

Basic Web Search

User: Search for information about artificial intelligence

Claude: I'll search for information about AI.
[Calls serp_google_search with query="artificial intelligence"]

News Search with Time Filter

User: What's the latest news about technology?

Claude: I'll search for recent tech news.
[Calls serp_google_news with query="technology", time_range="qdr:d"]

Localized Search

User: Find popular restaurants in Tokyo

Claude: I'll search for restaurants in Tokyo.
[Calls serp_google_places with query="popular restaurants Tokyo", country="jp"]

Image Search

User: Find images of the Northern Lights

Claude: I'll search for aurora borealis images.
[Calls serp_google_images with query="Northern Lights aurora borealis"]

Search Parameters

Search Types

Type	Description
search	Regular web search (default)
images	Image search
news	News articles
maps	Map results
places	Local businesses
videos	Video results

Time Range Filters

Code	Time Range
h	Past hour
qdr:h	Past hour
d	Past day
qdr:d	Past day
w	Past week
qdr:w	Past week
m	Past month
qdr:m	Past month
y	Past year
qdr:y	Past year

Image Size Filters (for images search type)

large, medium, icon, 2mp, 4mp, 6mp, 8mp, 10mp, 12mp, 15mp, 20mp, 40mp, 70mp

Common Country Codes

Code	Country
us	United States
uk	United Kingdom
cn	China
jp	Japan
de	Germany
fr	France

Common Language Codes

Code	Language
en	English
zh-cn	Chinese (Simplified)
ja	Japanese
es	Spanish
fr	French
de	German

Response Structure

Regular Search Results

• knowledge_graph: Entity information (company, person, etc.)
• answer_box: Direct answers
• organic: Regular search results with title, link, snippet
• people_also_ask: Related questions
• related_searches: Related queries

Image Search Results

• images: Image results with URLs and thumbnails

News Search Results

• news: News articles with source and date

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
ACEDATACLOUD_API_TOKEN	API token from AceDataCloud	Required
ACEDATACLOUD_API_BASE_URL	API base URL	https://api.acedata.cloud
ACEDATACLOUD_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID	OAuth client ID (hosted mode)	—
ACEDATACLOUD_PLATFORM_BASE_URL	Platform base URL	https://platform.acedata.cloud
SERP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT	Request timeout in seconds	30
LOG_LEVEL	Logging level	INFO

Command Line Options

mcp-serp --help

Options:
  --version          Show version
  --transport        Transport mode: stdio (default) or http
  --port             Port for HTTP transport (default: 8000)

Development

Setup Development Environment

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/AceDataCloud/SerpMCP.git
cd SerpMCP

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # or `.venv\Scripts\activate` on Windows

# Install with dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev,test]"

Run Tests

# Run unit tests
pytest

# Run with coverage
pytest --cov=core --cov=tools

# Run integration tests (requires API token)
pytest tests/test_integration.py -m integration

Code Quality

# Format code
ruff format .

# Lint code
ruff check .

# Type check
mypy core tools

Build & Publish

# Install build dependencies
pip install -e ".[release]"

# Build package
python -m build

# Upload to PyPI
twine upload dist/*

Project Structure

SerpMCP/
├── core/                   # Core modules
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── client.py          # HTTP client for SERP API
│   ├── config.py          # Configuration management
│   ├── exceptions.py      # Custom exceptions
│   └── server.py          # MCP server initialization
├── tools/                  # MCP tool definitions
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── search_tools.py    # Search tools
│   └── info_tools.py      # Information tools
├── prompts/                # MCP prompt templates
│   └── __init__.py
├── tests/                  # Test suite
│   ├── conftest.py
│   ├── test_client.py
│   └── test_config.py
├── deploy/                 # Deployment configs
│   └── production/
│       ├── deployment.yaml
│       ├── ingress.yaml
│       └── service.yaml
├── .env.example           # Environment template
├── .gitignore
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── Dockerfile             # Docker image for HTTP mode
├── docker-compose.yaml    # Docker Compose config
├── LICENSE
├── main.py                # Entry point
├── pyproject.toml         # Project configuration
└── README.md

API Reference

This server wraps the AceDataCloud Google SERP API:

• Google SERP API Documentation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing)
5. Open a Pull Request

Documentation

Documentation

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Links

• AceDataCloud Platform
• Google SERP API
• Model Context Protocol
• MCP Python SDK

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Made with love by AceDataCloud