deepseek-web-mcp

DeepSeek Web MCP

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An MCP server that calls DeepSeek's official Search and Fetch APIs directly. It returns search results and page content without calling a chat model to generate an answer.

This is a community project, not an official DeepSeek product. It is licensed under MIT.

Installation

You need Node.js 22 or newer and a DeepSeek API key.

Add the server to an MCP client that supports stdio. The client downloads and runs the npm package with npx; no separate installation is needed. Set DEEPSEEK_API_KEY through your client's secret manager if available. Otherwise, keep the key in a private local configuration file and never commit it to Git.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "deepseek-web": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "deepseek-web-mcp@0.1.0"],
      "env": {
        "DEEPSEEK_API_KEY": "YOUR_DEEPSEEK_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

The MCP client starts the server as a child process. The server does not open a web page or listen on an HTTP port. If started directly in a terminal, it waits for MCP messages without displaying a prompt.

Tools

Tool	Official endpoint	Result
search	POST https://api.deepseek.com/v1/tools/search	Ranked search results with URLs, summaries, and optional page content
fetch	POST https://api.deepseek.com/v1/tools/fetch	Page title and Markdown content

search

{
  "query": "DeepSeek site:api-docs.deepseek.com",
  "count": 3,
  "need_content": true
}

query is required. It must contain 1 to 128 Unicode characters and cannot be all whitespace. DeepSeek's search operators are passed through, including site:, -site:, quoted phrases, lang:, after:, and before:.

Optional parameter	Meaning	Default
count	Number of results, from 1 to 50	10
need_content	Include page content when available	false
ori_question	Original user question, up to 128 Unicode characters; accepts null	Omitted
localization	IP address used to localize results	Omitted

An empty search returns {"results":[]} and is not an error. Setting need_content to true does not guarantee content for every result.

fetch

{
  "url": "https://api-docs.deepseek.com/guides/search"
}

url is required and limited to 8192 characters. It must use HTTP or HTTPS and cannot contain a username or password. DeepSeek fetches the page. The local MCP process does not connect to the target site.

Both tools return MCP structuredContent and the same JSON as text for clients that do not use structured results. Additional fields returned by the API are preserved. Page content is passed through as received, including any Markdown escapes.

Cost and data handling

Search queries, original questions, localization IPs, and target URLs are sent to DeepSeek. Authentication uses the DEEPSEEK_API_KEY environment variable. The server does not store the key or log request content. Standard output is reserved for MCP messages.

Each tool call sends one API request. There are no automatic retries. Requests time out after 30 seconds and respond to client cancellation. A timeout or cancellation does not guarantee that DeepSeek stops processing the request.

DeepSeek lists both Search and Fetch at USD 0.75 per 1,000 successful requests that produce results. Check the official guide for current prices and limits. Free usage arrangements for products such as DeepSeek Harness do not imply that this server's direct API requests are free.

HTTP failures are returned as MCP tool errors with a status code. Upstream error bodies and exception details are not forwarded, to avoid exposing credentials. Treat web content as untrusted data, not instructions.

Testing

Run the local tests without an API key or network calls to DeepSeek:

npm test

To test against the real APIs, first set DEEPSEEK_API_KEY in your environment, then run:

npm run test:live

The live test starts the CLI, completes the MCP stdio handshake, and calls both tools. It verifies search results and the fetched official documentation. It makes two billable API requests and prints counts, content length, and elapsed time without printing the key.

Development

To run from source:

git clone https://github.com/habitssss/deepseek-web-mcp.git
cd deepseek-web-mcp
npm ci

For a source checkout, use "command": "node" and "args": ["/absolute/path/deepseek-web-mcp/cli.js"] in your MCP configuration instead of npx.

The code uses JavaScript ES modules and needs no build step. server.js defines the tools and API requests. cli.js starts the stdio transport. Run npm test after changes, and run the live test when changing API arguments or response handling.