google-surf-mcp

✨Anti-Bot Search MCP: No API Key✨

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Demo only. Actual searches run headless by default (no visible browser). Set SURF_HEADLESS=false to make Chrome visible like in the clip above.

Google search MCP. No API key. Just works.

• ✅ Actually works (tested 6 free Google search MCPs, all failed)
• ✅ Search + URL extract in one MCP (replaces the usual search MCP + fetch MCP combo)
• ✅ 4 tools: search / search_parallel / extract / search_extract
• ✅ No API key, no proxies, no solver
• ✅ Auto CAPTCHA recovery (Chrome opens, human solves once, call retries)

What

Plug it into any MCP client and you get Google search as a tool.

No CAPTCHA solver. When CAPTCHA fires on any tool, a Chrome window opens for a human to solve. Each solve preserves the profile's reputation with Google. Built for sustainable, ethical use.

One-time install needs a ~1s profile warm-up (see Install).

Designed for local use. Not suitable for stateless / serverless deployment.

Numbers

	result
sequential	~2s/query (first call ~4s, includes setup)
parallel x4	~2s wall
parallel x10	~5s wall
search_extract x5	~7s wall (search + 5 parallel extracts)

Measured on a workstation with a 1Gb/s connection. Numbers vary with hardware and network.

Stack

• Playwright + persistent Chrome profile
• playwright-extra stealth
• Resource-blocked images / media / fonts for speed
• One-shot profile bootstrap before first run
• Mozilla Readability + Turndown for article extraction

Install

Requires Node 18+ and Google Chrome (or Chromium) on the system.

npx google-surf-mcp   # actual MCP - register in client config

Or local clone:

git clone https://github.com/HarimxChoi/google-surf-mcp
cd google-surf-mcp
npm install
npm run bootstrap

bootstrap opens a Chrome window. Run one Google search in it. Close. Profile is now warm.

Override paths if needed:

CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome SURF_TZ=America/New_York npm run bootstrap

Use with Claude Code

Paste this into your ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-surf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "google-surf-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code. Done. search, search_parallel, extract, search_extract are now available.

For other MCP clients, use the same JSON shape in their config file.

Local clone variant:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-surf": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/abs/path/to/google-surf-mcp/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

• search(query, limit?) - single query, ~2s. Returns title / url / snippet.
• search_parallel(queries[], limit?) - pool of 4, max 10 queries per call.
• extract(url, max_chars?) - fetch a URL, return article markdown (Readability with text fallback). Failures return { error }, never throw.
• search_extract(query, limit?, max_chars?) - search + parallel extract in one call. Returns SERP results enriched with full article content. Per-page failures are isolated.

search_extract is the killer one: SERP + full article content in a single call. Replaces the usual "search MCP + URL fetcher MCP" combo most agents stitch together.

Env vars

var	default	notes
CHROME_PATH	auto-detected	absolute path to Chrome binary
SURF_PROFILE_ROOT	~/.google-surf-mcp	where the warm profile lives
SURF_LOCALE	en-US	browser locale
SURF_TZ	system tz	e.g. America/New_York
SURF_HEADLESS	true	set false to run Chrome visibly (demos / debugging). CAPTCHA auto-recovery always runs visible regardless.
SURF_IDLE_CLOSE_MS	30000	idle ms before closing the sequential ctx and pool. Lower = faster cleanup, higher = warmer cache for spaced-out calls.

Troubleshooting

• CAPTCHA: a visible Chrome window opens automatically (works for all 4 tools). Solve it once, do one search inside, the call retries and continues. To fail-fast instead, run with no display attached.
• "Chrome not found": install Chrome or set CHROME_PATH.
• Stale selectors: Google rotates classes. PRs welcome.

License

MIT