Research MCP Server — 23 Research Tools for AI Agents

One endpoint. 23 tools. Web, social, academic, and financial data — for any MCP client.

Give your AI agent the ability to search the web, extract content, find academic papers, verify citations, scan social media, pull SEC filings, and more — all through a single MCP server. Works with Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, LangChain, LlamaIndex, and any MCP-compatible client.

Tools	23 (web, social, academic, financial, geographic)
Pricing	$0.01–$0.03 per successful call. No charge on errors.
Setup	2 minutes. One URL, one token.
Rate limit	60 requests/minute
Presets	Load only the tools you need (saves tokens)

Why This Exists

AI agents are only as good as their data. Without research tools, they hallucinate. With this MCP server, your agent can:

• Search the web and extract clean content from any URL
• Find academic papers on arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv and verify citations against Crossref/OpenAlex
• Scan social platforms — Reddit, Hacker News, YouTube, Bluesky, Telegram, Mastodon, VK, Substack
• Pull financial data — SEC EDGAR filings by ticker
• Find geographic data — OpenStreetMap POIs and amenities
• Detect trends across multiple platforms simultaneously
• Resurrect dead links via the Wayback Machine
• Score source reliability with rule-based tier scoring

Quick Start

# 1. List all 23 tools
curl -X POST https://mcp.apify.com/mcp?tools=research-mcp-server \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}'

# 2. Call web_search
curl -X POST https://mcp.apify.com/mcp?tools=research-mcp-server \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"web_search","arguments":{"query":"AI agents 2025"}},"id":2}'

If you see a JSON response with 23 tool definitions, your token works. Then configure your MCP client below.

Use Cases

• Research assistant: web_search → extract_content → score_reliability → find_counter_arguments → verify_citations → format_citations
• Market intelligence: detect_trends → search_reddit → search_hackernews → search_news
• Academic workflow: search_preprints → search_datasets → find_counter_arguments → validate_bibliography
• Financial research: search_sec_filings → extract_content → score_reliability
• Social listening: search_bluesky → search_telegram → search_mastodon → search_vk
• Link rescue: resurrect_dead_link → extract_content (read archived content)
• Location research: search_osm → extract_content (pull details from POI websites)

Tools

Web & Content — $0.01/call

Tool	Description	Example
web_search	Google (with API key) or DuckDuckGo fallback	web_search({ query: "rust async runtime" })
extract_content	Clean text from any URL	extract_content({ url: "https://example.com/article" })
search_news	Google News RSS	search_news({ query: "AI regulation EU" })
get_wikipedia	Wikipedia article summary	get_wikipedia({ query: "quantum entanglement" })
resurrect_dead_link	Find archived version via Wayback Machine	resurrect_dead_link({ url: "https://example.com/old" })
score_reliability	Rule-based source reliability scoring	score_reliability({ urls: ["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust"] })

Social & Discussion — $0.02/call

Tool	Description	Example
search_reddit	Reddit posts + comments	search_reddit({ query: "best keyboard", subreddit: "MechanicalKeyboards" })
search_hackernews	Hacker News via Algolia API	search_hackernews({ query: "vector database" })
search_youtube	YouTube videos + transcripts	search_youtube({ query: "rust ownership", includeTranscript: true })
search_substack	Substack newsletters via RSS	search_substack({ publications: ["stratechery"], maxPosts: 20 })
search_bluesky	Bluesky (AT Protocol) public posts	search_bluesky({ query: "AI agents", sort: "top" })
search_telegram	Public Telegram channels via t.me/s/ preview	search_telegram({ channel: "durov", maxMessages: 50 })
search_mastodon	Mastodon Fediverse public posts	search_mastodon({ query: "rust programming" })
search_vk	VKontakte public posts via official API	search_vk({ query: "искусственный интеллект" })
detect_trends	Trending topics across Reddit, HN, YouTube, News	detect_trends({ platforms: ["reddit", "hackernews"] })

Academic & Research — $0.03/call

Tool	Description	Example
search_preprints	arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv preprints	search_preprints({ query: "CRISPR gene editing" })
search_datasets	Zenodo, Figshare, OSF data repositories	search_datasets({ query: "climate change data" })
find_counter_arguments	Academic papers supporting/contrasting a claim	find_counter_arguments({ query: "transformers are better than RNNs" })
verify_citations	Verify citations against Crossref and OpenAlex	verify_citations({ references: ["Vaswani et al. (2017)..."] })
validate_bibliography	Validate entire bibliography with auto-format detection	validate_bibliography({ bibliography: "Vaswani et al. (2017)..." })
format_citations	Generate BibTeX, APA, MLA, Chicago, RIS from DOIs	format_citations({ doi: "10.1038/nature12373", format: "bibtex" })

Specialized Data — $0.02/call

Tool	Description	Example
search_osm	OpenStreetMap POIs and amenities via Overpass API	search_osm({ query: "restaurant", location: "Berlin" })
search_sec_filings	SEC EDGAR filings by ticker or company name	search_sec_filings({ query: "AAPL", filingType: "10-K" })

Response Format

All tools return { query, count, results }. Errors return { query, count: 0, results: [], error: "message" }. You only pay for successful calls — errors are free.

Example — web_search({ query: "rust async runtime" }):

{
  "query": "rust async runtime",
  "count": 3,
  "results": [
    { "title": "Tokio — Async runtime for Rust", "url": "https://tokio.rs", "snippet": "Tokio is an async runtime...", "source": "duckduckgo" },
    { "title": "async-std — Alternative async runtime", "url": "https://async.rs", "snippet": "async-std provides...", "source": "duckduckgo" }
  ]
}

Example — score_reliability({ urls: ["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust"] }):

{
  "query": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust",
  "count": 1,
  "results": [
    { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust", "reliabilityScore": 1.0, "reliabilityTier": "HIGH", "domain": "en.wikipedia.org" }
  ]
}

Presets

Reduce token overhead by loading only needed tools. Configure via Actor input JSON {"preset": "web"} in Apify Console.

Preset	Tools	Count
all (default)	All tools	23
web	web_search, extract_content, search_news, get_wikipedia, resurrect_dead_link, score_reliability	6
social	search_reddit, search_hackernews, search_youtube, search_substack, search_bluesky, search_telegram, search_mastodon, search_vk, detect_trends	9
academic	search_preprints, search_datasets, find_counter_arguments, verify_citations, validate_bibliography, format_citations	6
data	search_osm, search_sec_filings	2

MCP Client Setup

Claude Desktop

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=research-mcp-server",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Cursor

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "research": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=research-mcp-server",
            "headers": {
                "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
            }
        }
    }
}

LangChain

from langchain_mcp import MCPClient

client = MCPClient("https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=research-mcp-server",
                   headers={"Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"})
tools = await client.get_tools()

LlamaIndex

from llama_index.tools.mcp import McpToolSpec

tool_spec = McpToolSpec(
    server_url="https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=research-mcp-server",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"},
)
tools = await tool_spec.to_tool_list()

Pricing

Tier	Price	Tools
Simple lookup	$0.01/call	web_search, extract_content, get_wikipedia, search_news, search_hackernews, score_reliability, resurrect_dead_link
Standard search	$0.02/call	search_reddit, search_youtube, search_substack, search_bluesky, search_telegram, search_mastodon, search_vk, search_osm, detect_trends, search_preprints, search_datasets, search_sec_filings
Premium workflow	$0.03/call	find_counter_arguments, verify_citations, validate_bibliography, format_citations

Pay only for successful calls. No subscription, no minimum. If a tool returns an error, you are not charged.

Cost examples:

• 100 web searches = $1.00
• 50 Reddit searches + 25 YouTube searches = $1.50
• 20 citation verifications + 10 bibliography validations = $0.90
• Full research workflow (search → extract → score → verify → format) = ~$0.08

Cost tips: Use presets to reduce token overhead. Lower maxResults for faster, cheaper calls. Use score_reliability before expensive citation tools. Simple lookups ($0.01) are cheapest — start there.

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description
/	GET	API info and endpoint directory
/mcp	POST	MCP protocol endpoint (tools/list, tools/call)
/mcp	GET	Returns 405 (use POST)
/health	GET	Server health check (status, tool count, preset, uptime)
/tools	GET	List all active tools with pricing tiers
/usage	GET	Usage stats (total calls, per-tool call counts)
/pricing	GET	Full pricing breakdown by tier with tool lists

Rate Limits

• 60 requests/minute per IP (global)
• HTTP 429 with Retry-After header when exceeded
• External API limits (Crossref, SEC, Wikipedia) handled with automatic retries

Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Fix
Invalid or blocked URL	SSRF protection	Use public HTTP/HTTPS URLs, not localhost/private IPs
VK_ACCESS_TOKEN not set	Missing env var	Add VK_ACCESS_TOKEN to Apify Actor secrets
HTTP 429	Rate limit exceeded	Wait for Retry-After header
Empty web_search results	No Google API key	Falls back to DuckDuckGo (fewer results). Add GOOGLE_API_KEY + GOOGLE_CX
Could not resolve ticker	Non-US company	search_sec_filings covers SEC filings only (US companies)
Bibliography must be max 50000 chars	Input too large	Split bibliography into smaller batches

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
APIFY_TOKEN	Yes	Apify API token
GOOGLE_API_KEY	No	Google Custom Search API key (enables Google search)
GOOGLE_CX	No	Google Custom Search Engine ID
VK_ACCESS_TOKEN	No	VKontakte API token (required for search_vk)

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in values. Without Google API keys, web search falls back to DuckDuckGo.

Legal & Ethical Use

This actor respects robots.txt, rate limits, and platform terms of service. Users are responsible for compliance with applicable laws and the terms of service of platforms accessed (Reddit, YouTube, SEC, Crossref, etc.).

FAQ

How is this different from using SerpAPI or Serper? SerpAPI and Serper only do web search. This server covers 23 tools across web, social, academic, financial, and geographic data — all through one MCP endpoint. No need to manage multiple API keys, billing accounts, and integrations.

How is this different from building my own tools? Building 23 research tools from scratch takes weeks: API integrations, error handling, caching, rate limiting, testing, deployment. This server is production-ready, tested (71 tests), and deployed on Apify's infrastructure with standby mode for instant responses.

Do I pay for failed calls? No. You only pay for successful tool calls. If a tool returns an error (API down, invalid input, rate limited), you are not charged.

What MCP clients are supported? Any MCP-compatible client: Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Windsurf, and more. The server follows the MCP protocol specification.

Can I use only a subset of tools? Yes. Use presets (web, social, academic, data) to load only the tools you need. This reduces token overhead in your AI agent's context window.

Is there a free tier? Apify provides a free tier with $5 monthly credit. At $0.01–$0.03/call, that's 150–500 free calls per month.

What happens if an external API is down? The server retries on 429 and 5xx errors with exponential backoff. If the API remains unavailable, the tool returns a clear error message (no charge). Cached results may still be served.

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test
npm run start:dev

Deployment

This actor is configured for Apify's platform. To deploy:

# Install Apify CLI
npm i -g apify

# Login
apify login

# Push to Apify (builds and deploys)
apify push

# After deployment, set SEO title and description in:
# Apify Console → Actor → Publication → Display information

The actor uses standby mode for instant MCP responses. No cold-start delay after the first request.