news-reporter 0.1.1

MCP server for news aggregation, structured reports, and photocard generation. RSS + GDELT, no API keys required.

news-reporter

A free, zero-API-key Model Context Protocol server that lets any LLM search global news, build structured reports, and generate social-ready photocards.

Built with FastMCP. Aggregates from RSS feeds + the GDELT 2.0 DOC API. SQLite cache cuts repeat upstream calls.

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Why use this

• Free forever. No NewsAPI key. No DALL-E. No Cloudinary. RSS + GDELT only.
• Three tools, one server. Search → structure → visualize, no chaining services.
• Cached. SQLite layer dedupes articles and skips redundant fetches inside a 1-hour window.
• Drop-in for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Continue, Zed, or any MCP client.
• Zero config. stdio transport, works out of the box with any MCP client.

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Tools

Tool	What it does	Returns
search_news(query, max_results, date_from, date_to)	Searches RSS + GDELT in parallel, dedupes, caches	List of {url, source, headline, published_at, snippet}
generate_report_structure(articles, topic)	Builds a Markdown skeleton with timeline + raw evidence sections for the LLM to fill in	Markdown string
create_photocard(headline, subtitle, output_path)	Renders a 1080×1080 PNG with gradient background + auto-fitted headline	{path, base64, width, height, mime_type}

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Install

Option A — Local (stdio)

# Run directly without installing (recommended):
uvx news-reporter

# Or install globally:
pipx install news-reporter

Then add to your MCP client config:

Claude Desktop (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "news-reporter": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["news-reporter"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. Three tools appear in the tool picker.

Cursor / Cline / Continue / Zed

Same JSON, in their respective MCP config files. See https://modelcontextprotocol.io/clients.

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Example workflow

User asks Claude: "Get me the latest on EU AI regulation and make a photocard."

Claude calls:

1. search_news("AI regulation EU", max_results=8) → 8 articles from BBC, Guardian, NYT, GDELT global sources
2. generate_report_structure(articles, "EU AI Regulation Update") → fills in synthesis sections from raw evidence
3. create_photocard("EU Passes Sweeping AI Regulation", subtitle="May 2026") → 1080×1080 PNG ready for Twitter/Instagram

Total: ~10 seconds, $0 in API costs.

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Tool reference

search_news

search_news(
  query: str,
  max_results: int = 10,
  date_from: str | None = None,   # "YYYY-MM-DD"
  date_to: str | None = None,
) -> dict

Returns:

{
  "query": "AI regulation EU",
  "count": 5,
  "articles": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/...",
      "source": "BBC World",
      "headline": "EU passes new AI regulation framework",
      "published_at": "2026-05-10T09:30:00+00:00",
      "snippet": "The European Union approved..."
    }
  ],
  "partial": false,
  "errors": [],
  "cache_hit": false
}

partial: true means at least one source failed (rate-limited, timeout, etc) but others succeeded. The tool never raises.

generate_report_structure

Returns Markdown with five sections:

# Report: <topic>
_Generated: <timestamp> | Sources: <N> articles from <M> outlets_

## Executive Summary
<!-- LLM: synthesize 3-5 sentences -->

## Key Events / Timeline
- 2026-05-10 — Headline (Source) — URL
...

## Conflicting Perspectives
<!-- LLM: identify divergent framings -->

## Impact Analysis
<!-- LLM: short, medium, long-term impacts -->

## Source Articles (raw)
1. Headline — Source — Published — URL — snippet
...

The HTML-comment placeholders are written for the consumer LLM to expand using the structured raw evidence below.

create_photocard

• Canvas: 1080×1080 (Instagram-ready)
• Background: vertical gradient seeded by sha256(headline) → same topic always renders same colors
• Headline: bundled DejaVuSans Bold, auto-wrapped, auto-fit shrink loop (84px → 36px, max 4 lines)
• Subtitle: optional second line
• Watermark: bottom-right "news-reporter"
• Output: writes PNG + returns base64 — caller can embed without filesystem access

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Configuration

All optional. Set via env or .env file.

Variable	Default	Purpose
LOG_LEVEL	INFO	DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR
NEWS_DB_PATH	./news.db	SQLite cache path
PHOTOCARD_OUTPUT_DIR	./photocards	PNG output directory

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Architecture

news_reporter/
├── server.py          FastMCP entrypoint, registers 3 tools, transport switch
├── config.py          paths, RSS feed list, TTL constants
├── db.py              SQLite cache (auto-init on first connect)
├── models.py          Article + SearchResult dataclasses
├── sources/
│   ├── rss.py         feedparser + httpx parallel fetch
│   ├── gdelt.py       GDELT 2.0 DOC API client
│   └── scrape.py      BeautifulSoup full-text extractor
├── tools/
│   ├── search.py      search_news impl
│   ├── report.py      generate_report_structure impl
│   └── photocard.py   create_photocard impl (Pillow)
└── assets/fonts/      drop a TTF here to override the default font

Cache schema

articles(url PK, source, headline, published_at, snippet, full_text, fetched_at)
search_cache(query_hash PK, query, article_urls_json, cached_at)

query_hash = sha256(lower(query) + date_from + date_to). Search TTL 1h. Article TTL 24h.

Reliability

• Per-source HTTP timeout: 8s
• Total search_news budget: 15s
• GDELT 429 → exponential backoff (3 attempts, 1/2/4s)
• Any source failure → partial: true + per-source error in response; other sources still returned
• Tools never raise to the MCP layer

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Development

git clone https://github.com/SaimumIslam/news-reporter
cd news-reporter
brew install uv             # if not installed
uv sync --extra dev
uv run pytest -q            # 36 tests, ~0.6s

Running locally

# stdio (for MCP clients):
uv run news-reporter

# Live debugger:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run news-reporter

Customization

• Add an RSS source: append {"name": "...", "url": "..."} to RSS_FEEDS in news_reporter/config.py
• Cache TTL: edit SEARCH_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS / ARTICLE_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS in config.py
• Custom font: drop a .ttf named DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf into news_reporter/assets/fonts/ (without one, Pillow's bundled default is used)
• Photocard palette: edit PALETTE in news_reporter/tools/photocard.py

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Roadmap

• topic_trends tool — GDELT volume timeseries for a query
• Optional og:image scrape for richer photocard backgrounds
• Multi-language UI (GDELT supports sourcelang filter)

PRs welcome.

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Contributing

1. Fork + clone
2. uv sync --extra dev
3. Make changes + add tests
4. uv run pytest -q (must stay green)
5. Open a PR

Bug reports + feature requests: https://github.com/SaimumIslam/news-reporter/issues

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Credits

• Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
• FastMCP Python SDK
• GDELT Project — global news event database
• DejaVu Fonts — bundled with Pillow
• RSS publishers: BBC, Guardian, Al Jazeera, NPR, DW, NYT, Hacker News

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License

MIT — see LICENSE. Use it, fork it, ship it.

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