noapi-google-search-mcp 0.1.3

Google Search for Local LLMs — No API Key Required. MCP server using headless Chromium via Playwright.

noapi-google-search-mcp

Google Search for Local LLMs — No API Key Required

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives your local LLM real Google search and browsing abilities using headless Chromium via Playwright. No Google API key, no Custom Search Engine setup, no usage limits — just real Google results.

Works with LM Studio, Claude Desktop, and any MCP-compatible client.

Why This Instead of API-Based Alternatives?

	noapi-google-search-mcp	API-based MCP servers
API key required	No	Yes (Google CSE API)
Cost	Free	Paid after 100 queries/day
Setup time	pip install + go	Create Google Cloud project, enable API, get key, configure CSE
Results quality	Real Google results	Custom Search Engine (different ranking)
JavaScript pages	Renders them (Chromium)	Cannot render JS
Google News	Built-in	Usually not available
Google Scholar	Built-in	Not available
Google Images	Built-in	Separate API needed
Google Trends	Built-in	Separate API needed
Page fetching	Built-in visit_page tool	Usually separate

Tools

google_search — Web Search

Search Google and get structured results with titles, URLs, and snippets.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Search query (required)	"best python frameworks 2025"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5
time_range	Filter by recency	"past_hour", "past_day", "past_week", "past_month", "past_year"
site	Limit to a domain	"reddit.com", "stackoverflow.com", "github.com", "arxiv.org", "news.ycombinator.com"
page	Results page (1-10, default 1)	2 for next page
language	Language code	"en", "de", "fr", "es", "ja", "zh"
region	Country/region code	"us", "gb", "de", "fr", "jp"

How your LLM uses it: The LLM automatically sees these parameters in the tool definition. When you ask "search Reddit for Python tips from the past week", it will call google_search(query="Python tips", site="reddit.com", time_range="past_week").

---

google_news — News Search

Search Google News for recent headlines with source and timestamp.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	News search query (required)	"AI regulation"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5

---

google_scholar — Academic Search

Search Google Scholar for papers, citations, and research.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Academic search query (required)	"transformer attention mechanism"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5

Returns: title, URL, authors, citation count, and snippet for each paper.

---

google_images — Image Search

Search Google Images and get image URLs.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Image search query (required)	"sunset over ocean"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5

---

google_trends — Trends Lookup

Check Google Trends for topic interest, related topics, and related queries.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Topic to check trends for (required)	"artificial intelligence"

---

google_suggest — Search Suggestions

Get Google autocomplete suggestions for a query. Useful for brainstorming search terms and exploring what people commonly search for.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Query to get suggestions for (required)	"machine learning"

---

visit_page — Page Fetcher

Fetch any URL and extract readable text content. Use after search to read full articles.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
url	Full URL to fetch (required)	"https://example.com/article"

How Does the LLM Know About These Tools?

You don't need to teach the LLM anything. MCP automatically exposes all tool names, descriptions, and parameters to the model. The LLM picks the right tool and parameters automatically based on your request.

Sample Prompts

Here are example prompts you can type into LM Studio or Claude Desktop, and which tool the LLM will use:

Web Search

What you type	Tool called	Parameters used
"Search for the best Python web frameworks"	google_search	query
"Find Reddit discussions about home lab setups"	google_search	query + site="reddit.com"
"Search Stack Overflow for async Python examples"	google_search	query + site="stackoverflow.com"
"What's new in AI this week?"	google_search	query + time_range="past_week"
"Search Hacker News for posts about Rust"	google_search	query + site="news.ycombinator.com"
"Find GitHub repos for MCP servers"	google_search	query + site="github.com"
"Get page 2 of results for machine learning tutorials"	google_search	query + page=2
"Search for restaurants in Tokyo in Japanese"	google_search	query + language="ja" + region="jp"
"Find German news about the EU from the past month"	google_search	query + language="de" + time_range="past_month"

News

What you type	Tool called
"What are today's top headlines?"	google_news
"Any recent news about the stock market?"	google_news
"What happened in the Japan election?"	google_news

Academic Research

What you type	Tool called
"Find papers on transformer attention mechanisms"	google_scholar
"Look up academic research about CRISPR"	google_scholar
"What does the research say about intermittent fasting?"	google_scholar

Images

What you type	Tool called
"Show me images of the Northern Lights"	google_images
"Find diagrams of neural network architecture"	google_images

Trends

What you type	Tool called
"What's trending in tech right now?"	google_trends
"Is Python more popular than JavaScript?"	google_trends

Suggestions

What you type	Tool called
"What do people commonly search for about Python?"	google_suggest
"Help me brainstorm better search terms for climate data"	google_suggest

Page Reading

What you type	Tool called
"Read this article for me: https://..."	visit_page
"What does this page say? https://..."	visit_page

Installation

Quick Install (pipx — recommended)

pipx install noapi-google-search-mcp
playwright install chromium

This puts noapi-google-search-mcp on your PATH so you can use it directly.

Install in a Virtual Environment

If you don't have pipx, install in a dedicated venv:

python3 -m venv ~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp
~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp/bin/pip install noapi-google-search-mcp
~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp/bin/playwright install chromium

Configuration

LM Studio

Add to ~/.lmstudio/mcp.json:

If installed with pipx (command is on PATH):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "noapi-google-search-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PYTHONUNBUFFERED": "1"
      }
    }
  }
}

If installed in a venv (use the full path):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp/bin/noapi-google-search-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PYTHONUNBUFFERED": "1"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "noapi-google-search-mcp"
    }
  }
}

If installed in a venv, use the full path to the binary instead.

As a CLI

noapi-google-search-mcp

Or:

python -m google_search_mcp

Development

git clone https://github.com/VincentKaufmann/google-search-mcp.git
cd google-search-mcp
pip install -e .
playwright install chromium

License

MIT