noapi-google-search-mcp 0.2.3

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

noapi-google-search-mcp

[e-mail]

Give any LLM real Google search, vision, local OCR, and YouTube video understanding. No API key, no vision model needed.

Google Search, Google Lens + OpenCV object detection + local OCR + YouTube transcription, Q&A & clip extraction by topic for Local LLMs

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives your local LLM real Google search, browsing, vision, text-reading, and full video understanding. Paste a YouTube link and the LLM transcribes it locally, answers questions about the content, and extracts video clips by topic - just ask "extract the part about X" and the LLM finds the right timestamps from the transcript and cuts the clip for you. Uses headless Chromium via Playwright for search, Google Lens for image identification, RapidOCR for offline OCR, and faster-whisper for local video transcription. 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 Search	Built-in (with filters)	Basic only
Google Shopping	Built-in	Not available
Google Flights	Built-in	Not available
Google Hotels	Built-in	Not available
Google Translate	Built-in	Separate API needed
Google Maps	Built-in	Not available
Google Weather	Built-in	Not available
Google Finance	Built-in	Not available
Google News	Built-in	Usually not available
Google Scholar	Built-in	Not available
Google Books	Built-in	Not available
Google Images	Built-in (inline in chat)	Separate API needed
Google Lens	Built-in (reverse image search)	Not available
Object detection	Built-in (OpenCV + Google Lens per object)	Not available
Local OCR	Built-in (RapidOCR, works offline)	Not available
Video transcription	Built-in (faster-whisper, local)	Not available
Video clip extraction	Built-in (extract segments by topic)	Not available
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_shopping - Product Search

Search Google Shopping for products with prices, stores, and ratings.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Product search query (required)	"Sony WH-1000XM5"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5

Returns: product name, price, store, and rating.

---

google_flights - Flight Search

Search Google Flights for flight options, prices, and travel times.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
origin	Departure city or airport (required)	"New York", "LAX"
destination	Arrival city or airport (required)	"London", "NRT"
date	Departure date (optional)	"March 15", "2025-03-15"
return_date	Return date for round trips (optional)	"March 22"

---

google_hotels - Hotel Search

Search for hotels and accommodation with prices and ratings.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Hotel search with location (required)	"Paris", "Tokyo near Shibuya"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5

---

google_translate - Translation

Translate text between languages using Google Translate.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
text	Text to translate (required)	"Hello, how are you?"
to_language	Target language (required)	"Spanish", "Japanese", "French"
from_language	Source language (optional, auto-detected)	"English", "German"

---

google_maps - Places Search

Search Google Maps for restaurants, businesses, and places with ratings, addresses, and reviews.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Place search query (required)	"pizza near Central Park"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5

---

google_weather - Weather Lookup

Get current weather conditions and forecast for any location worldwide.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
location	City or location (required)	"Dubai", "New York", "Tokyo"

Returns: temperature (°C/°F), condition, precipitation, humidity, wind, and multi-day forecast.

---

google_finance - Stock & Market Data

Look up stock prices, market data, and company information from Google Finance.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Stock ticker with exchange or company name (required)	"AAPL:NASDAQ", "TSLA:NASDAQ"

Returns: current price, change, market info, key stats, and company description.

---

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_books - Book Search

Search Google Books for books, textbooks, and publications.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
query	Book search query (required)	"machine learning"
num_results	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	5

---

google_images - Image Search (with inline images)

Search Google Images and display results directly in chat. Images are returned inline so you can see them without leaving the conversation.

Parameters:

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

---

google_lens - Reverse Image Search

Identify objects, products, brands, landmarks, and text in images using Google Lens. Gives vision capabilities to text-only models.

Supports image URLs, local file paths, and base64-encoded images (drag-and-drop in LM Studio).

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
image_source	Image URL, local file path, or base64 image data (required)	"https://example.com/photo.jpg" or "/home/user/image.jpg" or drag image into chat

Returns: identified object/product name, description, visual matches, text found in image, and related products with prices.

---

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_lens_detect - Object Detection + Identification

Detect all objects in an image using OpenCV, crop each one, and identify them individually via Google Lens. Useful when an image contains multiple items and you want each identified separately.

Supports local file paths and base64-encoded images (drag-and-drop in LM Studio).

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
image_source	Local file path or base64 image data (required)	"/home/user/photo.jpg" or drag image into chat

Returns: per-object identification from Google Lens, including the original full image results.

---

ocr_image - Local OCR (no internet needed)

Extract text from images locally using RapidOCR (PaddleOCR models on ONNX Runtime). Runs entirely offline. Reads screenshots, documents, photos of signs, labels, receipts, or any image containing text.

Gives text-reading capabilities to text-only models without needing a vision model or internet. Supports local file paths and base64-encoded images (drag-and-drop in LM Studio).

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
image_source	Local file path or base64 image data (required)	"/home/user/screenshot.png" or drag image into chat

Returns: extracted text sorted by position, with confidence scores.

Example output:

OCR Results for: /home/user/screenshot.png
Text regions found: 12

--- Extracted Text ---
NVIDIA-SMI 580.95.05  Driver Version: 580.95.05  CUDA Version: 13.0
GPU Name  Persistence-M  Bus-Id  Disp.A
NVIDIA GB10  On  00000000F:01:00.0

--- Detailed Results (with confidence) ---
[88%] NVIDIA-SMI 580.95.05
[88%] Driver Version: 580.95.05
[84%] CUDA Version: 13.0

---

transcribe_video - Video Transcription

Download and transcribe YouTube videos (or any video URL) locally with timestamps using faster-whisper. The LLM can then answer questions about the video, point to specific timestamps, and identify when topics start and end.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
url	YouTube URL or any video URL (required)	"https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
model_size	Whisper model: tiny/base/small/medium/large (default: base)	"small"
language	Language code, auto-detected if empty	"en"

Example output:

Video Transcript
Title: How to Build a Home Server
Channel: TechChannel
Duration: 15:30
Language: en (confidence: 98%)

--- Transcript ---
[0:00 - 0:05] Welcome back to the channel.
[0:05 - 0:12] Today we're going to build a home server from scratch.
[0:12 - 0:25] First, let's talk about the hardware you'll need...

---

search_transcript - Transcript Search

Search a previously transcribed video for segments matching a keyword or phrase. Returns matching segments with timestamps and surrounding context, ready for clip extraction.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
url	Same video URL used with transcribe_video (required)	"https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
query	Keyword or phrase to search for (required)	"memory bandwidth"
model_size	Must match transcription model (default: tiny)	"tiny"
context_segments	Surrounding segments to include (default: 2)	3

---

extract_video_clip - Video Clip Extraction by Topic

Extract video clips by topic. After transcription, just ask "extract the part about X" and the LLM reads the transcript, finds the right timestamps, and cuts the clip automatically. A buffer is added before and after to avoid cutting off content. Clips are saved to ~/clips/.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
url	YouTube URL or local video file path (required)	"https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."
start_seconds	Start time in seconds (required)	150 (for 2:30)
end_seconds	End time in seconds (required)	315 (for 5:15)
buffer_seconds	Extra seconds before/after (default: 3)	5.0
output_filename	Custom filename without extension (optional)	"hardware_overview"

---

list_images - Image Discovery

List image files in a directory so text-only models can discover and pass them to google_lens, google_lens_detect, or ocr_image. Default directory: ~/lens/.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
directory	Folder to scan (optional, default ~/lens/)	"/home/user/photos"

---

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"

Shopping

What you type	Tool called
"Find the cheapest MacBook Air"	google_shopping
"Compare prices for Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones"	google_shopping
"How much does a Nintendo Switch cost?"	google_shopping
"Search for running shoes under $100"	google_shopping

Flights

What you type	Tool called
"Find flights from New York to London"	google_flights
"Search for cheap flights from LA to Tokyo"	google_flights
"Flights from San Francisco to Paris on March 15"	google_flights
"How much are flights from Dubai to Bangkok?"	google_flights

Hotels

What you type	Tool called
"Find hotels in Paris for next weekend"	google_hotels
"Search for cheap hotels in Tokyo"	google_hotels
"Best hotels near Times Square New York"	google_hotels
"Find 5-star hotels in Dubai"	google_hotels

Translation

What you type	Tool called
"Translate 'hello world' to Japanese"	google_translate
"How do you say 'thank you' in French?"	google_translate
"Translate this to Spanish: The weather is nice today"	google_translate
"What does 'Guten Morgen' mean in English?"	google_translate

Maps & Places

What you type	Tool called
"Find Italian restaurants near Times Square"	google_maps
"Where are the best coffee shops in Berlin?"	google_maps
"Search for hotels in Tokyo"	google_maps
"Find EV charging stations in San Francisco"	google_maps
"What are the top-rated gyms in London?"	google_maps

Weather

What you type	Tool called
"What's the weather in Dubai?"	google_weather
"Is it going to rain in London today?"	google_weather
"What's the temperature in New York?"	google_weather
"Weather forecast for Tokyo this week"	google_weather

Finance & Stocks

What you type	Tool called
"What's Apple's stock price?"	google_finance
"How is Tesla stock doing?"	google_finance
"Look up NVIDIA market cap"	google_finance
"How is the S&P 500 doing today?"	google_finance

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

Books

What you type	Tool called
"Find books about machine learning"	google_books
"Search for books by Stephen King"	google_books
"What are the best books on Python programming?"	google_books

Images (displayed inline in chat)

What you type	Tool called
"Show me images of the Northern Lights"	google_images
"Show me what a DGX Spark looks like"	google_images
"Find diagrams of neural network architecture"	google_images

Reverse Image Search

What you type	Tool called
"What is this product? https://example.com/photo.jpg"	google_lens
"Identify this image: /home/user/photos/device.jpg"	google_lens
"What brand is this? [image URL or file path]"	google_lens
"Read the text in this image: https://..."	google_lens

Trends

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

Object Detection

What you type	Tool called
"Detect and identify all objects in /home/user/photo.jpg"	google_lens_detect
"What are all the items in this photo? /path/to/image.jpg"	google_lens_detect

OCR (Text Extraction)

What you type	Tool called
"Read the text in this image: /home/user/screenshot.png"	ocr_image
"OCR this document: /home/user/receipt.jpg"	ocr_image
"What does this label say? /home/user/photo.jpg"	ocr_image
"Extract text from /home/user/document.png"	ocr_image

Drag-and-Drop Images (LM Studio with vision override)

What you do	Tool called
Drag image into chat + "What is this?"	google_lens
Drag image into chat + "Read the text"	ocr_image
Drag image into chat + "Detect all objects"	google_lens_detect
Drag image into chat + "Reverse image search this"	google_lens

Tip: To enable drag-and-drop images with text-only models in LM Studio, add a model.yaml file in the model directory with metadataOverrides: { vision: true }. The image will be sent as base64 and the MCP tools handle it automatically.

Video Transcription

What you type	Tool called
"Transcribe this video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."	transcribe_video
"What do they discuss in this video? https://..."	transcribe_video
"Summarize this YouTube video: https://..."	transcribe_video
"At what timestamp do they talk about X in this video?"	transcribe_video

Video Clip Extraction by Topic

What you type	Tool called
"Extract the part where they talk about memory bandwidth"	extract_video_clip
"Save the segment where they discuss pricing"	extract_video_clip
"Cut out the section about the hardware specs"	extract_video_clip

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/noapi-google-search-mcp.git
cd google-search-mcp
pip install -e .
playwright install chromium

License

MIT