MCP server

SerpKite runs a remote Model Context Protocol server. Any MCP client that speaks streamable HTTP can connect to it and call Google search, News, Maps, Scholar, a page fetcher and more as tools. There is nothing to install or host.

URL	https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp
Transport	Streamable HTTP (stateless)
Auth	Authorization: Bearer skt_live_…
Protocol versions	2025-06-18, 2025-03-26, 2024-11-05
Billing	Same credits as the REST endpoints

Get a key

Create a key in the dashboard under API keys (see API keys). For MCP use, a dedicated key with a monthly credit limit is a good idea: an agent in a loop can make many calls, and the limit caps what that key can spend. The examples below read the key from the SERPKITE_API_KEY environment variable.

Claude Code

One command adds the server to Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http serpkite https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $SERPKITE_API_KEY"

Run claude mcp list to check the connection, then ask Claude something that needs fresh results (“what changed in the latest Go release?”). Add --scope project to write the config to .mcp.json so your whole team gets it, but keep the key itself out of version control.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop launches local (stdio) servers from claude_desktop_config.json. To reach a remote server with a custom header, use the mcp-remote bridge, which runs through npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serpkite": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer ${SERPKITE_API_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SERPKITE_API_KEY": "skt_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

The file lives at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows. Restart Claude Desktop after editing it. You need Node.js installed for npx.

Where your plan offers Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, you can add the URL there instead. Custom connectors that need a header will work without the bridge once OAuth ships.

Cursor

Add the server to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (all projects) or .cursor/mcp.json (one project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serpkite": {
      "url": "https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:SERPKITE_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Open Cursor Settings → MCP to check that the server is green and its tools are listed. If your Cursor version doesn’t expand ${env:…}, paste the key directly and keep the file out of git.

VS Code

VS Code (Copilot agent mode) reads .vscode/mcp.json. The inputs block prompts for the key once and stores it securely, so it never lands in the file:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "serpkite-key",
      "description": "SerpKite API key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "serpkite": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:serpkite-key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Start the server from the MCP: List Servers command, then pick the SerpKite tools in the agent tool picker.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT can connect remote MCP servers as connectors when developer mode is enabled for your workspace. Be aware that ChatGPT’s connector setup authenticates with OAuth or no auth, and may not let you add a custom Authorization header. Until SerpKite’s OAuth support ships, ChatGPT is the one client on this page that may not be able to connect directly. For OpenAI models in your own code, use the tool calling guide instead, or the OpenAI Agents SDK, which accepts MCP server headers.

Other clients

Any client that supports streamable HTTP with custom headers works with the same two values: the URL and the Authorization header. Clients that only support stdio can use npx -y mcp-remote https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer …" as the command, as in the Claude Desktop example.

Tools

All tools return LLM-ready Markdown (the same output as format: "markdown" on the REST API) and cost the same credits as the matching endpoint.

Tool	What it does	Inputs	Credits
search	Google web search: organic results, answer box, knowledge graph, People Also Ask, related searches	q, country, language, location, page, time, num (10, 20, 30, 50, 100), include_content (0–5)	1 per page, up to 7 for num: 100, +1 per fetched page
news	Google News articles	q, country, language, location, page, time	1
maps	Places with address, rating, phone, website, coordinates	q, country, language, location, page	1
scholar	Academic papers with citations and PDF links	q, country, language, location, page	1
patents	Patent search	q, country, language, location, page	1
shopping	Products with prices and merchants	q, country, language, location, page	1
images	Image search	q, country, language, location, page	1
videos	Video search	q, country, language, location, page	1
autocomplete	Query suggestions	q, country, language, location, page	0.5
webpage	Fetch a public URL and return its main content as Markdown with metadata	url	1

q is required on every tool except webpage, which requires url. time is one of hour, day, week, month, year. As with the REST API, failed and empty calls are not billed.

Test it with curl

The server is stateless: every POST carries one JSON-RPC 2.0 message (or a batch of up to 20) and gets a JSON reply. No session setup is needed, which makes it easy to test by hand.

Initialize:

curl https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERPKITE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"curl","version":"1.0"}}}'

List the tools:

curl https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERPKITE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list"}'

Call search:

curl https://api.serpkite.com/v1/mcp \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERPKITE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"search","arguments":{"q":"best espresso machine 2026","country":"us"}}}'

The result’s content array holds a text item with the Markdown. Notifications (messages without an id) get an empty 202 Accepted. A missing or invalid key returns 401 with the usual error body.

Costs and safety

• Every tool call is a billed API request, visible in the dashboard request log like any other call.
• Give the MCP key a monthly credit_limit so a runaway agent loop stops at a known cost. When the limit is hit, calls fail with key_limit_reached and nothing more is charged. See Spend controls.
• The server only fetches public, logged-out pages. The webpage tool refuses private network addresses.

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