HarimxChoi/google-surf-mcp delivers headless Google search and PDF extraction for AI tools

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Demo only. Actual searches run headless by default (no visible browser). Set SURF_HEADLESS=false to make Chrome visible like in the clip above.

Google search MCP. No API key. Just works.

One MCP replaces three: search + URL fetcher + academic-paper extractor.

• ✅ Actually works (tested 6 free Google search MCPs, all failed)
• ✅ Search + URL + academic PDF extract in one MCP (replaces the search MCP + fetch MCP + academic-search MCP combo)
• ✅ Academic PDFs extracted inline: arxiv, biorxiv, Nature, OpenReview, NeurIPS, JMLR, PMLR, Springer, PubMed (via PMC)
• ✅ search_extract defaults to abstract mode (~1500 chars/result, token-cheap), mode="full" for whole bodies
• ✅ Sponsored ads + knowledge panels dropped (geometric verification, not just text matching)
• ✅ CAPTCHA recovery in 4 modes: OS notification (default) / SURF_HEADLESS=false / SURF_REMOTE_DEBUG / SURF_CLOUD_MODE (fail-fast)
• ✅ No API key, no proxies, no solver

5 tools: search / search_parallel / extract / search_extract / health

What

Plug it into any MCP client and you get Google search as a tool.

No CAPTCHA solver. When CAPTCHA fires on any tool, a Chrome window opens for a human to solve. Each solve preserves the profile's reputation with Google.

First call auto-bootstraps the warm profile. Designed for local use. For headless / serverless environments set SURF_CLOUD_MODE=true (fail-fast on CAPTCHA, worker pool disabled).

Numbers

Measured on a workstation with a 1Gb/s connection.

Stack

• Playwright + persistent Chrome profile
• playwright-extra stealth as a cascade fallback tier
• Multi-strategy SERP parser + geometric verification (drops sponsored / knowledge_panel / related)
• unpdf for PDF text extraction; Mozilla Readability + Turndown for HTML
• Resource-blocked images / media / fonts for speed
• Auto-bootstrap on first call; pool falls back to single-context after repeated warm failures

Install

Requires Node 18+ and Google Chrome (or Chromium) on the system.

npx google-surf-mcp   # actual MCP - register in client config

First tool call auto-bootstraps the warm profile (you may see Chrome open briefly).

Or local clone:

git clone https://github.com/HarimxChoi/google-surf-mcp
cd google-surf-mcp
npm install

If auto-bootstrap fails (rare), run it manually:

npm run bootstrap

Override paths if needed:

CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome SURF_TZ=America/New_York npm run bootstrap

Use with Claude Code

Paste this into your ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-surf": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "google-surf-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code. Done. search, search_parallel, extract, search_extract, health are now available.

For other MCP clients, use the same JSON shape in their config file.

Local clone variant:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-surf": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/abs/path/to/google-surf-mcp/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

• search(query, limit?) - single query, ~1.5s. Returns title / url / snippet. Sponsored ads + knowledge-panel dropped (response includes dropped count + dropped_reasons). Results cached 24h (SURF_CACHE_TTL_SEARCH_MS=0 to bypass).
• search_parallel(queries[], limit?) - pool of 4, max 10 queries per call.
• extract(url, max_chars?, mode?) - fetch a URL, return article content.
  • mode="full" (default): whole body. HTML via Readability, PDFs via unpdf.
  • mode="abstract": ~1500-char survey (PDF page 1 or HTML meta description). Triage relevance before paying for full text.
  • mode="metadata": PDF page count only.
  • Response: content, title, excerpt, length, is_pdf, page_count, extraction_quality. Failures return { error }, never throw.
• search_extract(query, limit?, max_chars?, mode?) - search + parallel extract in one call. Default mode="abstract" returns SERP enriched with ~1500-char summaries (cheap triage). Use mode="full" when you actually need the article texts (slower, more tokens).
• health() - server status: cascade mode, rate-limiter usage, cache size, config. Call it if searches start failing or returning empty.

Env vars

Troubleshooting

• CAPTCHA in 4 modes (picked automatically from env):
  • default (local desktop): OS notification fires, headed Chrome opens, human solves, call retries
  • SURF_HEADLESS=false: headed Chrome opens, no notification (user is already watching)
  • SURF_REMOTE_DEBUG=true: DevTools port + instructions printed, attach chrome://inspect locally to solve
  • SURF_CLOUD_MODE=true: fail-fast with CAPTCHA_REQUIRED error
• Headed Chrome opens to a plain search box instead of CAPTCHA: just type any query in the box and press Enter. Subsequent calls work.
• "Chrome not found": install Chrome or set CHROME_PATH.
• Stale selectors: Google rotates classes. v0.4.5+ runs a multi-strategy parser and a daily self-healing workflow that opens draft PRs (human review required).
• SSRF: extract blocks localhost, private IPs, AWS metadata by default. Set SURF_ALLOW_PRIVATE=true to allow them.