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DataForSEO MCP Server

This is the new v3 MCP server. The previous v2+ MCP server is deprecated and lives at dataforseo/mcp-server-typescript-deprecated.

MCP server and CLI for LLM agents to browse DataForSEO API documentation and make authenticated API requests. By default the binary starts an MCP server on stdio; CLI commands are an optional second mode.

Quick Start

Start the MCP server on stdio (default mode; set DATAFORSEO_LOGIN / DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD):

npx dataforseo-mcp-server@latest

HTTP transport (port 3000; override with PORT):

npx dataforseo-mcp-server@latest --mode http

Authentication

OAuth 2.0 (default for HTTP MCP): works out of the box. MCP clients discover the DataForSEO authorization server via Protected Resource metadata and send Authorization: Bearer tokens.

Fallback: API login/password via environment variables (HTTP Basic). Required for CLI and stdio MCP; on HTTP it is used when no Authorization header is present.

# bash / macOS / Linux
export DATAFORSEO_LOGIN="your_api_login"
export DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD="your_api_password"

# PowerShell
$env:DATAFORSEO_LOGIN="your_api_login"
$env:DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD="your_api_password"

REM CMD
set DATAFORSEO_LOGIN=your_api_login
set DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD=your_api_password

DATAFORSEO_USERNAME is accepted as an alias for DATAFORSEO_LOGIN. Get API keys at https://app.dataforseo.com/api-access.

MCP Server

The same tool implementations power both the MCP server and the CLI. One binary serves both modes; MCP is the default.

How the binary chooses a mode:

• MCP stdio — default when no CLI command is passed
• MCP HTTP — pass --mode http (Streamable HTTP on port 3000; override with PORT)
• CLI — when the first command is docs or request, or when --cli / --help / --version is passed

MCP stdio (default):

npx dataforseo-mcp-server

MCP HTTP:

npx dataforseo-mcp-server --mode http

CLI:

npx dataforseo-mcp-server docs index

MCP client config (Cursor, Claude Desktop, and similar clients that use mcpServers):

Via URL — use the hosted remote MCP server, or start a local HTTP server (npx dataforseo-mcp-server --mode http) and point the client at it. OAuth works out of the box; env credentials are optional fallback only.

Public remote MCP server URL: https://mcp.dataforseo.com/v3/mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dataforseo": {
      "url": "https://mcp.dataforseo.com/v3/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Local server (default port 3000):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dataforseo": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Via command (stdio) — the client starts the binary itself (stdio is the default mode). OAuth is not used on this transport — set env credentials (or pass them in the MCP client env block):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dataforseo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "dataforseo-mcp-server",
        // Optional additional args:
        // "--docs-cache-dir", "D:\\my-docs-cache",
        // "--configuration", "field-config.json"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DATAFORSEO_LOGIN": "your_api_login",
        "DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD": "your_api_password",
        // Optional additional env:
        // "FIELD_CONFIG_PATH": "field-config.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

From the repo root during development:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dataforseo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "src/index.ts"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/mcp-server-typescript"
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools

Tool	Title	Description
docs_index	Docs Index	Fetch documentation index, optionally filtered by section (24h cache)
docs_list_sections	Docs List Sections	Return available documentation section names
docs_search	Docs Search	Fetch documentation from a documentation URL (needCodeExample, 24h cache)
api_request	API Request	Make an authenticated API request

api_request uses .ai paths by default. Set noAiMode to true in MCP requests, or pass --no-ai-mode in the CLI, to use the standard path. Request body is passed as data (JSON object or array). The --param option is CLI-only.

HTTP transport

Streamable HTTP endpoints:

• POST /mcp
• POST /http

OAuth 2.0 Protected Resource metadata (RFC 9728) is always exposed so MCP clients can discover the authorization server and authenticate with Bearer tokens:

• GET /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource
• GET /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp
• GET /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/http

Behind a reverse proxy, set TRUST_PROXY=true so metadata URLs use https.

Auth priority on HTTP requests:

1. Authorization: Basic header
2. Authorization: Bearer header (OAuth access token)
3. Env credentials (DATAFORSEO_LOGIN / DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD) — fallback when no Authorization header is sent

CLI (optional)

In addition to MCP, the same binary exposes docs and request as CLI commands.

Commands

Command	Description
npx dataforseo-mcp-server docs index	Fetch full API documentation index
npx dataforseo-mcp-server docs index --section "SERP API"	Filter index by API section
npx dataforseo-mcp-server docs index --list-sections	List available sections
npx dataforseo-mcp-server docs search <url>	Fetch documentation from a documentation URL or path (cURL example only by default)
npx dataforseo-mcp-server docs search <url> --need-code-example	Fetch documentation with PHP, Node.js, Python, and C# examples
npx dataforseo-mcp-server request -X <method> -p <path>	Make an authenticated API request (.ai path by default)