MCP server

The Reader MCP server lets AI coding tools scrape, crawl, extract, and discover web content directly. Install it once and your AI assistant can read any URL, crawl entire sites, or extract structured data on demand. Published as @vakra-dev/reader-mcp on npm. Works with any tool that supports the Model Context Protocol.

Setup

You need a Reader API key. Get one at console.reader.dev.

Claude Code

claude mcp add reader -- npx -y @vakra-dev/reader-mcp

Then set your API key:

export READER_API_KEY=rdr_your_key_here

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@vakra-dev/reader-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "READER_API_KEY": "rdr_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to your Cursor MCP settings (Settings > Features > MCP Servers):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@vakra-dev/reader-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "READER_API_KEY": "rdr_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Add to your .vscode/mcp.json or user settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@vakra-dev/reader-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "READER_API_KEY": "rdr_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to your ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@vakra-dev/reader-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "READER_API_KEY": "rdr_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex

Add to your ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.reader]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@vakra-dev/reader-mcp"]

[mcp_servers.reader.env]
READER_API_KEY = "rdr_your_key_here"

OpenCode

Add to your opencode.jsonc:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "reader": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["npx", "-y", "@vakra-dev/reader-mcp"],
      "enabled": true,
      "environment": {
        "READER_API_KEY": "rdr_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available tools

Once connected, your AI assistant has access to these tools:

Tool	Description
`reader_scrape`	Scrape a URL and return its content as markdown, HTML, or screenshot
`reader_batch_scrape`	Scrape multiple URLs in parallel
`reader_crawl`	Crawl a website, discovering and scraping all linked pages
`reader_discover`	Discover all URLs on a website without scraping content (fast, 1 credit flat)
`reader_extract`	Scrape a URL and extract structured data using AI (schema or natural language prompt)
`reader_job_status`	Check the status and results of an async job
`reader_cancel_job`	Cancel a running async job
`reader_session_create`	Create a browser session with a CDP WebSocket endpoint
`reader_credits`	Check your credit balance and usage

Example prompts

Once the MCP server is connected, you can ask your AI assistant things like:

“Scrape https://example.com/docs and summarize the key points”
“Crawl https://docs.example.com up to depth 3 and find all pages about authentication”
“Discover all URLs on https://example.com and list the ones about pricing”
“Extract the product name, price, and features from https://example.com/product”
“Check my Reader credit balance”

The AI assistant will automatically call the appropriate Reader tool and return the results.

Self-hosted

If you’re running a self-hosted Reader instance, set the READER_API_URL environment variable alongside your API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reader": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@vakra-dev/reader-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "READER_API_KEY": "rdr_your_key_here",
        "READER_API_URL": "https://your-reader-instance.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Pricing

MCP tools use the same credit system as the API:

Operation	Credits
Scrape (standard)	1 per page
Scrape (premium)	3 per page
Extract	+2 per page (on top of scrape)
Crawl	1 per page
Discover	1 per job (flat)
Browser session	1 per minute

Reader as an agent tool: Build your own tool calling integration
Structured extraction: Extract structured data from pages
RAG pipeline: Build retrieval-augmented generation with Reader

Get Started

Concepts

Getting Started Guides

Async Workflows

Production Patterns

Advanced Scraping

LLM & AI Use Cases

Troubleshooting

Setup

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Cursor

VS Code

Windsurf

Codex

OpenCode

Available tools

Example prompts

Self-hosted

Pricing

Next

​Setup

​Claude Code

​Claude Desktop

​Cursor

​VS Code

​Windsurf

​Codex

​OpenCode

​Available tools

​Example prompts

​Self-hosted

​Pricing

​Next

Setup

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Cursor

VS Code

Windsurf

Codex

OpenCode

Available tools

Example prompts

Self-hosted

Pricing

Next