Fetch MCP Server
An MCP server for fetching web content in multiple formats — HTML, JSON, plain text, Markdown, readable article content, and YouTube transcripts.
Tools
All tools accept the following common parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
url |
string | Yes | URL to fetch |
headers |
object | No | Custom headers to include in the request |
max_length |
number | No | Maximum characters to return (default: 5000) |
start_index |
number | No | Start from this character index (default: 0) |
proxy |
string | No | Proxy URL (e.g. http://proxy:8080) |
-
fetch_html — Fetch a website and return its raw HTML content.
-
fetch_markdown — Fetch a website and return its content converted to Markdown.
-
fetch_txt — Fetch a website and return plain text with HTML tags, scripts, and styles removed.
-
fetch_json — Fetch a URL and return the JSON response.
-
fetch_readable — Fetch a website and extract the main article content using Mozilla Readability, returned as Markdown. Strips navigation, ads, and boilerplate. Ideal for articles and blog posts.
-
fetch_youtube_transcript — Fetch a YouTube video's captions/transcript. Uses
yt-dlpif available, otherwise extracts directly from the page. Accepts an additionallangparameter (default:"en") to select the caption language.
Installation
As an MCP server
Add to your MCP client configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"fetch": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["mcp-fetch-server"]
}
}
}
As a CLI
npx mcp-fetch [flags]
Or install globally:
npm install -g mcp-fetch-server
mcp-fetch [flags]
CLI Usage
mcp-fetch [flags]
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
html |
Fetch a URL and return raw HTML |
markdown |
Fetch a URL and return Markdown |
readable |
Fetch a URL and return article content as Markdown (via Readability) |
txt |
Fetch a URL and return plain text |
json |
Fetch a URL and return JSON |
youtube |
Fetch a YouTube video transcript |
Flags
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--max-length |
Maximum characters to return |
--start-index |
Start from this character index |
--proxy |
Proxy URL |
--lang |
Language code for YouTube transcripts (default: en) |
--help |
Show help message |
--version |
Show version |
Examples
# Fetch a page as markdown
mcp-fetch markdown https://example.com
# Extract article content without boilerplate
mcp-fetch readable https://example.com/blog/post
# Get a YouTube transcript in Spanish
mcp-fetch youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ --lang es
# Fetch with a length limit
mcp-fetch html https://example.com --max-length 10000
# Fetch through a proxy
mcp-fetch json https://api.example.com/data --proxy http://proxy:8080
Environment Variables
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
DEFAULT_LIMIT |
Default character limit for responses (default: 5000, set to 0 for no limit) |
MAX_RESPONSE_BYTES |
Maximum response body size in bytes (default: 10485760 / 10 MB) |
Example with a custom limit:
{
"mcpServers": {
"fetch": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["mcp-fetch-server"],
"env": {
"DEFAULT_LIMIT": "50000"
}
}
}
}
Features
- Fetch web content as HTML, JSON, plain text, or Markdown
- Extract article content with Mozilla Readability (strips ads, nav, boilerplate)
- Extract YouTube video transcripts (via
yt-dlpor direct extraction) - Proxy support for requests behind firewalls
- Pagination with
max_lengthandstart_index - Custom request headers
- SSRF protection (blocks private/localhost addresses and DNS rebinding)
- Response size limits to prevent memory exhaustion
Development
bun install
bun run dev # start with watch mode
bun test # run tests
bun run build # build for production
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License.