Web search and page extraction for agents, returned as readable text rather than raw JSON.

How do I install Trawlia?

Clone Trawlia from https://github.com/ayhoung/trawlia-mcp and configure it as an MCP server in your client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code).

Is Trawlia open source?

Yes, Trawlia is open source under the MIT license. Source code is available at https://github.com/ayhoung/trawlia-mcp.

What category does Trawlia belong to?

Trawlia is listed under Search & Knowledge MCP servers on MCPFind.

Trawlia — MCP Server for Search & Knowledge

trawlia-mcp

Trawlia as an MCP server: web search and page extraction, as two tools any MCP client can call.

Get a free key at trawlia.co/signup - 100 credits a month, no card.

Claude Code

claude mcp add trawlia --env TRAWLIA_API_KEY=twl_... -- npx -y trawlia-mcp

Claude Desktop, Cursor, and anything else reading a JSON config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trawlia": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "trawlia-mcp"],
      "env": { "TRAWLIA_API_KEY": "twl_..." }
    }
  }
}

The tools

`trawlia_search`

Ranked, deduplicated results from the live web.

Argument	Default	Notes
`query`	required	Natural language, not keywords.
`search_depth`	`basic`	`basic` is 1 credit and returns snippets. `advanced` is 2 and returns full page text.
`topic`	`general`	`news` reaches news indexes and returns publication dates.
`max_results`	5	Up to 20. These go into your context, so fewer is usually better.
`include_domains` / `exclude_domains`	-	Host filters. Subdomains are included.
`time_range`	-	`day`, `week`, `month`, `year`.

`trawlia_extract`

Fetches URLs you already have and returns their readable content, with navigation, cookie banners and newsletter modals removed. 1 credit per 5 URLs, so pass the whole list at once.

What the model sees

Results come back as readable text rather than raw JSON, and carry two things a plain response would lose:

When a page could not be read, the result says so and why, instead of presenting a snippet as though it were the article.
A coverage line when a source was unavailable, so the model can weigh a thin result set properly rather than reporting it as a confident nothing.

Errors are readable sentences that say whether retrying is worth it. Running out of credits says so and says not to retry; a rate limit says how long to wait.

Costs

Operation	Credits
Basic search	1
Advanced search	2
Extraction	1 per 5 URLs

Charged before the work and refunded on hard failure. Full price list at trawlia.co/pricing.

Not available

Search and extraction, and nothing else. There is no crawler and no long-running job to poll. If your agent needs to walk a whole site, this is the wrong server for it.

Checking it works

TRAWLIA_API_KEY=twl_... node smoke.mjs

Spends a few credits against the real API and prints what a client sees: the tool list, a rendered search, a rejected parameter, and an extraction. Not in CI, because it costs money and depends on the live web.

Environment

Variable	Required	Notes
`TRAWLIA_API_KEY`	yes	A `search`-scoped key is enough and is what you should deploy.
`TRAWLIA_BASE_URL`	no	Defaults to `https://api.trawlia.co`. For pointing at a local server.

Set up in your AI client

AI clientOperating system

Merge this template into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Keep existing servers. Add any arguments, credentials, and permissions required by the maintainer; this template has not been install-tested.

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "co-trawlia-trawlia-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "trawlia-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect. Confirm the server appears connected in the client’s tool list, then try a read-only example from its documentation.

Claude Desktop setup reference

Compatible MCP Clients

Trawlia works with any MCP-compatible client. Copy the config snippet from the Configuration section above and add it to the file shown for your client, then restart the application.

Claude Desktop~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonRestart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect.

Cursor~/.cursor/mcp.jsonRestart Cursor for changes to take effect.

VS Code.vscode/mcp.jsonReload VS Code window for changes to take effect.

Windsurf~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.jsonRestart Windsurf for changes to take effect.

Claude Code.mcp.jsonSave at the project root, then start Claude Code in that project and review the MCP server approval prompt. Keep real credentials out of shared files.

Trawlia