DuckDuckGo Search MCP
Community-built DuckDuckGo Search MCP server with web search, content fetching, and intelligent text extraction. Built-in rate limiting protects against DuckDuckGo blocking. SafeSearch and region configuration via env vars.
“DuckDuckGo Search MCP is the community-built privacy-first search server, and the architectural priorities show. Rate limiting is built in for both search and content fetching, keeping the agent within DuckDuckGo's tolerance and the operator's IP outside the block list. Search results are formatted specifically for LLM consumption, in clean text form. Content fetching includes intelligent text extraction so when the agent follows a search result to read a page, the response arrives as parsed markdown. The standout feature is configurability with anonymous access: SafeSearch level (`STRICT`, `MODERATE`, `OFF`) and default region (`us-en`, `cn-zh`, `jp-ja`, etc.) configure via env vars, no API key required. The trade-off is DuckDuckGo's results quality: for general web search, DuckDuckGo's index is solid but smaller than Google's, so research-intensive workflows may want a paid search MCP alongside this one. For agents that need fast, privacy-respecting search out of the box, this is the editorial pick.”
INSTALL THIS SERVER
{
"mcpServers": {
"ddg-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"duckduckgo-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"DDG_SAFE_SEARCH": "MODERATE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"ddg-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"duckduckgo-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"DDG_SAFE_SEARCH": "MODERATE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"ddg-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"duckduckgo-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"DDG_SAFE_SEARCH": "MODERATE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"ddg-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"duckduckgo-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"DDG_SAFE_SEARCH": "MODERATE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"ddg-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"duckduckgo-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"DDG_SAFE_SEARCH": "MODERATE"
}
}
}
}
2 TOOLS AVAILABLE
OUR ASSESSMENT
- No API key required; runs out of the box via `uvx duckduckgo-mcp-server`.
- Built-in rate limiting for both search and content fetching protects against DuckDuckGo blocking the operator's IP.
- Content fetching includes intelligent text extraction; the agent receives parsed markdown in place of raw HTML.
- Configurable SafeSearch (`STRICT`, `MODERATE`, `OFF`) and default region via env vars (`DDG_SAFE_SEARCH`, `DDG_REGION`).
- DuckDuckGo's search index is smaller than Google's; high-volume research workflows benefit from a paid search MCP alongside this one.
- Community-maintained; bus factor sits with a single maintainer.
- Rate limits are conservative by design; teams running high-frequency search loops will hit them.
The server runs locally and queries DuckDuckGo's public search endpoint with no authentication required. SafeSearch defaults to `MODERATE`; teams handling sensitive content can tighten to `STRICT` via the `DDG_SAFE_SEARCH` env var. Content fetching follows search-result links; for queries that may return pages with sensitive or untrusted content, consider running the server in a sandboxed environment. Rate limiting is internal to the server and operates per-process, so multiple parallel server instances can collectively exceed DuckDuckGo's tolerance.
Teams who want privacy-respecting web search inside agent workflows with anonymous access. Pair with a paid search MCP for high-volume research.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
ADOPTION METRICS
// Reading this1k stars in twelve months reflect adoption from teams who want privacy-first search inside agent workflows. Star traction places this as the leading open-source search MCP.
// Reading thisTop-ranked search MCP and the only zero-credentials search server in the directory. The built-in rate limiting and LLM-friendly output set it apart from community alternatives.
SOURCES & VERIFICATION
We don't take any single directory's word for it. Before scoring, we cross-reference 5 public MCP sources, install the server ourselves against the clients we cover, and record when we last re-verified.
The same server, 5 different lenses. We reconcile these signals into our editorial score, which is why our number sometimes diverges from a directory-aggregate star count.
| Source | Their rating | Their star count | Their downloads | Last synced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AutomationSwitch This page | 4editorial | 1,043 | — | APR 28, 2026 |
| PulseMCP | — unrated | unavailable | unavailable | APR 28, 2026 |
| Official MCP Registry | — unrated | unavailable | unavailable | APR 28, 2026 |
| Awesome MCP Servers | — unrated | unavailable | unavailable | APR 28, 2026 |
| Smithery | — unrated | unavailable | unavailable | APR 28, 2026 |
| MCP.so | — unrated | unavailable | unavailable | APR 28, 2026 |
// Counts are directory-reported; we don't adjust them. Discrepancies usually come from different snapshot times or star-caching.
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