Octen Docs | The Search infrastructure for AI

For AI agents: docs.octen.ai/integrations/octen-mcp-server.md

Lets MCP-compatible assistants use Octen directly inside their workflow:

broad_search — decompose one question into concurrent sub-queries for broad, multi-angle coverage
search — search live web data with ranked results, highlights, filters, and optional full content
news_search — search news results for current events, announcements, and timely reporting
image_search — search the web for images by text or reference image (beta)
video_search — search the web for videos by text query (beta)
extract — fetch URLs as clean markdown or text

Get API Key

Create a key from the API Platform.

GitHub

View source and contribute.

npm

Install the octen-mcp package.

Why Octen MCP

Fast

Web search averages 62ms. Fast enough for multi-step MCP workflows.

Accurate

Fresh

Live web data with minute-level updates. Useful for news, prices, and fast-moving pages.

Efficient

Clean highlights, optional full_content, and page labels keep model context relevant.

Installation

You’ll need an Octen API key first. Create one from the API Platform.

Claude Desktop
Cursor
VS Code
Claude Code
Other clients

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octen": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "octen-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OCTEN_API_KEY": "your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octen": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "octen-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OCTEN_API_KEY": "your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Install at the user level:

Or add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "octen": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "octen-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OCTEN_API_KEY": "your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add --scope user octen \
  -e OCTEN_API_KEY=your-key-here \
  -- npx -y octen-mcp

Use the same npx -y octen-mcp command with OCTEN_API_KEY in your MCP client config.

Tools

Tool	Use for	Returns
`broad_search`	Comparisons, surveys, multi-angle search	Ranked results grouped per generated sub-query
`search`	Search bars, answer engines, news and source lookup	Ranked pages with relevant `highlight` and optional `full_content`
`news_search`	Current events and timely reporting	Same as `search`, with `topic` fixed to `news`
`image_search` (beta)	Image lookup, visual references, design references	Ranked images; `design` adds a style `summary` and `html_snippet`
`video_search` (beta)	Video lookup, clip discovery, media previews	Ranked videos with duration and cover
`extract`	Reading pages, cleaning articles	Clean content with optional highlights, `category`, and `page_structure`

Broad Search

Use broad_search for comparisons, surveys, and multi-angle research. It decomposes a query into related sub-queries from multiple angles, searches them concurrently. It supports:

max_queries: 1-30 sub-queries (default 5) — raise for broader coverage
all search options applied to every sub-query

{
  "query": "compare cloud GPU pricing across major providers",
  "max_queries": 5,
  "count": 10
}

Web Search

Use search for live web retrieval. It supports:

topic: general or news
count: 1-100 results
include_domains / exclude_domains
include_text / exclude_text
time_basis, time_range, start_time, and end_time
highlight snippets or full_content
include_images
format (text or markdown) and safesearch

{
  "query": "latest AI agent benchmark results",
  "count": 5,
  "time_range": "week"
}

News Search

Use news_search for current events, headlines, announcements, and time-sensitive reporting. It uses Octen Web Search with topic set to news. Equivalent Search API request:

{
  "query": "Fed rate decision",
  "topic": "news",
  "count": 10,
  "time_range": "day"
}

Image Search

In beta — contact us for beta access. Use image_search for image lookup, visual references, and design assets. It supports:

query and optional image_url (reference image)
topic: general, or design for UI design references
count: 1-10 results
include_domains / exclude_domains
time_range, start_time, and end_time
safesearch and html_snippet

{
  "query": "pricing comparison table, dark theme, SaaS",
  "topic": "design",
  "count": 5
}

Video Search

In beta — contact us for beta access. Use video_search for video lookup, clip discovery, and media previews. It supports:

query
count: 1-10 results
time_range, start_time, and end_time
safesearch

{
  "query": "how to make espresso",
  "count": 5
}

Extract

Use extract when the input is one or more URLs. It supports:

urls: 1-20 URLs
query: return ranked highlights from each page instead of the full body
max_age_seconds: cache freshness control
format: markdown or text
include_images, include_videos, and include_audio

{
  "urls": [
    "https://docs.octen.ai/api-reference/search",
    "https://docs.octen.ai/api-reference/extract"
  ],
  "format": "markdown"
}

Response shapes

Search returns a query and ranked result list:

{
  "code": 0,
  "msg": "success",
  "request_id": "req_abc123def456",
  "data": {
    "query": "latest AI agent benchmark results",
    "results": [
      {
        "title": "Example result",
        "url": "https://example.com/article",
        "highlight": "Query-relevant snippet...",
        "time_published": "2026-06-20T00:00:00Z",
        "time_last_crawled": "2026-06-23T08:30:05Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "usage": { "num_search_queries": 1, "full_content_tokens": 0 },
    "latency": 237
  }
}

Extract returns one result per URL:

{
  "code": 0,
  "msg": "success",
  "request_id": "req_abc123def456",
  "data": {
    "results": [
      {
        "url": "https://docs.octen.ai/api-reference/search",
        "status": "success",
        "title": "Search - Octen",
        "full_content": "Clean markdown or text content...",
        "time_last_crawled": "2026-04-21T08:30:05Z",
        "page_structure": { "primary": "Content Page", "secondary": "Article" },
        "category": { "primary": "Computers, Electronics & Technology", "secondary": "Artificial Intelligence" }
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "usage": { "total_urls": 1, "successful_urls": 1 },
    "latency": 1832
  }
}

With extract.query, each successful URL returns highlights instead of full_content. Failed URLs return status: "failed" and an error_message; failed URLs are not billed.

Configuration

Variable	Required	Default
`OCTEN_API_KEY`	Yes	-
`OCTEN_API_URL`	No	`https://api.octen.ai`

Get API Key

GitHub

npm

​Why Octen MCP

Fast

Accurate

Fresh

Efficient

​Installation

​Tools

​Broad Search

​Web Search

​News Search

​Image Search

​Video Search

​Extract

​Response shapes

​Configuration

Why Octen MCP

Installation

Tools

Broad Search

Web Search

News Search

Image Search

Video Search

Extract

Response shapes

Configuration