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DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server for Claude Desktop: Setup

Claude Desktop: Give MCP assistants DuckDuckGo search and webpage text retrieval.

What you can do with DuckDuckGo Search in Claude Desktop

Choose it for DuckDuckGo discovery plus controlled page extraction in one MCP server.

  • Find sources for an assistant-led research task.
  • Read long webpages in bounded text segments.

Before you start: DuckDuckGo Search in Claude Desktop

  • uvx available to the MCP client
  • An MCP-compatible client

The README documents this default stdio launch. SSE and streamable HTTP are alternatives. Install the browser extra to enable curl-based fallback when search endpoints block httpx.

DuckDuckGo Search Claude Desktop configuration

  1. Choose Claude Desktop configuration scope

    For DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server, open macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. Merge under mcpServers via Settings → Developer → Edit Config when available.

  2. Add DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server to Claude Desktop

    Use the duckduckgo-mcp-server entry below in mcpServers. Keep DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server's documented stdio connection fields and your other Claude Desktop entries.

  3. Check DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server in Claude Desktop

    DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server: Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop; check developer diagnostics.

Config file · macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "duckduckgo-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "duckduckgo-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DDG_SAFE_SEARCH": "<optional STRICT, MODERATE, or OFF filtering level>",
        "DDG_REGION": "<optional default region and language code>"
      }
    }
  }
}

DuckDuckGo Search tools available to Claude Desktop

DuckDuckGo Search's stored tool list documents 2 tools; compare it with Claude Desktop's connected tool list, because the stored list is not a live check.

search

When Claude Desktop requests search from DuckDuckGo Search, review the action before approving it.

Query DuckDuckGo for titles, links, and snippets, with result-count and regional controls.

fetch_content

When Claude Desktop requests fetch_content from DuckDuckGo Search, review the action before approving it.

DuckDuckGo Search: full stored tool descriptions

Troubleshooting DuckDuckGo Search in Claude Desktop

  • Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop for DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server. If uvx duckduckgo-mcp-server (from uv, for Python tools) is missing, check the desktop process's PATH, which may differ from your terminal.
  • In Claude Desktop's DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server entry, check DDG_REGION, DDG_SAFE_SEARCH. Keep secrets out of shared screenshots and repositories.
  • DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server uses stdio here: Claude Desktop must keep the configured process running; protocol output belongs on stdout and diagnostics on stderr.
  • Known limitation: Browser fallback requires an additional dependency.
  • Known limitation: Search and fetch operations have separate rate limits.
  • Known limitation: Some sites block the default HTTP backend.
  • General Claude Desktop troubleshooting lives in the /clients/claude-desktop guide.

DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server — details. Claude Desktop guide

Frequently asked questions

Claude Desktop loads DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server from claude_desktop_config.json: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ on macOS, or %APPDATA%\Claude\ on Windows. Open it via Settings → Developer → Edit Config when available.

Claude Desktop's duckduckgo-mcp-server example uses stdio.

DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server's Claude Desktop configuration invokes uvx duckduckgo-mcp-server (from uv, for Python tools).

Claude Desktop's DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server example references DDG_REGION, DDG_SAFE_SEARCH. Check these names if startup or authentication fails; the example alone does not distinguish required from optional values.

DuckDuckGo Search MCP Server's stored list contains 2 tools, including search, fetch_content. Compare those names with Claude Desktop's connected tool list; the stored list is not a live check.

No. SafeSearch is selected at server startup; assistants can override the search region instead.

DuckDuckGo can reject httpx based on its TLS fingerprint. The browser extra enables the curl backend used for fallback.