web_searchLABSCO SUMMARY
find_conflicts is the operation nothing else offers.
Every search tool returns sources; almost none of them tell you where the sources disagree. That is the actual research problem — three pages give three numbers and someone has to notice. Running several engines concurrently matters for the same reason, since one engine's ranking is one opinion about what is relevant. Being hosted with no key is what makes it worth trying at all: connect, ask one question, and decide.
What it is
A FastMCP server exposing nine tools that search, fetch, score and compare information across the open web, social platforms, news, academic literature and code hosts. It is hosted, so connecting takes a URL and nothing else. Every tool carries behaviour annotations, so a client can tell read-only calls from the rest and skip confirmation prompts accordingly.
What you get
- web_search — several engines run concurrently, including DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo, Mojeek and Wikipedia, with TLS fingerprinting that gets past bot walls a plain fetch would hit
- github_search for code and repositories, social_search across social platforms, and news_aggregation for current coverage
- map_website — walk a site's structure rather than fetching one page at a time
- content_operations — one tool covering six operations: retrieve, stream, analyze, extract, score and find_conflicts, that last one comparing sources against each other rather than summarising each
- document_analysis and entity extraction, for what comes back
- research_topic — a workflow rather than a query, chaining search and retrieval into a topic write-up
- scientific_research — academic papers and datasets across five paper providers, including OpenAlex, CrossRef, arXiv, PubMed and Europe PMC, plus four dataset hubs
- No model runs inside the server: it retrieves and structures, your assistant does the reasoning
Requirements
Nothing to connect to the hosted server — point a client at https://RivalSearchMCP.fastmcp.app/mcp; no account, no key, no rate-limit paperwork. Running it yourself needs Python and uv, and the FastMCP CLI can install it into Claude Desktop or run it over stdio or HTTP. It is also published as a plugin for Claude Code and OpenAI Codex, and as a standalone agent skill that uses the same nine tools through a CLI without any MCP configuration.
Setup effort
One command — claude mcp add --transport http RivalSearchMCP https://RivalSearchMCP.fastmcp.app/mcp
USE CASES
Researching something properly rather than skimming
Run the topic workflow, then check where the sources it found contradict each other.
Finding out what the literature actually says
Search across the paper providers and the dataset hubs together.
Getting past a site that blocks plain fetching
Use the search and retrieval path that carries browser-like TLS fingerprinting.
Reading a whole documentation site
Map its structure first, then retrieve the sections that matter.
Working out how something is being received
Pull current news coverage and social discussion side by side.
Finding how others solved a problem in code
Search repositories and code, then analyse what comes back.
Deciding which of three conflicting sources to believe
Score them and read the specific points of disagreement.
9 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
social_searchnews_aggregationgithub_searchmap_websitecontent_operationsresearch_topicdocument_analysisscientific_researchBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
9 tools named in the project's documentation.
Requires
A client that can reach a remote MCP server over HTTP
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
claude mcp add
Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http RivalSearchMCP https://RivalSearchMCP.fastmcp.app/mcpHosted endpoint
https://RivalSearchMCP.fastmcp.app/mcpAdd this hosted endpoint to your MCP client.
MCP Clients
Cursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"RivalSearchMCP": {
"url": "https://RivalSearchMCP.fastmcp.app/mcp"
}
}
}VS Code
{
"servers": {
"RivalSearchMCP": {
"url": "https://RivalSearchMCP.fastmcp.app/mcp"
}
}
}Claude Desktop
In Claude Desktop, open Settings and choose Add Remote Server
Enter the URL https://RivalSearchMCP.fastmcp.app/mcp
Claude Code — plugin
claude plugin marketplace add damionrashford/RivalSearchMCP --scope user
claude plugin install rival-search-mcp@rivalsearchmcp --scope userCodex — plugin
codex plugin marketplace add damionrashford/RivalSearchMCP --ref main
codex plugin add rival-search-mcp@rival-search-mcp-marketplaceClaude Desktop — Local Install
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv tool install fastmcp
git clone https://github.com/damionrashford/RivalSearchMCP.git
cd RivalSearchMCP
fastmcp install claude-desktop server.py