fix(fetch): fall back without readability js

src/fetch/README.md

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ The fetch tool will truncate the response, but by using the `start_index` argume
 
 ## Installation
 
-Optionally: Install node.js, this will cause the fetch server to use a different HTML simplifier that is more robust.
+Optionally: Install node.js, this will cause the fetch server to use a different HTML simplifier that is more robust. If node.js is not available, the server falls back to readabilipy's Python-only HTML simplifier.
 
 ### Using uv (recommended)
 
@@ -170,6 +170,10 @@ This can be customized by adding the argument `--user-agent=YourUserAgent` to th
 
 The server can be configured to use a proxy by using the `--proxy-url` argument.
 
+### Customization - HTML simplification
+
+By default, the server uses readabilipy's optional node.js simplifier when node.js is available, and otherwise falls back to the Python-only simplifier. To force the Python-only path even when node.js is installed, add the `--no-readability-js` argument.
+
 ## Windows Configuration
 
 If you're experiencing timeout issues on Windows, you may need to set the `PYTHONIOENCODING` environment variable to ensure proper character encoding:

src/fetch/src/mcp_server_fetch/__init__.py

@@ -16,9 +16,21 @@ def main():
         help="Ignore robots.txt restrictions",
     )
     parser.add_argument("--proxy-url", type=str, help="Proxy URL to use for requests")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--no-readability-js",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Use readabilipy's Python-only HTML simplifier even when Node.js is installed",
+    )
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
-    asyncio.run(serve(args.user_agent, args.ignore_robots_txt, args.proxy_url))
+    asyncio.run(
+        serve(
+            custom_user_agent=args.user_agent,
+            ignore_robots_txt=args.ignore_robots_txt,
+            proxy_url=args.proxy_url,
+            use_readability_js=not args.no_readability_js,
+        )
+    )
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":

src/fetch/src/mcp_server_fetch/server.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import shutil
 from typing import Annotated, Tuple
 from urllib.parse import urlparse, urlunparse
 
@@ -24,7 +25,11 @@
 DEFAULT_USER_AGENT_MANUAL = "ModelContextProtocol/1.0 (User-Specified; +https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers)"
 
 
-def extract_content_from_html(html: str) -> str:
+def _can_use_readability_js(use_readability_js: bool) -> bool:
+    return use_readability_js and shutil.which("node") is not None
+
+
+def extract_content_from_html(html: str, use_readability_js: bool = True) -> str:
     """Extract and convert HTML content to Markdown format.
 
     Args:
@@ -34,7 +39,7 @@ def extract_content_from_html(html: str) -> str:
         Simplified markdown version of the content
     """
     ret = readabilipy.simple_json.simple_json_from_html_string(
-        html, use_readability=True
+        html, use_readability=_can_use_readability_js(use_readability_js)
     )
     if not ret["content"]:
         return "<error>Page failed to be simplified from HTML</error>"
@@ -109,7 +114,11 @@ async def check_may_autonomously_fetch_url(url: str, user_agent: str, proxy_url:
 
 
 async def fetch_url(
-    url: str, user_agent: str, force_raw: bool = False, proxy_url: str | None = None
+    url: str,
+    user_agent: str,
+    force_raw: bool = False,
+    proxy_url: str | None = None,
+    use_readability_js: bool = True,
 ) -> Tuple[str, str]:
     """
     Fetch the URL and return the content in a form ready for the LLM, as well as a prefix string with status information.
@@ -140,7 +149,9 @@ async def fetch_url(
     )
 
     if is_page_html and not force_raw:
-        return extract_content_from_html(page_raw), ""
+        return extract_content_from_html(
+            page_raw, use_readability_js=use_readability_js
+        ), ""
 
     return (
         page_raw,
@@ -182,13 +193,15 @@ async def serve(
     custom_user_agent: str | None = None,
     ignore_robots_txt: bool = False,
     proxy_url: str | None = None,
+    use_readability_js: bool = True,
 ) -> None:
     """Run the fetch MCP server.
 
     Args:
         custom_user_agent: Optional custom User-Agent string to use for requests
         ignore_robots_txt: Whether to ignore robots.txt restrictions
         proxy_url: Optional proxy URL to use for requests
+        use_readability_js: Whether to use readabilipy's optional Node.js simplifier
     """
     server = Server("mcp-fetch")
     user_agent_autonomous = custom_user_agent or DEFAULT_USER_AGENT_AUTONOMOUS
@@ -235,7 +248,11 @@ async def call_tool(name, arguments: dict) -> list[TextContent]:
             await check_may_autonomously_fetch_url(url, user_agent_autonomous, proxy_url)
 
         content, prefix = await fetch_url(
-            url, user_agent_autonomous, force_raw=args.raw, proxy_url=proxy_url
+            url,
+            user_agent_autonomous,
+            force_raw=args.raw,
+            proxy_url=proxy_url,
+            use_readability_js=use_readability_js,
         )
         original_length = len(content)
         if args.start_index >= original_length:
@@ -262,7 +279,12 @@ async def get_prompt(name: str, arguments: dict | None) -> GetPromptResult:
         url = arguments["url"]
 
         try:
-            content, prefix = await fetch_url(url, user_agent_manual, proxy_url=proxy_url)
+            content, prefix = await fetch_url(
+                url,
+                user_agent_manual,
+                proxy_url=proxy_url,
+                use_readability_js=use_readability_js,
+            )
             # TODO: after SDK bug is addressed, don't catch the exception
         except McpError as e:
             return GetPromptResult(

src/fetch/tests/test_server.py

@@ -87,6 +87,54 @@ def test_empty_content_returns_error(self):
         result = extract_content_from_html(html)
         assert "<error>" in result
 
+    def test_uses_readability_js_when_node_is_available(self):
+        html = "<html><body><article><p>Hello</p></article></body></html>"
+
+        with (
+            patch("mcp_server_fetch.server.shutil.which", return_value="node"),
+            patch(
+                "mcp_server_fetch.server.readabilipy.simple_json.simple_json_from_html_string"
+            ) as mock_simple_json,
+        ):
+            mock_simple_json.return_value = {"content": "<p>Hello</p>"}
+
+            result = extract_content_from_html(html)
+
+        mock_simple_json.assert_called_once_with(html, use_readability=True)
+        assert "Hello" in result
+
+    def test_falls_back_without_node(self):
+        html = "<html><body><article><p>Hello</p></article></body></html>"
+
+        with (
+            patch("mcp_server_fetch.server.shutil.which", return_value=None),
+            patch(
+                "mcp_server_fetch.server.readabilipy.simple_json.simple_json_from_html_string"
+            ) as mock_simple_json,
+        ):
+            mock_simple_json.return_value = {"content": "<p>Hello</p>"}
+
+            result = extract_content_from_html(html)
+
+        mock_simple_json.assert_called_once_with(html, use_readability=False)
+        assert "Hello" in result
+
+    def test_can_disable_readability_js(self):
+        html = "<html><body><article><p>Hello</p></article></body></html>"
+
+        with (
+            patch("mcp_server_fetch.server.shutil.which", return_value="node"),
+            patch(
+                "mcp_server_fetch.server.readabilipy.simple_json.simple_json_from_html_string"
+            ) as mock_simple_json,
+        ):
+            mock_simple_json.return_value = {"content": "<p>Hello</p>"}
+
+            result = extract_content_from_html(html, use_readability_js=False)
+
+        mock_simple_json.assert_called_once_with(html, use_readability=False)
+        assert "Hello" in result
+
 
 class TestCheckMayAutonomouslyFetchUrl:
     """Tests for check_may_autonomously_fetch_url function."""
@@ -219,6 +267,37 @@ async def test_fetch_html_page(self):
             assert isinstance(content, str)
             assert prefix == ""
 
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_fetch_html_forwards_readability_js_option(self):
+        """Test that fetch_url forwards the readability JS option."""
+        html_content = "<html><body><h1>Test</h1></body></html>"
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.status_code = 200
+        mock_response.text = html_content
+        mock_response.headers = {"content-type": "text/html"}
+
+        with (
+            patch("httpx.AsyncClient") as mock_client_class,
+            patch(
+                "mcp_server_fetch.server.extract_content_from_html",
+                return_value="Test",
+            ) as mock_extract,
+        ):
+            mock_client = AsyncMock()
+            mock_client.get = AsyncMock(return_value=mock_response)
+            mock_client_class.return_value.__aenter__ = AsyncMock(return_value=mock_client)
+            mock_client_class.return_value.__aexit__ = AsyncMock(return_value=None)
+
+            content, prefix = await fetch_url(
+                "https://example.com/page",
+                DEFAULT_USER_AGENT_AUTONOMOUS,
+                use_readability_js=False,
+            )
+
+        mock_extract.assert_called_once_with(html_content, use_readability_js=False)
+        assert content == "Test"
+        assert prefix == ""
+
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
     async def test_fetch_html_page_raw(self):
         """Test fetching an HTML page with raw=True returns original HTML."""