Configuration

web-search-mcp uses environment variables for configuration, managed via pydantic-settings.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required	Default
`GROQ_API_KEY` / `SEARCH_MCP_GROQ_API_KEY`	API key for Groq services	Yes (for Groq tools)	None
`GITHUB_TOKEN`	GitHub personal access token	No (for higher API limits)	None

You can set these variables in your shell or use a .env file:

export GROQ_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

For GitHub, you can authenticate via the gh CLI instead:

gh auth login  # if already authenticated, GitHub search works without a token
export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_your_token_here"  # or set the token directly

If you encounter authentication errors when using Groq tools (groq_browse, groq_research, groq_analyze_page), ensure GROQ_API_KEY is correctly exported in the environment where the MCP server is running.
If GitHub search returns empty results, ensure you either have the gh CLI authenticated or set GITHUB_TOKEN.
Reddit, Hacker News, Polymarket, and DuckDuckGo tools require no configuration or API keys.