Docs · MCP server
The web search MCP server for AI agents
Most search MCP servers wrap a single engine — Brave, Google, or Exa. GroundRoute's MCP server gives your agent all six behind one tool. It routes each query to the cheapest engine that clears the quality bar and caches repeats, so the same MCP call costs less as you use it more. Benchmarked on 170 real agent queries.
Install in 30 seconds — Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Cline
Add this block to your MCP config file and restart your client. That's it.
{
"mcpServers": {
"groundroute": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@groundroute/mcp"],
"env": {
"GROUNDROUTE_API_KEY": "your-key"
}
}
}
}| Client | Config file location |
|---|---|
| Claude Desktop (macOS) | ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json |
| Claude Desktop (Windows) | %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json |
| Cursor | Settings → MCP → add server block |
| Cline | .cline/mcp.json in your project root |
| Any MCP client | Use the npx command above — works with any stdio MCP client |
Get your API key at groundroute.ai/signup. BYOK supported — bring your own engine keys and route on them for free.
Why multi-engine beats a single search MCP
| Single-engine MCP | GroundRoute MCP |
|---|---|
| Brave Search only ($5/1k) | Routes to cheapest engine per query class |
| No caching — every call billed | Exact-match cache — repeats cost nothing |
| One engine's blind spots | 6 engines' strengths, routed by class |
| Fixed cost forever | Cost falls as cache warms |
GroundRoute routes each query to the cheapest engine that clears the quality bar, and caches the repeats. You keep ~half the cache savings, we keep the other half — so you're never worse off than calling MCP direct. Prefer your own accounts? BYOK: bring your MCP key and route on it, with failover, spend caps, and one schema across every engine.
Want a specific engine?
If you prefer to route all searches through a single engine, we have dedicated MCP pages:
FAQ
- What is a web search MCP server?
- MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets AI clients like Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Cline call external tools. A web search MCP server gives your agent a `search` tool that hits real search APIs. GroundRoute's MCP server routes each call across 6 engines and caches repeats — so the same install gets you more coverage at lower cost.
- How do I add web search to Claude Desktop?
- Add GroundRoute to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers (see the snippet above). Restart Claude Desktop. The search tool appears automatically — no plugin store, no OAuth.
- How do I add web search to Cursor or Cline?
- Same config, different file path. In Cursor: Settings → MCP → add the groundroute server block. In Cline: .cline/mcp.json. The API key is your GroundRoute key.
- Is there a free tier?
- Yes — BYOK (bring your own engine keys) is free. You bring the keys for Serper, Brave, etc.; GroundRoute routes across them. The managed tier (we hold the keys) has a free credit on signup.
- Which search engines are supported?
- Serper, Brave, Exa, Tavily, Firecrawl, and Perplexity — the six engines in our benchmark. GroundRoute routes per query class to the cheapest that clears the quality bar.
- How is this different from a single-engine MCP?
- Single-engine MCPs (brave-search, exa, etc.) always hit one provider. GroundRoute routes: academic queries go to the cheapest academic engine, web/news to the cheapest web engine, page-content to Firecrawl. You get better coverage for the same or lower spend.
GroundRoute MCP is compatible with any MCP 1.0 client. Benchmark: 2026-06-14T07:40:03Z, N=170 queries.