NewsAPI.ai MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides real-time news intelligence using NewsAPI.ai. This server enables LLMs to search articles, track events, and analyze news through natural conversation.

Make sure to follow the NewsAPI.ai Terms of Service.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer
• Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf or any other MCP client

Quick Start

There are two ways to connect:

• Hosted server (no install, no API key): add https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp to your AI tool and log in with your Event Registry account when it asks. Works in web apps such as claude.ai too. See Hosted server.
• Local server (runs on your machine via npx): add it to your MCP client (see Configuration below). It logs you in to Event Registry in your browser on first use, or uses an API key when you set NEWSAPI_KEY.

Hosted server

The hosted server runs the same tools at https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp. Your AI tool opens a browser window to log in to Event Registry the first time you use it, and the tools then run on your own account. If no Event Registry account is linked to your login yet, sign in once at eventregistry.org/login and retry.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http newsapi https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp

Ask a news question; Claude Code prompts you to log in (or run /mcp to log in up front).

claude.ai and Claude Desktop

Customize → Connectors → + Add → Add custom connector, enter the name NewsAPI.ai and the URL https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp, then sign in when prompted.

Codex

codex mcp add newsapi --url https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp
codex mcp login newsapi

Or in ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.newsapi]
url = "https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp"

Cursor

In ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or .cursor/mcp.json in a project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "newsapi": {
      "url": "https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Self-hosting

The hosted server (src/http.ts) ships as a Docker image built from this repo. It keeps no sessions and verifies each request's OAuth access token (a JWT signed by the issuer, with aud set to the public URL) before calling NewsAPI.ai with it.

Variable	Default	Meaning
MCP_PUBLIC_URL	https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp	URL clients connect to; tokens must name it as aud
MCP_AUTH_ISSUER	https://auth.id.eventregistry.org	OAuth issuer; its /.well-known/openid-configuration gives the JWKS
PORT	3000	Port to listen on

docker build -t newsapi-mcp-hosted .
docker run -p 3000:3000 -e MCP_PUBLIC_URL=https://mcp.example.org/mcp newsapi-mcp-hosted

Put it behind TLS at the public URL. GET /healthz answers {"status":"ok"}. Without Docker: npm run build:http && node dist/http.js.

Configuration

Install the NewsAPI.ai MCP server with your client (local server).

The server runs via npx -y newsapi-mcp. It authenticates in one of two ways:

• Event Registry login (default): the first request opens your browser to log in; tokens are kept in your OS credential store (Keychain, Credential Manager, Secret Service) and refreshed automatically. Log in up front with npx newsapi-mcp login, forget the login with npx newsapi-mcp logout. The login listens on http://127.0.0.1:51337/callback (51338 and 51339 as fallbacks). If no Event Registry account is linked to your login yet, sign in once at eventregistry.org/login and retry.
• API key: set NEWSAPI_KEY (get one at newsapi.ai/register; free tier: one time 2,000 tokens) and no login happens.

Standard config works in most of the tools (drop the env block to use the login):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "newsapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "newsapi-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NEWSAPI_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Below are examples for popular MCP clients.

Antigravity

Add via the Antigravity settings or by updating your configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "newsapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "newsapi-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NEWSAPI_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add newsapi -e NEWSAPI_KEY=your_api_key_here -- npx -y newsapi-mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the MCP install guide, use the standard config above.

Gemini CLI

Follow the MCP install guide, use the standard config above.

Qodo Gen

Open Qodo Gen chat panel in VSCode or IntelliJ → Connect more tools → + Add new MCP → Paste the standard config above.

VS Code

Follow the MCP install guide, use the standard config above. You can also install the NewsAPI.ai MCP server using the VS Code CLI:

# For VS Code
code --add-mcp '{"name":"newsapi","command":"npx","args":["-y","newsapi-mcp"],"env":{"NEWSAPI_KEY":"your_api_key_here"}}'

After installation, the NewsAPI.ai MCP server will be available for use with your GitHub Copilot agent in VS Code.

Windsurf

Follow Windsurf MCP documentation. Use the standard config above.

Usage Patterns

Search News Articles

Find articles by keyword, source, author, date, language, sentiment, and more.

• Find recent articles about the EU AI Act
• What has Reuters published about climate change this week?
• Show me negative-sentiment articles about Tesla from the last 3 days
• Find French-language coverage of the Paris Olympics
• What are German media reporting about the EU budget?

Track Events

Events are clusters of related articles about the same real-world happening.

• Find events related to mergers and acquisitions in the tech sector
• What larger events happened in Slovenia last week?
• What are the biggest news stories globally this week?

Use Topic Pages

Pull articles or events from saved Topic Pages on NewsAPI.ai.

• Summarize the latest articles from my cyber-security topic page with URI b220679c-95ff-4e4e-a1fa-ad8b3905b7df

Available Tools

Tool	Description
suggest	Look up URIs for entities and event types by name. Required before searching with URI filters.
search	One search tool with kind: articles (by concepts, sources, categories, dates, language, sentiment), events (clusters of related articles about the same happening) or mentions (sentences that state a specific event type such as an acquisition, layoffs, a launch or a recall, with entities and article links). Every kind also returns aggregates (resultType: coverage over time, top sources, top entities, sentiment).
get_breaking_events	List the events breaking right now, ranked by breaking score.
get_topic_page_articles	Get articles from a pre-configured topic page on NewsAPI.ai.
get_topic_page_events	Get events from a pre-configured topic page on NewsAPI.ai.
get_api_usage	Check token usage and plan details for the current API key.

News Research Skill

The skill/ directory contains a /news slash command for Claude Code (CLI and Desktop) that orchestrates multi-step research workflows on top of the MCP tools. It automates the suggest → scan → triage → retrieve pattern and formats findings into structured reports.

/news "What's happening with AI regulation?"

To install, copy the skill/ directory into your project's .claude/skills/ directory. See the skills documentation for details.

Links

• npm package
• NewsAPI.ai Documentation
• MCP Protocol Specification