noapi-google-search-mcp

Give any LLM real Google search, vision, local OCR, and YouTube video understanding. No API key, no vision model needed.

Google Search, Google Lens + OpenCV object detection + local OCR + YouTube transcription, Q&A & clip extraction by topic for Local LLMs

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives your local LLM real Google search, browsing, vision, text-reading, and full video understanding. Paste a YouTube link and the LLM transcribes it locally, answers questions about the content, and extracts video clips by topic - just ask "extract the part about X" and the LLM finds the right timestamps from the transcript and cuts the clip for you. Uses headless Chromium via Playwright for search, Google Lens for image identification, RapidOCR for offline OCR, and faster-whisper for local video transcription. No Google API key, no Custom Search Engine setup, no usage limits - just real Google results.

Works with LM Studio, Claude Desktop, and any MCP-compatible client.

Why This Instead of API-Based Alternatives?

	noapi-google-search-mcp	API-based MCP servers
API key required	No	Yes (Google CSE API)
Cost	Free	Paid after 100 queries/day
Setup time	`pip install` + go	Create Google Cloud project, enable API, get key, configure CSE
Results quality	Real Google results	Custom Search Engine (different ranking)
JavaScript pages	Renders them (Chromium)	Cannot render JS
Google Search	Built-in (with filters)	Basic only
Google Shopping	Built-in	Not available
Google Flights	Built-in	Not available
Google Hotels	Built-in	Not available
Google Translate	Built-in	Separate API needed
Google Maps	Built-in	Not available
Google Maps Directions	Built-in (with route map screenshot)	Not available
Google Weather	Built-in	Not available
Google Finance	Built-in	Not available
Google News	Built-in	Usually not available
Google Scholar	Built-in	Not available
Google Books	Built-in	Not available
Google Images	Built-in (inline in chat)	Separate API needed
Google Lens	Built-in (reverse image search)	Not available
Object detection	Built-in (OpenCV + Google Lens per object)	Not available
Local OCR	Built-in (RapidOCR, works offline)	Not available
Video transcription	Built-in (faster-whisper, local)	Not available
Video clip extraction	Built-in (extract segments by topic)	Not available
Google Trends	Built-in	Separate API needed
Page fetching	Built-in `visit_page` tool	Usually separate

Tools

`google_search` - Web Search

Search Google and get structured results with titles, URLs, and snippets.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Search query (required)	`"best python frameworks 2025"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`
`time_range`	Filter by recency	`"past_hour"`, `"past_day"`, `"past_week"`, `"past_month"`, `"past_year"`
`site`	Limit to a domain	`"reddit.com"`, `"stackoverflow.com"`, `"github.com"`, `"arxiv.org"`, `"news.ycombinator.com"`
`page`	Results page (1-10, default 1)	`2` for next page
`language`	Language code	`"en"`, `"de"`, `"fr"`, `"es"`, `"ja"`, `"zh"`
`region`	Country/region code	`"us"`, `"gb"`, `"de"`, `"fr"`, `"jp"`

How your LLM uses it: The LLM automatically sees these parameters in the tool definition. When you ask "search Reddit for Python tips from the past week", it will call google_search(query="Python tips", site="reddit.com", time_range="past_week").

`google_shopping` - Product Search

Search Google Shopping for products with prices, stores, and ratings.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Product search query (required)	`"Sony WH-1000XM5"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`

Returns: product name, price, store, rating, and URL.

`google_flights` - Flight Search

Search Google Flights for flight options, prices, and travel times.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`origin`	Departure city or airport (required)	`"New York"`, `"LAX"`
`destination`	Arrival city or airport (required)	`"London"`, `"NRT"`
`date`	Departure date (optional)	`"March 15"`, `"2025-03-15"`
`return_date`	Return date for round trips (optional)	`"March 22"`

`google_hotels` - Hotel Search

Search for hotels and accommodation with thumbnail images, prices, ratings, and booking URLs.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Hotel search with location (required)	`"Paris"`, `"Tokyo near Shibuya"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`

`google_translate` - Translation

Translate text between languages using Google Translate.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`text`	Text to translate (required)	`"Hello, how are you?"`
`to_language`	Target language (required)	`"Spanish"`, `"Japanese"`, `"French"`
`from_language`	Source language (optional, auto-detected)	`"English"`, `"German"`

`google_maps` - Places Search with Map Screenshot

Search Google Maps for restaurants, businesses, and places with ratings, prices, addresses, and reviews. Returns an inline map screenshot showing all pinned locations.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Place search query (required)	`"pizza near Central Park"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`

Returns: place names, ratings, price range, addresses, descriptions, opening hours, Google Maps links, and a map screenshot with pinned locations.

`google_maps_directions` - Route Directions with Map Screenshot

Get driving, walking, transit, or cycling directions between two locations. Returns distance, duration, step-by-step route info, and an inline screenshot of the map showing the full route.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`origin`	Starting location (required)	`"Berlin"`, `"Times Square, New York"`
`destination`	Ending location (required)	`"Munich"`, `"Central Park, New York"`
`mode`	Travel mode (default "driving")	`"driving"`, `"walking"`, `"transit"`, `"cycling"`

Returns: distance, duration, route steps, and an inline map screenshot showing the route.

`google_weather` - Weather Lookup

Get current weather conditions and forecast for any location worldwide.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`location`	City or location (required)	`"Dubai"`, `"New York"`, `"Tokyo"`

Returns: temperature (°C/°F), condition, precipitation, humidity, wind, and multi-day forecast.

`google_finance` - Stock & Market Data

Look up stock prices, market data, and company information from Google Finance.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Stock ticker with exchange or company name (required)	`"AAPL:NASDAQ"`, `"TSLA:NASDAQ"`

Returns: current price, change, market info, key stats, and company description.

`google_news` - News Search

Search Google News for recent headlines with source and timestamp.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	News search query (required)	`"AI regulation"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`

`google_scholar` - Academic Search

Search Google Scholar for papers, citations, and research.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Academic search query (required)	`"transformer attention mechanism"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`

Returns: title, URL, authors, citation count, and snippet for each paper.

`google_books` - Book Search

Search Google Books for books, textbooks, and publications.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Book search query (required)	`"machine learning"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`

Returns: title, author, ISBN (when available), URL, and snippet.

`google_images` - Image Search (with inline images)

Search Google Images and display results directly in chat. Images are returned inline so you can see them without leaving the conversation.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Image search query (required)	`"sunset over ocean"`
`num_results`	Number of results (1-10, default 5)	`5`

`google_lens` - Reverse Image Search

Identify objects, products, brands, landmarks, and text in images using Google Lens. Gives vision capabilities to text-only models.

Supports image URLs, local file paths, and base64-encoded images (drag-and-drop in LM Studio).

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`image_source`	Image URL, local file path, or base64 image data (required)	`"https://example.com/photo.jpg"` or `"/home/user/image.jpg"` or drag image into chat

Returns: identified object/product name, description, visual matches, text found in image, and related products with prices.

`google_trends` - Trends Lookup

Check Google Trends for topic interest, related topics, and related queries.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`query`	Topic to check trends for (required)	`"artificial intelligence"`

`google_lens_detect` - Object Detection + Identification

Detect all objects in an image using OpenCV, crop each one, and identify them individually via Google Lens. Useful when an image contains multiple items and you want each identified separately.

Supports local file paths and base64-encoded images (drag-and-drop in LM Studio).

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`image_source`	Local file path or base64 image data (required)	`"/home/user/photo.jpg"` or drag image into chat

Returns: per-object identification from Google Lens, including the original full image results.

`ocr_image` - Local OCR (no internet needed)

Extract text from images locally using RapidOCR (PaddleOCR models on ONNX Runtime). Runs entirely offline. Reads screenshots, documents, photos of signs, labels, receipts, or any image containing text.

Gives text-reading capabilities to text-only models without needing a vision model or internet. Supports local file paths and base64-encoded images (drag-and-drop in LM Studio).

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`image_source`	Local file path or base64 image data (required)	`"/home/user/screenshot.png"` or drag image into chat

Returns: extracted text sorted by position, with confidence scores.

Example output:

OCR Results for: /home/user/screenshot.png
Text regions found: 12

--- Extracted Text ---
NVIDIA-SMI 580.95.05  Driver Version: 580.95.05  CUDA Version: 13.0
GPU Name  Persistence-M  Bus-Id  Disp.A
NVIDIA GB10  On  00000000F:01:00.0

--- Detailed Results (with confidence) ---
[88%] NVIDIA-SMI 580.95.05
[88%] Driver Version: 580.95.05
[84%] CUDA Version: 13.0

`transcribe_video` - Video Transcription

Download and transcribe YouTube videos (or any video URL) locally with timestamps using faster-whisper. The LLM can then answer questions about the video, point to specific timestamps, and identify when topics start and end.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`url`	YouTube URL or any video URL (required)	`"https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."`
`model_size`	Whisper model: tiny/base/small/medium/large (default: base)	`"small"`
`language`	Language code, auto-detected if empty	`"en"`

Example output:

Video Transcript
Title: How to Build a Home Server
Channel: TechChannel
Duration: 15:30
Language: en (confidence: 98%)

--- Transcript ---
[0:00 - 0:05] Welcome back to the channel.
[0:05 - 0:12] Today we're going to build a home server from scratch.
[0:12 - 0:25] First, let's talk about the hardware you'll need...

`search_transcript` - Transcript Search

Search a previously transcribed video for segments matching a keyword or phrase. Returns matching segments with timestamps and surrounding context, ready for clip extraction.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`url`	Same video URL used with transcribe_video (required)	`"https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."`
`query`	Keyword or phrase to search for (required)	`"memory bandwidth"`
`model_size`	Must match transcription model (default: tiny)	`"tiny"`
`context_segments`	Surrounding segments to include (default: 2)	`3`

`extract_video_clip` - Video Clip Extraction by Topic

Extract video clips by topic. After transcription, just ask "extract the part about X" and the LLM reads the transcript, finds the right timestamps, and cuts the clip automatically. A buffer is added before and after to avoid cutting off content. Clips are saved to ~/clips/.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`url`	YouTube URL or local video file path (required)	`"https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."`
`start_seconds`	Start time in seconds (required)	`150` (for 2:30)
`end_seconds`	End time in seconds (required)	`315` (for 5:15)
`buffer_seconds`	Extra seconds before/after (default: 3)	`5.0`
`output_filename`	Custom filename without extension (optional)	`"hardware_overview"`

`list_images` - Image Discovery

List image files in a directory so text-only models can discover and pass them to google_lens, google_lens_detect, or ocr_image. Default directory: ~/lens/.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`directory`	Folder to scan (optional, default `~/lens/`)	`"/home/user/photos"`

`visit_page` - Page Fetcher

Fetch any URL and extract readable text content. Use after search to read full articles.

Parameters:

Parameter	Description	Example
`url`	Full URL to fetch (required)	`"https://example.com/article"`

How Does the LLM Know About These Tools?

You don't need to teach the LLM anything. MCP automatically exposes all tool names, descriptions, and parameters to the model. The LLM picks the right tool and parameters automatically based on your request.

Sample Prompts

Here are example prompts you can type into LM Studio or Claude Desktop, and which tool the LLM will use:

Web Search

What you type	Tool called	Parameters used
"Search for the best Python web frameworks"	`google_search`	`query`
"Find Reddit discussions about home lab setups"	`google_search`	`query` + `site="reddit.com"`
"Search Stack Overflow for async Python examples"	`google_search`	`query` + `site="stackoverflow.com"`
"What's new in AI this week?"	`google_search`	`query` + `time_range="past_week"`
"Search Hacker News for posts about Rust"	`google_search`	`query` + `site="news.ycombinator.com"`
"Find GitHub repos for MCP servers"	`google_search`	`query` + `site="github.com"`
"Get page 2 of results for machine learning tutorials"	`google_search`	`query` + `page=2`
"Search for restaurants in Tokyo in Japanese"	`google_search`	`query` + `language="ja"` + `region="jp"`
"Find German news about the EU from the past month"	`google_search`	`query` + `language="de"` + `time_range="past_month"`

Shopping

What you type	Tool called
"Find the cheapest MacBook Air"	`google_shopping`
"Compare prices for Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones"	`google_shopping`
"How much does a Nintendo Switch cost?"	`google_shopping`
"Search for running shoes under $100"	`google_shopping`

Flights

What you type	Tool called
"Find flights from New York to London"	`google_flights`
"Search for cheap flights from LA to Tokyo"	`google_flights`
"Flights from San Francisco to Paris on March 15"	`google_flights`
"How much are flights from Dubai to Bangkok?"	`google_flights`

Hotels

What you type	Tool called
"Find hotels in Paris for next weekend"	`google_hotels`
"Search for cheap hotels in Tokyo"	`google_hotels`
"Best hotels near Times Square New York"	`google_hotels`
"Find 5-star hotels in Dubai"	`google_hotels`

Translation

What you type	Tool called
"Translate 'hello world' to Japanese"	`google_translate`
"How do you say 'thank you' in French?"	`google_translate`
"Translate this to Spanish: The weather is nice today"	`google_translate`
"What does 'Guten Morgen' mean in English?"	`google_translate`

Maps & Places

What you type	Tool called
"Find Italian restaurants near Times Square"	`google_maps`
"Where are the best coffee shops in Berlin?"	`google_maps`
"Search for hotels in Tokyo"	`google_maps`
"Find EV charging stations in San Francisco"	`google_maps`
"What are the top-rated gyms in London?"	`google_maps`

Directions (with route map screenshot)

What you type	Tool called
"Get directions from Berlin to Munich"	`google_maps_directions`
"How do I drive from New York to Boston?"	`google_maps_directions`
"Walking directions from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre"	`google_maps_directions`
"Transit route from Shibuya to Akihabara"	`google_maps_directions`
"Cycling route from Golden Gate Bridge to Fisherman's Wharf"	`google_maps_directions`
"Show me the route from London to Edinburgh"	`google_maps_directions`

Weather

What you type	Tool called
"What's the weather in Dubai?"	`google_weather`
"Is it going to rain in London today?"	`google_weather`
"What's the temperature in New York?"	`google_weather`
"Weather forecast for Tokyo this week"	`google_weather`

Finance & Stocks

What you type	Tool called
"What's Apple's stock price?"	`google_finance`
"How is Tesla stock doing?"	`google_finance`
"Look up NVIDIA market cap"	`google_finance`
"How is the S&P 500 doing today?"	`google_finance`

News

What you type	Tool called
"What are today's top headlines?"	`google_news`
"Any recent news about the stock market?"	`google_news`
"What happened in the Japan election?"	`google_news`

Academic Research

What you type	Tool called
"Find papers on transformer attention mechanisms"	`google_scholar`
"Look up academic research about CRISPR"	`google_scholar`
"What does the research say about intermittent fasting?"	`google_scholar`

Books

What you type	Tool called
"Find books about machine learning"	`google_books`
"Search for books by Stephen King"	`google_books`
"What are the best books on Python programming?"	`google_books`

Images (displayed inline in chat)

What you type	Tool called
"Show me images of the Northern Lights"	`google_images`
"Show me what a DGX Spark looks like"	`google_images`
"Find diagrams of neural network architecture"	`google_images`

Reverse Image Search

What you type	Tool called
"What is this product? https://example.com/photo.jpg"	`google_lens`
"Identify this image: /home/user/photos/device.jpg"	`google_lens`
"What brand is this? [image URL or file path]"	`google_lens`
"Read the text in this image: https://..."	`google_lens`

Trends

What you type	Tool called
"What's trending in tech right now?"	`google_trends`
"Is Python more popular than JavaScript?"	`google_trends`

Object Detection

What you type	Tool called
"Detect and identify all objects in /home/user/photo.jpg"	`google_lens_detect`
"What are all the items in this photo? /path/to/image.jpg"	`google_lens_detect`

OCR (Text Extraction)

What you type	Tool called
"Read the text in this image: /home/user/screenshot.png"	`ocr_image`
"OCR this document: /home/user/receipt.jpg"	`ocr_image`
"What does this label say? /home/user/photo.jpg"	`ocr_image`
"Extract text from /home/user/document.png"	`ocr_image`

Drag-and-Drop Images (LM Studio with vision override)

What you do	Tool called
Drag image into chat + "What is this?"	`google_lens`
Drag image into chat + "Read the text"	`ocr_image`
Drag image into chat + "Detect all objects"	`google_lens_detect`
Drag image into chat + "Reverse image search this"	`google_lens`

Tip: To enable drag-and-drop images with text-only models in LM Studio, add a model.yaml file in the model directory with metadataOverrides: { vision: true }. The image will be sent as base64 and the MCP tools handle it automatically.

Video Transcription

What you type	Tool called
"Transcribe this video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."	`transcribe_video`
"What do they discuss in this video? https://..."	`transcribe_video`
"Summarize this YouTube video: https://..."	`transcribe_video`
"At what timestamp do they talk about X in this video?"	`transcribe_video`

Video Clip Extraction by Topic

What you type	Tool called
"Extract the part where they talk about memory bandwidth"	`extract_video_clip`
"Save the segment where they discuss pricing"	`extract_video_clip`
"Cut out the section about the hardware specs"	`extract_video_clip`

Page Reading

What you type	Tool called
"Read this article for me: https://..."	`visit_page`
"What does this page say? https://..."	`visit_page`

Installation

Quick Install (pipx - recommended)

pipx install noapi-google-search-mcp
playwright install chromium

This puts noapi-google-search-mcp on your PATH so you can use it directly.

Install in a Virtual Environment

If you don't have pipx, install in a dedicated venv:

python3 -m venv ~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp
~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp/bin/pip install noapi-google-search-mcp
~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp/bin/playwright install chromium

Configuration

LM Studio

Add to ~/.lmstudio/mcp.json:

If installed with pipx (command is on PATH):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "noapi-google-search-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PYTHONUNBUFFERED": "1"
      }
    }
  }
}

If installed in a venv (use the full path):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "~/.local/share/noapi-google-search-mcp/bin/noapi-google-search-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PYTHONUNBUFFERED": "1"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-search": {
      "command": "noapi-google-search-mcp"
    }
  }
}

If installed in a venv, use the full path to the binary instead.

As a CLI

noapi-google-search-mcp

Or:

python -m google_search_mcp

Development

git clone https://github.com/VincentKaufmann/noapi-google-search-mcp.git
cd google-search-mcp
pip install -e .
playwright install chromium

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 25 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
images		images
src/google_search_mcp		src/google_search_mcp
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml

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noapi-google-search-mcp

Why This Instead of API-Based Alternatives?

Tools

google_search - Web Search

google_shopping - Product Search

google_flights - Flight Search

google_hotels - Hotel Search

google_translate - Translation

google_maps - Places Search with Map Screenshot

google_maps_directions - Route Directions with Map Screenshot

google_weather - Weather Lookup

google_finance - Stock & Market Data

google_news - News Search

google_scholar - Academic Search

google_books - Book Search

google_images - Image Search (with inline images)

google_lens - Reverse Image Search

google_trends - Trends Lookup

google_lens_detect - Object Detection + Identification

ocr_image - Local OCR (no internet needed)

transcribe_video - Video Transcription

search_transcript - Transcript Search

extract_video_clip - Video Clip Extraction by Topic

list_images - Image Discovery

visit_page - Page Fetcher

How Does the LLM Know About These Tools?

Sample Prompts

Web Search

Shopping

Flights

Hotels

Translation

Maps & Places

Directions (with route map screenshot)

Weather

Finance & Stocks

News

Academic Research

Books

Images (displayed inline in chat)

Reverse Image Search

Trends

Object Detection

OCR (Text Extraction)

Drag-and-Drop Images (LM Studio with vision override)

Video Transcription

Video Clip Extraction by Topic

Page Reading

Installation

Quick Install (pipx - recommended)

Install in a Virtual Environment

Configuration

LM Studio

Claude Desktop

As a CLI

Development

License

About

Resources

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Forks

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Packages 0

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Languages

`google_search` - Web Search

`google_shopping` - Product Search

`google_flights` - Flight Search

`google_hotels` - Hotel Search

`google_translate` - Translation

`google_maps` - Places Search with Map Screenshot

`google_maps_directions` - Route Directions with Map Screenshot

`google_weather` - Weather Lookup

`google_finance` - Stock & Market Data

`google_news` - News Search

`google_scholar` - Academic Search

`google_books` - Book Search

`google_images` - Image Search (with inline images)

`google_lens` - Reverse Image Search

`google_trends` - Trends Lookup

`google_lens_detect` - Object Detection + Identification

`ocr_image` - Local OCR (no internet needed)

`transcribe_video` - Video Transcription

`search_transcript` - Transcript Search

`extract_video_clip` - Video Clip Extraction by Topic

`list_images` - Image Discovery

`visit_page` - Page Fetcher

Packages