# Brightdata MCP (MCP server)

> Brightdata MCP is an MCP server that adds web browsing tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. Bright Data's Web MCP server enabling AI agents to search, extract & navigate the web. It has 2,660 GitHub stars, is released under the MIT license and runs locally with npx -y @brightdata/mcp.

Web search, page scraping, structured data extraction, and browser automation for AI agents and LLMs over the Model Context Protocol. Works with AI agents, coding agents, chat assistants, and any MCP-compatible client.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/brightdata/brightdata-mcp |
| GitHub stars | 2,660 |
| License | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript |
| Transport | stdio |
| Packages | npm: @brightdata/mcp |
| Remote URL | none |
| Needs API key | yes |
| Official | yes |
| Works with | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code |
| Category | Web & browsing |
| Latest release | v2.11.3 (Sep 17, 2026) |
| Last commit | Sep 15, 2026 |
| MCP registry name | io.github.brightdata/brightdata-mcp |

## Install

### Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightdata-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@brightdata/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

### Claude Code

```sh
claude mcp add --env API_TOKEN=your-value --transport stdio brightdata-mcp -- npx -y @brightdata/mcp
```

### Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightdata-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@brightdata/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.

### VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)

```json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "api_token",
      "description": "API_TOKEN",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "brightdata-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@brightdata/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "${input:api_token}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Config formats checked against the official docs on 2026-10-07.

## Environment variables

- `API_TOKEN` (secret) (required): Your API key for Bright Data
- `WEB_UNLOCKER_ZONE`: Your unlocker zone name
- `BROWSER_ZONE`: Your browser zone name
- `PRO_MODE`: To enable PRO_MODE - set to true
- `GROUPS`: Comma-separated tool group IDs (e.g., 'ecommerce,browser')
- `TOOLS`: Comma-separated tool names to enable
- `POLLING_TIMEOUT`: Polling timeout in seconds for webdata tools (default: 600)
- `BASE_TIMEOUT`: Request timeout in seconds for base tools (search & scrape). No limit if unset
- `BASE_MAX_RETRIES`: Max retries for base tools on transient errors (0-3, default: 0)

## Similar MCP servers

- [Browser Use](https://appsgit.com/mcp-servers/browser-use): Control a real Chrome browser to complete any task: fill forms, extract data, book flights. (117,307 stars, MIT, official)
- [Scrapling MCP Server](https://appsgit.com/mcp-servers/scrapling-mcp-server): Web scraping with stealth HTTP, real browsers, and Cloudflare bypass. (86,017 stars, BSD-3-Clause)
- [Chrome DevTools MCP](https://appsgit.com/mcp-servers/chrome-devtools-mcp): MCP server for Chrome DevTools. (53,049 stars, Apache-2.0)
- [Bytedance Browser](https://appsgit.com/mcp-servers/bytedance-browser): MCP server for browser use access. (39,206 stars, Apache-2.0)
- [Bytedance Commands](https://appsgit.com/mcp-servers/bytedance-commands): An MCP server to run arbitrary commands. (39,206 stars, Apache-2.0)
- [Bytedance Search](https://appsgit.com/mcp-servers/bytedance-search): MCP server for web search operations. (39,206 stars, Apache-2.0)

---

Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/mcp-servers/brightdata-mcp
Source: appsgit (https://appsgit.com), the app store for github. Data from the GitHub API, refreshed nightly.
Machine access: JSON API https://appsgit.com/api/v1/apps (OpenAPI: https://appsgit.com/openapi.json), MCP server https://mcp.appsgit.com/mcp, full index https://appsgit.com/llms-full.txt.