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Google Custom Search MCP

NPM · MCP-GOOGLE-CUSTOM-SEARCH · SCANNED SEP 20

MCP server for Google Custom Search: web and image search via a Programmable Search Engine.

Available components

npm · mcp-google-custom-search 77
+3 this week 77 Trust /100
Trust breakdown (7 categories)

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically from public evidence about the published package, including repeated runs of it in an isolated sandbox, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score → Why this is hard to score →

Supply Chain Security98
  • No malware found by supply-chain analysis.Pass
  • No known CVEs affecting this package version or its production dependencies.Pass
  • No install/post-install scripts declared.Pass
  • 31 of 96 dependencies flagged as unhealthy. View diagnostics → Partial
Provenance & Transparency45
Schema Quality & AI Usability61
  • AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).Pass
  • Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 2149 tokens (~716/item across 3 items; 3 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
  • Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management70
  • Stability observed for 21 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.Partial
Tool Coverage100
  • 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
  • 100% of tool parameters carry a description.Pass
Tool Safety100
  • No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
  • We read all 3 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
  • An AI judge read all 4 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
  • Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.Pass
Install

How do I install the Google Custom Search MCP server?

Google Custom Search MCP runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y mcp-google-custom-search. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.

npm · mcp-google-custom-search

# add to Claude Code
claude mcp add a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search -- npx -y mcp-google-custom-search
// .cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-google-custom-search"
      ]
    }
  }
}
// .vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-google-custom-search"
      ]
    }
  }
}
# add to Codex CLI
codex mcp add a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search -- npx -y mcp-google-custom-search
// opencode.json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": [
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "mcp-google-custom-search"
      ],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
# add to OpenClaw
openclaw mcp add a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search --command npx --arg -y --arg mcp-google-custom-search
# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
mcp_servers:
  a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "mcp-google-custom-search"]
// ~/.netclaw/config/netclaw.json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search": {
      "Transport": "stdio",
      "Command": "npx",
      "Arguments": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-google-custom-search"
      ]
    }
  }
}
# add to Vellum
assistant mcp add a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search -t stdio -c npx -a -y mcp-google-custom-search
// mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "a1-x-tech-mcp-google-custom-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-google-custom-search"
      ]
    }
  }
}
Changelog

Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.

  • 19 Sept 26 +1

    No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 63 to 67. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 19 days of observed history at the previous scan, 20 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

  • 17 Sept 26 +1

    No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 57 to 60. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 17 days of observed history at the previous scan, 18 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

  • 15 Sept 26 +1

    No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 50 to 53. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 15 days of observed history at the previous scan, 16 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

  • 13 Sept 26 +1

    No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 43 to 47. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 13 days of observed history at the previous scan, 14 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

  • 10 Sept 26 +1

    No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 33 to 37. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 10 days of observed history at the previous scan, 11 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

  • 8 Sept 26 +1

    No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 27 to 30. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 8 days of observed history at the previous scan, 9 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

  • 7 Sept 26 +4
    • Stability: unverified → 0.27 ▲ functional
  • 31 Aug 26 +15
    • Malware scan: unverified → pass ▲ security
Diagnostics

Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.

Captured 20 Sept 2026 · Analysed npm/mcp-google-custom-search@0.1.0

Provenance No attestation

The registry publishes no build provenance for this version, so there is nothing to verify.

Result No attestation
Ecosystem npm

Background: How many MCP packages publish verified provenance →

Dependencies 96 packages
Packages resolved 96
Stale 31
Tree resolution Complete

Background: SBOMs and build attestations, explained →

MCP tools · 3 exposed · ~1,784 tokens

The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →

Tool Tokens
raw_request ~192

Escape hatch: performs a GET against any Custom Search JSON API path and returns the raw, unnormalized response envelope (queries.request/nextPage, searchInformation, promotions, context, items[] with htmlSnippet/htmlTitle/formattedUrl and the full pagemap). Use it for parameters the typed tools don't expose (lowRange/highRange, c2coff, hq, fields) — e.g. path "customsearch/v1?q=test&num=3&fields=items(title,link)". The API key is added automatically (in a header, never the URL) and the configured engine id is filled in when the path has no cx parameter. The API has GET endpoints only, so nothing here can modify data.

NameTypeReqDescription
pathstringyesAPI path with query string, relative to https://customsearch.googleapis.com — e.g. "customsearch/v1?q=hello&num=3".

No output schema declared.

No examples provided.

search ~777

Web search through your Google Programmable Search Engine (Custom Search JSON API). Returns query, total_results (Google's estimate — it can shrink while paging), search_time_seconds, corrected_query (spelling suggestion; results are still for the original query), next_start/previous_start page cursors, and items[] with title, url, display_link, snippet, mime/file_format and (with include_pagemap) pagemap metadata. Coverage is the engine's configuration: an engine listing specific sites searches only those; open-web search needs "Search the entire web" enabled in its control panel — results still differ from google.com. Max 10 results per call and 100 per query: paginate by passing next_start as start. Each call costs one unit of the daily quota (free tier 100/day), so prefer one precise query over many broad ones. Note: this is Programmable Search, NOT Google Search Console — it cannot report how your own site is indexed or ranked.

NameTypeReqDescription
countrystring–Geolocation bias — rank results as if searching from this country, e.g. "de". Soft signal.
country_restrictstring–Hard filter — only documents Google attributes to this country, e.g. "DE".
date_restrictstring–Only results from the last N days/weeks/months/years: "d7", "w2", "m6", "y1", ...
engine_idstring–Programmable Search Engine id (cx) to search with, overriding the configured GOOGLE_CUSTOM_SEARCH_ENGINE_ID. Omit to use the configured engine.
exact_termsstring–A phrase every result must contain.
exclude_termsstring–A word or phrase no result may contain.
file_typestring–Only files of this type, e.g. "pdf", "xlsx", "svg".
filter_duplicatesboolean–Google's duplicate-content filter (default on). false returns near-duplicate results too.
include_pagemapboolean–Attach each result's raw pagemap (OpenGraph/metatags/thumbnails and other structured page data). Verbose — leave off unless you need page metadata.
interface_languagestring–Interface language used to interpret the query, e.g. "de". Improves non-English relevance.
languagestring–Only results in this language, e.g. "en", "de", "zh-CN".
numinteger–Results per page, 1..10 (API maximum 10; default 10).
or_termsstring–Space-separated words — each result must contain at least one of them.
querystringyesThe search query, Google syntax included (quotes, site:, filetype:, OR, -exclusions).
rightsstring–License filter: cc_publicdomain, cc_attribute, cc_sharealike, cc_noncommercial, cc_nonderived (combine with |).
safestring–Safe search: active filters adult content, off (the API default) does not.
site_searchstring–A site or domain to include or exclude, e.g. "example.com" — pair with site_search_filter.
site_search_filterstring–include = only results from site_search, exclude = everything but it. Default include.
sortstring–Sort expression, e.g. "date" for newest-first. Omit for relevance (usually better).
startinteger–1-based index of the first result — use next_start/previous_start from the previous page. The API serves at most 100 results per query, so start + num - 1 must stay <= 100 (enforced: a wider window i…

No output schema declared.

No examples provided.

search_images ~815

Image search through your Google Programmable Search Engine (searchType=image). Works only when the engine has "Image search" enabled in its control panel — otherwise the API answers 400. Each item's url is the image file itself; image.context_url is the page hosting it, with width/height/byte_size and a thumbnail_url (plus its dimensions) for previews. Everything else matches the search tool: same filters (language/country, safe search, site include/exclude, date_restrict, file_type, rights — use rights for reusable images), same pagination (max 10 per call, 100 per query, paginate via next_start), same quota (one unit per call). Image-only filters: size (icon..huge), type (clipart/face/lineart/stock/photo/animated), color_type (mono/gray/color/trans) and dominant_color.

NameTypeReqDescription
color_typestring–mono = black & white, trans = transparent background.
countrystring–Geolocation bias — rank results as if searching from this country, e.g. "de". Soft signal.
country_restrictstring–Hard filter — only documents Google attributes to this country, e.g. "DE".
date_restrictstring–Only results from the last N days/weeks/months/years: "d7", "w2", "m6", "y1", ...
dominant_colorstring–Prefer images dominated by this color.
engine_idstring–Programmable Search Engine id (cx) to search with, overriding the configured GOOGLE_CUSTOM_SEARCH_ENGINE_ID. Omit to use the configured engine.
exact_termsstring–A phrase every result must contain.
exclude_termsstring–A word or phrase no result may contain.
file_typestring–Only files of this type, e.g. "pdf", "xlsx", "svg".
filter_duplicatesboolean–Google's duplicate-content filter (default on). false returns near-duplicate results too.
include_pagemapboolean–Attach each result's raw pagemap (OpenGraph/metatags/thumbnails and other structured page data). Verbose — leave off unless you need page metadata.
interface_languagestring–Interface language used to interpret the query, e.g. "de". Improves non-English relevance.
languagestring–Only results in this language, e.g. "en", "de", "zh-CN".
numinteger–Results per page, 1..10 (API maximum 10; default 10).
or_termsstring–Space-separated words — each result must contain at least one of them.
querystringyesThe search query, Google syntax included (quotes, site:, filetype:, OR, -exclusions).
rightsstring–License filter: cc_publicdomain, cc_attribute, cc_sharealike, cc_noncommercial, cc_nonderived (combine with |).
safestring–Safe search: active filters adult content, off (the API default) does not.
site_searchstring–A site or domain to include or exclude, e.g. "example.com" — pair with site_search_filter.
site_search_filterstring–include = only results from site_search, exclude = everything but it. Default include.
sizestring–Image size class, from icon to huge.
sortstring–Sort expression, e.g. "date" for newest-first. Omit for relevance (usually better).
startinteger–1-based index of the first result — use next_start/previous_start from the previous page. The API serves at most 100 results per query, so start + num - 1 must stay <= 100 (enforced: a wider window i…
typestring–Kind of image.

No output schema declared.

No examples provided.

Common questions

What is the Google Custom Search MCP server?

Google Custom Search MCP is listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.A1-x-Tech/mcp-google-custom-search. MCP server for Google Custom Search: web and image search via a Programmable Search Engine. This page covers its npm package (mcp-google-custom-search).

Is the Google Custom Search MCP server safe to use?

Google Custom Search MCP scores 77 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 20 September 2026. It declares no install or post-install scripts. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.

What tools does the Google Custom Search MCP server expose?

Google Custom Search MCP exposes 3 tools: search, search_images, raw_request. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 1,784 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

Is the Google Custom Search MCP server still maintained?

Google Custom Search MCP is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 20 September 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.

What licence is the Google Custom Search MCP server under?

Google Custom Search MCP declares the MIT licence, which is OSI-approved. That covers the source only, and says nothing about the cost of any service it calls.