ZenRows MCP Server

The ZenRows MCP (Model Context Protocol) server is the standard way AI systems use ZenRows. A single connection gives your AI assistant, agent, or application real-time access to any website.

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ZenRows MCP is open source. Star the repository, file issues, or contribute.

Why ZenRows MCP

Reach sites that normally block bots: Get access to any website at scale without getting blocked by anti-bot systems.
Managed scraping infrastructure: Proxy rotation, headless browser orchestration, anti-bot evasion, and session management run on ZenRows infrastructure.
Plug into any AI you already use: Works with any MCP client, including AI assistants, agent frameworks, AI SDKs, IDE plugins, and custom applications.
Plain English, no scraping code: Describe the task naturally and the AI picks the right tool. No selectors, no proxy management, no anti-bot tuning.

What you can do

Once connected, your AI assistant can:

Scrape any webpage by describing the task in plain English
Extract structured data from e-commerce sites, news pages, job boards, and more
Render pages as Markdown, plain text, HTML, or PDF
Take above-the-fold or full-page screenshots
Access geo-restricted, JavaScript-heavy, or bot-protected pages
Automate multi-step browser workflows: navigate, click, fill forms, scroll, drag, and extract across pages
Run JavaScript in a live browser context
Manage cookies, local storage, multiple tabs, and persistent sessions

Before you start

ZenRows Account

A ZenRows account

ZenRows API Key

Your ZenRows API key

Connection options

The ZenRows MCP server supports two transport options. Pick the one that fits your client.

Option	Transport	Authentication
Remote MCP server	Streamable HTTP	OAuth Bearer token
Local MCP server	STDIO (local subprocess)	Environment variable

Both options expose the same set of tools and capabilities. The choice is purely about how your client connects to the server.

Remote MCP server

The hosted ZenRows MCP server is the recommended path for any AI application that calls an LLM API directly. The server runs on ZenRows’ infrastructure, so there is nothing to install, configure, or update.

Server URL:
https://mcp.zenrows.com/mcp
Transport:
Streamable HTTP
Authentication:
OAuth-based. Pass your ZenRows API key as a Bearer token. See Authentication for details.

Example: OpenAI Responses API Most modern AI SDKs accept the connection details through a single MCP tool definition. Here is the complete configuration for the OpenAI Responses API:

Python

import os
from openai import OpenAI

ZENROWS_API_KEY = os.environ["ZENROWS_API_KEY"]

client = OpenAI(api_key=os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"])

response = client.responses.create(
    model="gpt-5",
    tools=[
        {
            "type": "mcp",
            "server_label": "zenrows",
            "server_description": "Web scraping MCP server for accessing live web content.",
            "server_url": "https://mcp.zenrows.com/mcp",
            "authorization": ZENROWS_API_KEY,
            "require_approval": "never",
        }
    ],
    input="Visit https://news.ycombinator.com/ and summarize the three most recent posts.",
)

print(response.output_text)

Generic configuration

Field	Value
Endpoint	`https://mcp.zenrows.com/mcp`
Transport	Streamable HTTP
Auth header	`Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY`

Most MCP clients accept either an authorization shorthand field that automatically wraps the value as a Bearer token, or a free-form headers field where you set the Authorization header yourself. Either approach works with ZenRows MCP.

Local MCP server

If your AI client runs the MCP server as a local subprocess instead of calling a remote URL, use the @zenrows/mcp npm package. This is the standard configuration for desktop AI clients.

You need Node.js installed for npx to work.

The exact location of the configuration file varies by client, but every supported client uses a similar MCP server config shape. Replace YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY with your actual key:

JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zenrows": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@zenrows/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ZENROWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Per-client setup guides

For step-by-step instructions including the exact config file path and restart steps for each client:

Client	Type
Claude Desktop	AI assistant
Claude Code	AI coding assistant
Cursor	AI code editor
Windsurf	AI code editor
VS Code	AI code editor
Zed	AI code editor
JetBrains IDEs	AI code editor

Authentication

The ZenRows MCP server uses OAuth-based Bearer token authentication. Your ZenRows API key acts as the access token.

Remote MCP server
Local STDIO MCP server

Send the key in the HTTP Authorization header on every request:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY

OpenAI’s MCP tool, Anthropic’s MCP tool, and most other MCP clients expose this through a single authorization field on the tool config and forward it as the Bearer token automatically. Some clients use a free-form headers field instead. Both approaches are valid.

Pass the API key through the ZENROWS_API_KEY environment variable in your client’s MCP configuration:

JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zenrows": {
      "env": {
        "ZENROWS_API_KEY": "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can find or rotate your API key in your ZenRows dashboard.

Treat your API key like a password. Do not commit it to source control or share it in client-side code.

Tools

A tool in MCP terms is a named capability the server exposes. For example, scrape or browser_navigate. When you ask your AI to fetch a webpage or fill a form, the AI sees the available tools, picks the one that fits the task, and invokes it. You don’t call tools yourself in code. You set up the MCP connection once, and the AI handles tool selection and invocation from there. The ZenRows MCP exposes two families of tools.

The `scrape` tool

The scrape tool fetches a webpage in a single request and returns its content in the format you specify: clean Markdown (default), plain text, raw HTML, a screenshot, a PDF, or structured JSON. It uses the Universal Scraper API under the hood. Best for quick data extraction where the AI doesn’t need to interact with the page.

Browser tools

The browser_* tools give your AI assistant control of a cloud-hosted browser session powered by the ZenRows Scraping Browser. The browser comes with built-in residential proxies and anti-bot bypass. Browser tools cover tasks that involve:

Navigation across multiple pages in a single session
Form fills, button clicks, and other element interactions
Waiting for dynamically loaded content
JavaScript execution in the browser context
Cookies, local storage, and multi-tab management

Every browser workflow starts with browser_navigate, which opens a session and returns a session_id. All subsequent browser calls use this session_id. Call browser_close when done.

Available browser tools

Session

Tool	Description
`browser_navigate`	Open a browser session and navigate to a URL. Returns a `session_id` for subsequent calls.
`browser_close`	Close a browser session and free all associated resources.

Navigation

Tool	Description
`browser_go_back`	Navigate back in browser history.
`browser_go_forward`	Navigate forward in browser history.
`browser_reload`	Reload the current page.

Interaction

Tool	Description
`browser_click`	Click an element using a CSS selector.
`browser_hover`	Hover over an element to trigger hover effects.
`browser_type`	Type text into an input field. Appends to existing content unless `clear_first` is set.
`browser_fill`	Clear an input field and set its value.
`browser_select_option`	Select an option from a `<select>` dropdown.
`browser_check`	Check a checkbox or radio button.
`browser_uncheck`	Uncheck a checkbox.
`browser_focus`	Move focus to an element.
`browser_press_key`	Press a keyboard key (e.g. `Enter`, `Tab`, `Escape`, `Control+a`).
`browser_scroll`	Scroll the page in a given direction.
`browser_drag`	Drag an element to a target element.

Extraction

Tool	Description
`browser_get_accessibility_tree`	Get the page’s accessibility tree as readable text. Call this after `browser_navigate` to understand page structure.
`browser_get_url`	Get the current URL.
`browser_get_title`	Get the page title.
`browser_get_text`	Get the visible text of an element or the entire page.
`browser_get_attribute`	Get the value of a specific attribute on an element.
`browser_get_html`	Get the HTML source of an element or the full page.
`browser_query_selector_all`	Find all elements matching a CSS selector. Returns text, HTML, and attributes.

Visual

Tool	Description
`browser_screenshot`	Take a screenshot of the page or a specific element.
`browser_generate_pdf`	Render the current page as a PDF.

Wait

Tool	Description
`browser_wait_for_selector`	Wait until an element is stable in the DOM. Set `visible=true` to require visibility.
`browser_wait_for_navigation`	Wait for a page navigation. Call this before the action that triggers navigation.
`browser_wait`	Wait for a fixed duration in milliseconds.

JavaScript

Tool	Description
`browser_evaluate`	Execute JavaScript in the browser context and return the result.

Tool	Description
`browser_get_cookies`	Get all cookies for the current page.
`browser_set_cookies`	Set one or more cookies.
`browser_clear_cookies`	Clear all cookies for the session.

Storage

Tool	Description
`browser_local_storage`	Read, write, or clear localStorage.

Tabs

Tool	Description
`browser_new_tab`	Open a new tab. Returns a `tab_id`.
`browser_switch_tab`	Switch focus to a different tab.

Batch

Tool	Description
`browser_batch`	Execute a sequence of browser actions in a single call for better performance.

Pricing

The ZenRows MCP server itself is free. There is no separate fee for connecting, listing tools, or using the integration. Each tool call is billed against your ZenRows subscription using the standard pricing of the underlying product:

Calls to the scrape tool follow Universal Scraper API pricing.
Calls to browser_* tools follow Scraping Browser pricing.

You can monitor real-time usage and remaining quota on your Analytics page.

Troubleshooting

Connection issues

Issue	Cause	Solution
`424 Failed Dependency` or `401 Unauthorized`	Missing or invalid Bearer token	Confirm `Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY` is set on every request. For OpenAI/Anthropic SDKs, use the `authorization` field on the MCP tool config. Verify your key is active in your dashboard
Tool list is empty when connecting to the remote URL	Authentication failed silently or wrong endpoint	Confirm the URL is exactly `https://mcp.zenrows.com/mcp` and the Bearer token is present and valid
The `scrape` tool is unavailable in your AI assistant (local STDIO)	Configuration not loaded yet	Restart your AI tool after saving the configuration file. For Claude Desktop, fully quit and reopen the application
API key is not recognized (local STDIO)	Key not replaced in configuration	Confirm `YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY` has been replaced with your actual key from the ZenRows dashboard. The value must have no extra spaces or surrounding quotation marks

Scraped content issues

If your AI is connecting and invoking tools correctly but the scraped content comes back missing, blocked, or incomplete, the issue is with the target page rather than the MCP connection. Common causes include JavaScript-loaded content, anti-bot protection, geo-restrictions, and dynamic loading. See the Universal Scraper API troubleshooting guide for fixes you can ask your AI to apply. For example, “scrape with JavaScript rendering enabled” or “use Premium Proxies.”

Example prompts

Once ZenRows MCP is connected, describe the task to your AI assistant in plain English and it handles the scraping automatically.

Scrape tool
Browser tools

Fetch https://www.scrapingcourse.com/javascript-rendering/. It uses React, so enable JavaScript rendering.

Get the top 5 products from https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/ and extract just the names and prices.

Take a full-page screenshot of https://news.ycombinator.com.

Scrape https://www.scrapingcourse.com/antibot-challenge. It's blocking requests. Use Adaptive Stealth Mode.

Open https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/ in a browser, type "hoodie" into the search field, press Enter, wait for the results to load, then extract all matching product names and prices.

Navigate to https://scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/, click on the first product, extract its full description and price, then go back and do the same for the second product.

Open https://news.ycombinator.com in a browser, scroll down to load more stories, then extract all the headlines and links.

Universal Scraper API Reference

Full parameter reference for the scrape tool’s underlying API.

Scraping Browser Introduction

Learn more about the browser powering the browser_* tools.

ZenRows Dashboard

Monitor usage, manage your API key, and track quota.

NPM Package

@zenrows/mcp on npm for local STDIO deployments.

Contributing

The ZenRows MCP server is open source. If you want to modify the server, fix a bug, or suggest an improvement, clone the GitHub repository and run it locally:

Bash

git clone https://github.com/ZenRows/zenrows-mcp
cd zenrows-mcp
npm install
cp .env.example .env   # Add your API key
npm run dev            # Run with .env loaded (requires Node.js 20.6+)
npm run build          # Compile to dist/
npm run inspect        # Open the MCP inspector UI

Pull requests and issues are welcome on the GitHub repository.

AI & Automation

No-code/Low-code Integrations

Developer Tools

Captcha Solvers

View on GitHub

Why ZenRows MCP

What you can do

Before you start

ZenRows Account

ZenRows API Key

Connection options

Remote MCP server

Local MCP server

Per-client setup guides

Authentication

Tools

The `scrape` tool

Browser tools

Available browser tools

Pricing

Troubleshooting

Connection issues

Scraped content issues

Example prompts

Universal Scraper API Reference

Scraping Browser Introduction

ZenRows Dashboard

NPM Package

Contributing

AI & Automation

No-code/Low-code Integrations

Developer Tools

Captcha Solvers

Documentation Index

View on GitHub

​Why ZenRows MCP

​What you can do

​Before you start

ZenRows Account

ZenRows API Key

​Connection options

​Remote MCP server

​Local MCP server

​Per-client setup guides

​Authentication

​Tools

​The scrape tool

​Browser tools

​Available browser tools

​Pricing

​Troubleshooting

​Connection issues

​Scraped content issues

​Example prompts

​Related resources

Universal Scraper API Reference

Scraping Browser Introduction

ZenRows Dashboard

NPM Package

​Contributing

Why ZenRows MCP

What you can do

Before you start

Connection options

Remote MCP server

Local MCP server

Per-client setup guides

Authentication

Tools

The `scrape` tool

Browser tools

Available browser tools

Pricing

Troubleshooting

Connection issues

Scraped content issues

Example prompts

Related resources

Contributing