Defuddle Fetch

io.github.domdomeggPublished by GitHub account domdomeggv1.0.4Updated Oct 24, 2026

Fetch content from the web, cleaned up nicely for LLMs (using Defuddle).

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyWeb Search & ScrapingKnowledge & Memory

Overview

AI-generated overview

Lets an assistant fetch a web page and receive its main content cleaned into readable markdown or raw HTML, with metadata.

What you can do
A local MCP server that retrieves a URL and extracts the main article content using the Defuddle library, stripping page clutter. Its fetch tool accepts a url plus optional max_length, start_index and raw parameters, so long pages can be read in chunks. Results include metadata such as title, author, publication date, word count, domain and processing time. It is positioned as a drop-in replacement for the default Readability-based fetch server.
When to use it
Useful when an assistant needs to read web pages as clean text rather than raw HTML, for example summarizing articles, following documentation, or pulling page content into a conversation. Worth adding if the default fetch server extracts pages poorly for the sites you use.
Requirements
Runs as a local process over stdio, installed from the npm package defuddle-fetch-mcp-server via npx, or as an .mcpb bundle. No authentication, environment variables or headers are declared. It needs network access to reach the URLs being fetched, and a desktop MCP client.
Before you install
The server fetches arbitrary URLs given to it, so page content from the open web enters the assistant's context and may carry untrusted instructions. Fetched pages are requested from the target site, which sees the request. No credentials, payments or write actions are declared.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open Defuddle Fetch in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Other MCP clients

Follow the launch instructions in the repository.

README

defuddle-fetch-mcp-server

A Model Context Protocol server that provides web content fetching capabilities using the Defuddle library. This server enables LLMs to retrieve and process content from web pages, automatically cleaning up the HTML and converting it to clean, readable markdown.

This is a drop-in replacement for the default fetch MCP server that uses Readability. This generally provides better results for most modern webpages.

Comparison

(using this issue)

Default Fetch MCPDefuddle Fetch MCP
Contents of https://github.com/kepano/defuddle/issues/61:

The MCP protocol is a standard for giving AI models access to tools.

There's a default fetch MCP server, which enables AI models to fetch content from websites. This uses Readability.js which is a bit meh, particularly at navigating GitHub (which I try to use it for a lot). I appreciate there is the GitHub MCP, but a more general web browsing solution seems particularly nice here.

Defuddle seems significantly better than Readability.js at processing pages nicely, and the model of having custom extractors to make particular sites work well seems great.

It'd be neat if someone built a defuddle-based fetch MCP server. I might get round to this later if I get frustrated enough with the default fetch MCP 😄		# idea: defuddle-based fetch MCP server · Issue #61 · kepano/defuddle

URL: https://github.com/kepano/defuddle/issues/61

Open

#61

[![@domdomegg](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/4953590?u=c9e631d8135b93c7631d88f2e4bcb6b95e000264&v=4&size=80)](https://github.com/domdomegg)

## Description

The MCP protocol is a standard for giving AI models access to tools.

There's a default fetch MCP server, which enables AI models to fetch content from websites. This uses Readability.js which is a bit meh, particularly at navigating GitHub (which I try to use it for a lot). I appreciate there is the GitHub MCP, but a more general web browsing solution seems particularly nice here.

Defuddle seems significantly better than Readability.js at processing pages nicely, and the model of having custom extractors to make particular sites work well seems great.

It'd be neat if someone built a defuddle-based fetch MCP server. I might get round to this later if I get frustrated enough with the default fetch MCP 😄

Features

  • Better Content Extraction: Uses Defuddle to remove webpage clutter and extract main content: while keeping things like the page title and key metadata
  • Flexible Output: Supports both markdown and raw HTML output
  • Chunked Reading: Supports pagination with start_index and max_length parameters
  • Rich Metadata: Extracts title, author, publication date, word count, and more

Installation

Follow the instructions on install-mcp, which generates the right config for your MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, VS Code, and more).

Components

Tools

  • fetch
    • Fetches a URL from the internet and extracts its contents as clean, markdown text using Defuddle
    • Input parameters:
      • url (string, required): URL to fetch
      • max_length (number, optional): Maximum number of characters to return. Defaults to 5000.
      • start_index (number, optional): Start content from this character index. Defaults to 0.
      • raw (boolean, optional): Get raw content without markdown conversion. Defaults to false.
    • Returns cleaned content with metadata including title, author, publication date, word count, domain, and processing time

Contributing

Pull requests are welcomed on GitHub! To get started:

  1. Install Git and Node.js
  2. Clone the repository
  3. Install dependencies with npm install
  4. Run npm run test to run tests
  5. Build with npm run build

To add it to Claude Desktop, run npm run build then add the following configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json:

json
{  "mcpServers": {    "defuddle-fetch": {      "command": "node",      "args": [        "/path/to/clone/defuddle-fetch-mcp-server/dist/index.js"      ]    }  }}

Releases

Versions follow the semantic versioning spec.

To release:

  1. Use npm version <major | minor | patch> to bump the version
  2. Run git push --follow-tags to push with tags
  3. Wait for GitHub Actions to publish to the NPM registry.

Source: README.md at commit 08b5f96

Tools

0
SourceWeft has not started this package in its sandbox yet, so its tools are not known.

Version history

1
  1. v1.0.4LatestSep 16, 2026

Score

50% of the applicable checks met

How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.

  • Reached in the last 30 days25 pts

    Keep the endpoint answering the MCP handshake; SourceWeft probes it every 30 days.

  • Auth declared10 pts

    Declare the credential headers in the registry entry, or keep the endpoint answering the probe so its auth can be classified.

  • Tools listed15 pts

    Answer tools/list without a credential, or ship a package that starts in a sandbox without one.

  • DescriptionRequired15 pts
  • Logo10 pts
  • Documentation15 pts
  • License10 pts