web-shooter

io.github.heyyvivPublished by GitHub account heyyvivv0.2.0Updated Nov 3, 2026

Fast, low-token web reader and focused crawler. Returns ranked passages, not whole pages.

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyWeb Search & Scraping

Overview

web-shooter's local MCP server; no sign-in required; STDIO.

No AI overview yet: these facts come from the registry entry and the server itself.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open web-shooter 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

web-shooter

[License: MIT OR Apache-2.0]

A fast web reader for AI assistants, served over MCP. It reads web pages and PDFs and returns only the passages that answer the question, not whole pages. It runs locally and keeps nothing.

Why it's better

Live benchmark on 32 questions (web pages, JSON APIs, PDFs), 2026-10-31:

ToolMedian latencyAvg tokens returnedAnswer present
web-shooter793 ms1,08129/32
Firecrawl, cache allowed1,207 ms25,40928/32
Firecrawl, fresh1,548 ms25,02528/32
Jina Reader2,046 ms25,34524/32

Faster, and about 23× fewer tokens, with the same accuracy. Caveats and the held-out check are in docs/guide.md.

Tools

ToolUse it whenReturns
fetch(urls, query?, keywords?, max_tokens?)You have URLs (or local PDF paths)The best passages, grouped by page; whole pages without a query. Pages built by JavaScript are loaded in headless Chrome automatically
links(url, query?, keywords?, max_links?)You want to choose which page to read nextThe page's links, ranked by the query
crawl(url, query, keywords?, max_pages?, max_depth?, other_sites?, max_results?)You have a start page and a goal, not the URLsThe most relevant pages, as URLs with one-line snippets

Setup

1. Install (macOS on Apple Silicon, Linux, Windows):

sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/heyyviv/web-shooter/releases/latest/download/web-shooter-installer.sh | sh
powershell
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -c "irm https://github.com/heyyviv/web-shooter/releases/latest/download/web-shooter-installer.ps1 | iex"

Or from source (Rust 1.88+, and the only route on Intel Macs):

sh
cargo install --git https://github.com/heyyviv/web-shooter

2. Register it. In Claude Code:

sh
claude mcp add --scope user web-shooter -- web-shooter

Then run /mcp or start a new session. For Claude Desktop, Cursor and other clients, add a stdio server with the absolute path to the binary:

json
{ "mcpServers": { "web-shooter": { "command": "/absolute/path/to/web-shooter" } } }

The first query downloads a 30 MB embedding model. Pages built by JavaScript need Chrome installed.

More

docs/guide.md covers usage, configuration, updating, limits and development. docs/how-it-works.md explains the internals.

  • MCP Registry name: mcp-name: io.github.heyyviv/web-shooter

License

Licensed under either of Apache License 2.0 or MIT license, at your option.

Source: README.md at commit 6f366f6

Tools

0
SourceWeft started this package once in an isolated sandbox, without credentials, to list its tools. That failed: the package type cannot run in the sandbox.

Version history

1
  1. v0.2.0LatestNov 3, 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