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Forever Saint Liang: Websearch MCP via Deepseek

An MCP server that provides web search capabilities using DeepSeek's Anthropic-compatible API.

Forever indebted to Saint Liang.

"Saint Liang" refers to Liang Wenfeng, founder of DeepSeek — named in honor of his work and DeepSeek's impact on the world.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• A DeepSeek API key from https://platform.deepseek.com

Installation

npm install -g forever-saint-liang-websearch

On first run, a user config file is automatically created. The location depends on your platform:

• Linux / macOS: ~/.config/.websearch-via-deepseek/settings.json
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.config\.websearch-via-deepseek\settings.json

Quick Start

There are two ways to set your API key. Choose one:

Option A: User config file (recommended)

Edit the user config file and fill in apiKey:

{
  "apiKey": "sk-your-api-key"
}

Then configure your MCP client — no environment variable needed:

OpenCode (opencode.json):

{
  "mcp": {
    "fsl-websearch": {
      "type": "local",
      "enabled": true,
      "command": ["npx", "forever-saint-liang-websearch"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (claude_desktop_config.json / .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fsl-websearch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["forever-saint-liang-websearch"]
    }
  }
}

Option B: Environment variable in MCP config

Set the API key directly in your MCP client configuration:

OpenCode (opencode.json):

{
  "mcp": {
    "fsl-websearch": {
      "type": "local",
      "enabled": true,
      "command": ["npx", "forever-saint-liang-websearch"],
      "environment": {
        "DEEPSEEK_API_KEY": "sk-your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (claude_desktop_config.json / .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "fsl-websearch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["forever-saint-liang-websearch"],
      "env": {
        "DEEPSEEK_API_KEY": "sk-your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Configuration is loaded with the following priority (highest first):

1. CLI arguments — --api-key=sk-... --model=deepseek-flash
2. Environment variables — WEBSEARCH_MODEL (canonical) or DEEPSEEK_MODEL (legacy alias), WEBSEARCH_ENDPOINT, etc.
3. User config file — settings.json (see Installation for path per platform)
4. Defaults — built into the server

For the model specifically, the full resolution order is:

--model > WEBSEARCH_MODEL > DEEPSEEK_MODEL > settings.json > built-in default (deepseek-flash)

Retired model aliases. deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-flash-vision-exp name models that
DeepSeek has retired. If your settings.json still pins one of them, the value is ignored and
resolution continues down the list above — the built-in default deepseek-flash, unless a
higher-precedence layer supplies a model. Your config file is not rewritten: it stays exactly as
you saved it. A warning naming the file and the ignored alias, stating that resolution falls back to
the built-in default and that the file is left unchanged, is written to stderr, because stdout is
reserved for the MCP stdio protocol. The warning is emitted before the environment and command-line
layers are merged, so it does not name the model the process will actually use.

Config file (settings.json)

{
  "apiKey": "",
  "endpoint": "https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic/v1/messages",
  "model": "deepseek-flash",
  "maxTokens": 32768,
  "systemPrompt": "Use multiple keyword variations to conduct thorough research. Prioritize authoritative, verifiable sources. Provide comprehensive, well-cited answers.",
  "tool": {
    "name": "web_search",
    "type": "web_search_20260209",
    "max_uses": 20
  }
}

Environment variables

CLI arguments

forever-saint-liang-websearch --api-key=sk-... --model=deepseek-flash

CLI Mode

The server also supports a standalone CLI mode. When a subcommand is provided, it runs as a CLI tool instead of an MCP server:

# Perform a web search
forever-saint-liang-websearch search "TypeScript latest version"

# Search with config options
forever-saint-liang-websearch search "hello world" --model=deepseek-flash

# View search statistics
forever-saint-liang-websearch stats

# Stats with a date range
forever-saint-liang-websearch stats 2026-06-01 2026-06-24

# Show version and help
forever-saint-liang-websearch --version
forever-saint-liang-websearch --help

All configuration flags (--api-key, --model, --max-uses, etc.) work in CLI mode just like MCP mode. Output is in JSON format.

CLI Subcommands

Tool: web_search

Search the web using DeepSeek's built-in web search.

Tool: web_search_stats

Query hourly search statistics from the local SQLite database. This tool is only available when searchStatsEnabled is true and Node.js >= 22.

When the stats feature is unavailable, the tool returns a specific reason: configuration disabled, Node.js version too low, or database error. See searchStatsEnabled in the Configuration section.

Development

git clone https://github.com/chengx-coding/forever-saint-liang-websearch.git
cd forever-saint-liang-websearch
npm install
npm run dev

Acknowledgments

This project is inspired by websearch-deepseek by lyumeng. Both projects are licensed under MIT.

License

MIT