SearchAPI MCP
SearchAPI MCP lets agents call configured search engines through a hosted OAuth integration with plan and request quotas.
Verdict
Common use cases
- Monitor brand mentions across news sites
- Verify customer claims with live search
- Pull competitor pricing from indexed pages
- Research industry trends before meetings
- Fact-check claims during strategy sessions
Integration
- Vendor
- SearchAPI MCP
- Category
- other
- Auth
- OAUTH2
- Composio slug
searchapi_mcp
Tools
Setup
Setup guide
- 11. Go to SearchAPI.io and create an account to generate your API key. 2. In Switchy, open Settings > Integrations and click 'Connect' next to SearchAPI MCP. 3. Paste your API key when prompted and select which search engines you want to enable (Google, Bing, or both). 4. Grant the requested OAuth scopes — SearchAPI needs read access to execute queries on your behalf. 5. Click 'Authorize' to complete the connection. 6. Test it by opening any Project, typing '@SearchAPI find recent news about [your topic]', and confirming results appear in the response. 7. If results don't load, check your API key hasn't expired and verify your SearchAPI.io plan supports the query volume you're requesting.
What teammates see: by default, memories from SearchAPI MCP are scoped to the Project (PROJECT visibility) - you can mark any memory PRIVATE or share it ORG-wide.
Works well with
Top models
Compatibility data appears once enough Projects have used this MCP together with a given model.
How Switchy teams use it
Starter prompts
Brand Mention Scan
@SearchAPI find news articles published in the last 7 days that mention our company name. Summarize the top 5 results with publication date and sentiment.
Competitor Price Check
@SearchAPI search for pricing pages from [competitor name] and extract their plan tiers and costs. Format as a comparison table.
Industry Trend Report
@SearchAPI find the top 10 articles from the past month about [industry trend]. List titles, sources, and key takeaways from each.
Fact-Check Claim
@SearchAPI search for credible sources discussing [specific claim]. Tell me if the claim is supported, disputed, or lacks evidence.
Customer Issue Validation
@SearchAPI search forums and support sites for mentions of [specific issue]. Summarize how many users report it and any known workarounds.
Example outputs
Illustrative - representative of the model's voice and quality, not literal recordings.
@SearchAPI find recent news articles about renewable energy policy changes in the EU from the last 30 days
SearchAPI returned 15 articles from major news sources published between December 15, 2024 and January 14, 2025. Top results include coverage of Germany's updated solar subsidy program (Der Spiegel, Jan 10), the EU Commission's revised wind energy targets (Reuters, Jan 8), and France's nuclear policy shift (Le Monde, Dec 28). Each result includes headline, source, publication date, and a brief excerpt. This illustrative example shows how the MCP surfaces timestamped, source-attributed search results that the AI can then synthesize into a briefing or summary.
This example demonstrates web search with temporal filtering. OAuth2 scope must include search permissions. Be aware that search result quality depends on SearchAPI's underlying index coverage and freshness—some niche topics or very recent events may have limited results. Rate limits typically apply per-minute or per-day depending on your plan tier.
@SearchAPI search for academic papers on transformer architecture improvements published after 2023, limit to 10 results
SearchAPI located 10 academic papers matching the query. Results include titles, authors, publication venues, and abstracts. Examples in this illustrative set: 'Efficient Attention Mechanisms for Long-Context Transformers' (NeurIPS 2024), 'Sparse Mixture-of-Experts in Production' (ICML 2024), and 'Low-Rank Adaptation Techniques' (ACL 2024). Each entry provides a direct link to the paper source (arXiv, conference proceedings, or journal). The MCP formats results so the AI can extract key findings or compare methodologies across papers.
This example highlights domain-specific search with result limiting. Academic search quality varies—SearchAPI may index preprint servers and conference proceedings differently than commercial databases. Users should verify citations independently. OAuth2 authentication is required, and search quota consumption scales with result count requested.
@SearchAPI compare pricing for 'standing desk' across e-commerce sites and summarize the range with top 3 options under $500
SearchAPI retrieved product listings from multiple retailers. In this illustrative example, prices ranged from $279 to $1,200 for electric standing desks. The three options under $500 identified: FlexiDesk Pro at $299 (Amazon, 4.3★ rating, 48-inch width), ErgoRise Basic at $349 (Wayfair, 4.1★, 60-inch width), and StandUp Elite at $479 (direct vendor, 4.5★, programmable height presets). The AI synthesized these results by filtering on price threshold and extracting key specs from product descriptions. Actual availability and pricing fluctuate in real-time.
This example shows product search with AI-driven synthesis. The MCP returns raw search results; the AI applies filtering logic and comparison. Pricing data is point-in-time and may not reflect current promotions or stock status. Users should verify final prices at checkout. OAuth2 scope must permit commercial search queries, and some plans restrict e-commerce search frequency.
Use-case deep-dives
When SearchAPI wins for support teams routing tickets
A 6-person support team fields 40 tickets a day across Zendesk and Intercom. They need to surface relevant help docs, past ticket resolutions, and product updates without switching tabs. SearchAPI MCP connects to your knowledge base and returns ranked results inside the AI workspace. The OAuth2 flow means each agent authenticates once and queries stay scoped to their permissions. This works best when your docs are already indexed somewhere (Algolia, Elasticsearch, or a vendor API). If your knowledge base is under 500 articles and changes weekly, a simpler file-based MCP might be faster to set up. For teams that already pay for search infrastructure, SearchAPI turns that investment into a chat-native lookup tool.
How agencies use SearchAPI for client briefings
A 10-person agency preps weekly client decks that pull competitor pricing, feature announcements, and press mentions. SearchAPI MCP queries public search APIs (Google, Bing, or vertical engines) and returns structured results the team can cite or summarize. The OAuth2 setup lets each account manager authenticate their own API keys without sharing credentials. This scenario assumes you already have search API access—if you're starting from scratch, the setup overhead (API keys, rate limits, cost per query) can delay the first win by a week. Once running, the MCP shines for teams that bill research hours and need audit trails. If your research is ad-hoc or under 10 queries a month, a browser-based MCP is simpler.
When SearchAPI speeds up API reference lookups
A 4-engineer team reviews pull requests that touch third-party APIs (Stripe, Twilio, AWS). They need to verify method signatures and rate limits without leaving the code review thread. SearchAPI MCP queries the vendor's doc site or a self-hosted API reference and returns the relevant snippet. OAuth2 means each engineer authenticates once and queries respect any private or beta docs they have access to. This works when your doc site exposes a search API—many don't, so check before committing. If your team reviews fewer than 5 PRs a week, the manual doc lookup is probably faster than the MCP setup. For teams doing 20+ reviews a week, SearchAPI cuts the context-switch tax and keeps the review in one place.
Frequently asked
What does SearchAPI MCP do in Switchy?
SearchAPI MCP lets your AI agents query search engines and retrieve real-time web results without leaving Switchy. Instead of manually copying search data or switching tabs, your team's AI can pull current information—news, competitor mentions, product reviews—directly into conversations and workflows. It's useful for research-heavy teams who need fresh data on demand.
Do I need API keys or special permissions to connect SearchAPI?
Yes. SearchAPI uses OAuth2, so you'll authenticate through their portal and grant Switchy permission to make search requests on your behalf. You'll need an active SearchAPI account—most vendors require a paid plan for API access beyond trial limits. Check your SearchAPI dashboard for rate limits and quota before connecting.
Can SearchAPI MCP search private company data or internal documents?
No. SearchAPI queries public search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. It can't index your internal files, Notion pages, or Slack history. If you need to search private data, use Switchy's native integrations for those tools instead. SearchAPI is strictly for pulling information that's already publicly indexed on the web.
How is this different from just Googling something myself?
SearchAPI MCP automates retrieval so your AI can fact-check, compare sources, or pull competitor data mid-conversation without you context-switching. You're not copying and pasting search results—your agent does it. This matters when you're running repetitive research tasks or need to cross-reference multiple queries in a single workflow.
Does SearchAPI usage count against my Switchy plan limits?
SearchAPI calls count against your SearchAPI vendor quota, not Switchy's. Switchy doesn't meter external API usage—your SearchAPI plan determines how many searches you can run per month. If you hit their rate limit, the MCP will fail until your quota resets. Check your SearchAPI billing to avoid surprises.