MCP Integration Guide

This guide introduces the NewsAPI.ai MCP integration with Claude Desktop, claude.ai, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other MCP clients. The server connects your AI assistant to NewsAPI.ai (Event Registry): 150,000+ sources in 100+ languages, searched as articles, events (clusters of articles about one story) and mentions (sentences that state a happening such as an acquisition or a recall).

The server is hosted by NewsAPI.ai, so there is nothing to install and no API key to copy. Use of the data is subject to the NewsAPI.ai Terms of Service.

Prerequisites

• An Event Registry account (free tier included).
• Claude Desktop, claude.ai, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any other MCP client that supports remote servers (Streamable HTTP with OAuth login).

Only for the local server (clients that run local servers only): Node.js 18 or newer and an Event Registry API key (obtain it from your dashboard page).

Integration

Add the server address to your AI tool and log in with your Event Registry account when it asks:

            
            https://mcp.newsapi.ai/mcp
        

Below are examples for popular MCP clients.

Client configuration examples

Local server (API key)

For clients that only run local servers, install the NewsAPI.ai MCP server with your client. See the local server docs for details.

The server runs via npx -y newsapi-mcp with your API key in the NEWSAPI_KEY environment variable.

Standard config works in most tools (replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual API key from your dashboard):

            
            {
  "mcpServers": {
    "newsapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "newsapi-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NEWSAPI_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}
        

Local server client examples

Usage patterns

Once the MCP client is configured, NewsAPI.ai MCP will trigger whenever the prompt suggests retrieving news information. The assistant resolves the names you mention, searches, reviews the relevant article information and answers with links to its sources. Try some of the following prompts for testing:

Search news articles

Find articles by keyword, source, author, date, language, sentiment, and more.

• Find recent articles about the EU AI Act.
• What has Reuters published about climate change this week?
• Show me negative-sentiment articles about Tesla from the last 3 days.
• Find French-language coverage of the Paris Olympics.
• What are German media reporting about the EU budget?

Track events

Events are clusters of related articles about the same real-world happening.

• Find events related to mergers and acquisitions in the tech sector.
• What larger events happened in Slovenia last week?
• What are the biggest news stories globally this week?

Find mentions

Sentences that state a specific kind of happening, with the entities involved and a link to the article.

• Which companies announced layoffs in the last 7 days?
• List product recalls reported this month.

Use topic pages

Pull articles or events from saved Topic Pages on Event Registry.

• Summarize the latest articles from my cyber-security topic page with URI b220679c-95ff-4e4e-a1fa-ad8b3905b7df.

How to ask explains what the server can and cannot answer and how to phrase a question for the best result.

Troubleshooting

Claude Code plugin

The GitHub repository is also a Claude Code plugin: it bundles the hosted MCP server and six research skills (news, due diligence, risk, markets, political and source analysis), so one install gives Claude Code both.

            
            claude plugin marketplace add EventRegistry/newsapi-mcp
claude plugin install newsapi@newsapi-mcp
        

Ask a news question or run a skill; Claude Code prompts you to log in with your Event Registry account the first time (or run /mcp to log in up front). Claude Code also picks the right skill from a plain question, without the slash command.

To update: claude plugin update newsapi@newsapi-mcp.

What each skill does, example questions and how the skills are built are described on GitHub: Claude Code plugin and Research skills.

Research skills for Claude Desktop and claude.ai

The same six skills ship as zips on every GitHub release, one zip per skill. The links below always point to the newest release:

A bundle of all six (newsapi-skills-<version>.zip) is attached to the same release page.

1. Connect the NewsAPI.ai connector (above) and log in with your Event Registry account.
2. Enable code execution under Settings → Capabilities; skills need it to read their files.
3. Open Customize → Skills, choose Create skill → Upload a skill and upload a zip. Repeat for each skill you want. Uploading a zip again replaces the skill of the same name, which is how you update after a release.
4. Ask a news question; Claude picks the matching skill and shows its name at the top of the reply. There are no slash commands.

Which setup do I need?

Pick one server per client. If you install the plugin and also add a local newsapi server, Claude Code shows both under /mcp and asks you to log in to each; disable the one you do not use there.

Useful resources

• NewsAPI.ai MCP – GitHub page (source, local server, self-hosting, changelog)
• NewsAPI.ai MCP – latest release
• NewsAPI.ai MCP – NPM package
• MCP Protocol specification