HTTP Request▌
by xxxbrian
Advanced web scraper lets LLMs bypass anti-bot protection using HTTP requests, ideal for web scraping tools like Octopar
Enables LLMs to make advanced HTTP requests with realistic browser emulation, bypassing anti-bot measures while supporting all HTTP methods, authentication, and automatic response handling for web scraping and API interactions.
Both formats append explainx.ai attribution and the canonical URL for this MCP server listing.
best for
- / Web scraping protected sites
- / API testing and interaction
- / Content extraction for LLM analysis
- / Automating web data collection
capabilities
- / Make HTTP requests with browser fingerprinting
- / Convert HTML and PDF content to Markdown
- / Handle authentication (Basic, Bearer, custom)
- / Bypass anti-bot detection systems
- / Process large responses with token counting
- / Support all HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.)
what it does
Makes HTTP requests with realistic browser emulation to bypass anti-bot measures and convert web content to Markdown for LLM processing.
about
HTTP Request is a community-built MCP server published by xxxbrian that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Advanced web scraper lets LLMs bypass anti-bot protection using HTTP requests, ideal for web scraping tools like Octopar It is categorized under browser automation, search web.
how to install
You can install HTTP Request in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.
license
MIT
HTTP Request is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.
readme
mcp-rquest
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides advanced HTTP request capabilities for Claude and other LLMs. Built on rquest, this server enables realistic browser emulation with accurate TLS/JA3/JA4 fingerprints, allowing models to interact with websites more naturally and bypass common anti-bot measures. It also supports converting PDF and HTML documents to Markdown for easier processing by LLMs.
Features
- Complete HTTP Methods: Support for GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS, and TRACE
- Browser Fingerprinting: Accurate TLS, JA3/JA4, and HTTP/2 browser fingerprints
- Content Handling:
- Automatic handling of large responses with token counting
- HTML to Markdown conversion for better LLM processing
- PDF to Markdown conversion using the Marker library
- Secure storage of responses in system temporary directories
- Authentication Support: Basic, Bearer, and custom authentication methods
- Request Customization:
- Headers, cookies, redirects
- Form data, JSON payloads, multipart/form-data
- Query parameters
- SSL Security: Uses BoringSSL for secure connections with realistic browser fingerprints
Available Tools
-
HTTP Request Tools:
http_get- Perform GET requests with optional parametershttp_post- Submit data via POST requestshttp_put- Update resources with PUT requestshttp_delete- Remove resources with DELETE requestshttp_patch- Partially update resourceshttp_head- Retrieve only headers from a resourcehttp_options- Retrieve options for a resourcehttp_trace- Diagnostic request tracing
-
Response Handling Tools:
get_stored_response- Retrieve stored large responses, optionally by line rangeget_stored_response_with_markdown- Convert HTML or PDF responses to Markdown format for better LLM processingget_model_state- Get the current state of the PDF models loading processrestart_model_loading- Restart the PDF models loading process if it failed or got stuck
PDF Support
mcp-rquest now supports PDF to Markdown conversion, allowing you to download PDF files and convert them to Markdown format that's easy for LLMs to process:
- Automatic PDF Detection: PDF files are automatically detected based on content type
- Seamless Conversion: The same
get_stored_response_with_markdowntool works for both HTML and PDF files - High-Quality Conversion: Uses the Marker library for accurate PDF to Markdown transformation
- Optimized Performance: Models are pre-downloaded during package installation to avoid delays during request processing
Installation
Using uv (recommended)
When using uv no specific installation is needed. We will
use uvx to directly run mcp-rquest.
Using pip
Alternatively you can install mcp-rquest via pip:
pip install mcp-rquest
After installation, you can run it as a script using:
python -m mcp_rquest
Configuration
Configure for Claude.app
Add to your Claude settings:
Using uvx:
{
"mcpServers": {
"http-rquest": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-rquest"]
}
}
}
Using pip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"http-rquest": {
"command": "python",
"args": ["-m", "mcp_rquest"]
}
}
}
Using pipx:
{
"mcpServers": {
"http-rquest": {
"command": "pipx",
"args": ["run", "mcp-rquest"]
}
}
}
</details>
Browser Emulation
mcp-rquest leverages rquest's powerful browser emulation capabilities to provide realistic browser fingerprints, which helps bypass bot detection and access content normally available only to standard browsers. Supported browser fingerprints include:
- Chrome (multiple versions)
- Firefox
- Safari (including iOS and iPad versions)
- Edge
- OkHttp
This ensures that requests sent through mcp-rquest appear as legitimate browser traffic rather than bot requests.
Development
Setting up a Development Environment
- Clone the repository
- Create a virtual environment using uv:
uv venv - Activate the virtual environment:
# Unix/macOS source .venv/bin/activate # Windows .venv\Scripts\activate - Install development dependencies:
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
Acknowledgements
FAQ
- What is the HTTP Request MCP server?
- HTTP Request is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server profile on explainx.ai. MCP lets AI hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Cursor) call tools and resources through a standard interface; this page summarizes categories, install hints, and community ratings.
- How do MCP servers relate to agent skills?
- Skills are reusable instruction packages (often SKILL.md); MCP servers expose live capabilities. Teams frequently combine both—skills for workflows, MCP for APIs and data. See explainx.ai/skills and explainx.ai/mcp-servers for parallel directories.
- How are reviews shown for HTTP Request?
- This profile displays 69 aggregated ratings (sample rows for discoverability plus signed-in user reviews). Average score is about 4.8 out of 5—verify behavior in your own environment before production use.
Use Cases▌
Web Research & Information Gathering
Fetch and extract information from websites automatically
Example
Research competitor pricing, scrape product reviews, monitor news mentions
Automate 5-10 hours/week of manual web research
Content Monitoring & Alerts
Track website changes, new content, price updates
Example
Monitor competitor blog for new posts, track stock availability, watch for pricing changes
Stay informed without manual checking, never miss important updates
Data Extraction & Aggregation
Extract structured data from multiple websites
Example
Compile product listings from 10 e-commerce sites, aggregate job postings, collect real estate data
Build datasets 100x faster than manual copying
API-less Integration
Interact with services that don't offer APIs
Example
Check form submissions, validate website functionality, test user flows
Automate interactions with any website, even without API
Implementation Guide▌
Prerequisites
- ›Claude Desktop or Cursor with MCP support
- ›Understanding of web scraping ethics and robots.txt
- ›Rate limiting awareness to avoid overwhelming target sites
- ›Knowledge of legal restrictions on data collection
Time Estimate
20-40 minutes including configuration and testing
Installation Steps
- 1.Install web automation MCP server via npm or pip
- 2.Configure allowed domains and rate limits in MCP config
- 3.Test with simple fetch: 'Get content from example.com'
- 4.Progress to extraction: 'Extract all product prices from this page'
- 5.Set up monitoring: 'Check this URL daily for changes'
- 6.Parse structured data: 'Create CSV from this table'
- 7.Respect robots.txt and rate limits always
Troubleshooting
- ⚠403 Forbidden: Website blocks bots—respect their wishes, use official API instead
- ⚠Rate limit errors: Slow down requests, add delays between fetches
- ⚠Stale data: Target site changed HTML structure—update selectors
- ⚠Timeout errors: Site is slow or blocking—increase timeout, try different user agent
- ⚠JavaScript-rendered content: Use headless browser MCP servers for dynamic sites
Best Practices▌
✓ Do
- +Check robots.txt and respect crawl rules
- +Rate limit requests: 1-2 requests/second maximum
- +Use official APIs when available instead of scraping
- +Identify your bot with descriptive user agent
- +Cache results to minimize repeated requests
- +Handle errors gracefully with retries and fallbacks
- +Validate extracted data for accuracy
✗ Don't
- −Don't scrape sites that explicitly forbid it (robots.txt, ToS)
- −Don't overwhelm servers with rapid requests—use rate limiting
- −Don't scrape personal data without consent and legal basis
- −Don't ignore copyright on extracted content
- −Don't assume HTML structure is stable—handle changes
- −Don't use scraped data for commercial purposes without permission
💡 Pro Tips
- ★Use CSS selectors or XPath for robust data extraction
- ★Set up monitoring alerts for extraction failures (structure changed)
- ★Implement exponential backoff for retries on failures
- ★Store raw HTML for reprocessing if extraction logic changes
- ★Combine with data analysis tools for insights from extracted data
- ★Consider using official APIs or RSS feeds as more stable alternatives
Technical Details▌
Architecture
MCP server handles HTTP requests, HTML parsing, JavaScript rendering (if headless browser), and returns structured data to Claude.
Protocols
- HTTP/HTTPS
- WebSocket (for real-time sites)
- Puppeteer/Playwright (for JavaScript sites)
Compatibility
- Static HTML sites
- JavaScript-rendered SPAs (with headless browser)
- REST APIs
- GraphQL endpoints
When to Use This▌
✓ Use When
Use for research automation, content monitoring, data aggregation from multiple sources, and when official APIs don't exist. Best for read-only information gathering.
✗ Avoid When
Avoid for sites with APIs (use API instead), sites that explicitly forbid scraping, when data is copyrighted, or for login-required content without proper authorization.
Integration▌
- →Scheduled monitoring with change detection
- →Multi-source data aggregation pipelines
- →Fallback to web scraping when API rate limits hit
- →Headless browser for JavaScript-heavy sites
Discussion
Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)- No comments yet — start the thread.
List & Promote Your MCP Server
Share your MCP server with the developer community
Ratings
4.8★★★★★69 reviews- ★★★★★Layla Desai· Dec 28, 2024
HTTP Request is among the better-indexed MCP projects we tried; the explainx.ai summary tracks the official description.
- ★★★★★Ira Kim· Dec 24, 2024
According to our notes, HTTP Request benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.
- ★★★★★Maya Lopez· Dec 16, 2024
We evaluated HTTP Request against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
- ★★★★★Ira Verma· Dec 12, 2024
HTTP Request has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
- ★★★★★Zaid Brown· Dec 12, 2024
We evaluated HTTP Request against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
- ★★★★★Ira Huang· Dec 12, 2024
We wired HTTP Request into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.
- ★★★★★Isabella Abebe· Dec 8, 2024
HTTP Request is a well-scoped MCP server in the explainx.ai directory — install snippets and categories matched our Claude Code setup.
- ★★★★★Lucas Bhatia· Dec 4, 2024
According to our notes, HTTP Request benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.
- ★★★★★Lucas Robinson· Nov 27, 2024
HTTP Request has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
- ★★★★★Zaid Patel· Nov 23, 2024
We wired HTTP Request into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.
showing 1-10 of 69