AgentSearch (@AgentSearchHQ) on X

What it claims

The guide shows how to give GitHub Copilot's agent in VS Code live web search through one stdio MCP server, @agentsearchhq/agentsearch-mcp (version 1.3.6, listed in the MCP Registry as io.github.agentsearchhq-coder/agentsearch-mcp). Search is free with no key, up to 25 searches a day per IP from shared capacity. Extract and Render are paid in USDC over x402. Search and Extract cost $0.005 per call, and the page sends readers to the pricing page for current Render rates.

How it works

The choice of config file decides which Copilot sessions can see the server. Files using mcpServers (.mcp.json at the workspace root, or ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json) are read directly by the Copilot harness, and Copilot CLI reads the same user file. Files using servers (.vscode/mcp.json or the user-profile mcp.json) are forwarded by VS Code, except servers that use ${input:...} variables. The guided flow labels the servers destinations deprecated, but only they support input variables, envFile and sandboxing.

flowchart TD
  A[mcpServers files] --> H[Copilot harness sessions]
  B[servers files] --> F{uses input vars?}
  F -- no --> H
  F -- yes --> L[Local sessions only]
  B --> L

The five tools are listed below.

• agentsearch_web_search: free, up to 5 results (title, URL, passage). max_results accepts 1 to 5.
• agentsearch_extract and agentsearch_render: paid, and both need a wallet.
• agentsearch_review_lookup and agentsearch_review_submit: free.

How to use it

Node.js 20 or newer is required. The minimal portable entry is:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agentsearch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@agentsearchhq/agentsearch-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The terminal alternative writes a servers entry to the user mcp.json:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"agentsearch","type":"stdio","command":"npx","args":["-y","@agentsearchhq/agentsearch-mcp"]}'

A healthy start logs agentsearch-mcp listening on stdio. The server will not start in Restricted Mode, so the workspace must be trusted.

For paid calls, the server pays through the Pocket Network Agentic Portal with USDC on Base. The page advises a new, dedicated wallet holding only a small balance. The key goes in AGENTSEARCH_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY, referenced as ${AGENTSEARCH_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY} and never committed. In 1.3.6 a wallet key does not make search paid. Search becomes a paid call only with AGENTSEARCH_MODE=paid or auto.

The server checks spend caps before signing anything:

• AGENTSEARCH_MAX_TOTAL_ATOMIC caps spend per server session. The unit is 1000000 = $1.00, and the default is $1.00. The cap resets on restart.
• AGENTSEARCH_MAX_PER_CALL_ATOMIC sets a per-call ceiling that can only be lowered.

Without a wallet, Extract and Render return No wallet is configured, so no call was made. and nothing is charged.

Limits

The authors did not sign in to Copilot, so no agent tool call in chat was observed. Copilot CLI was not tested either. Testing used Linux, Node.js 24, the MCP TypeScript SDK client and VS Code 1.144.1. Menu names come from the VS Code docs rather than from testing.

A promptString password input in .vscode/mcp.json works only in Local sessions, because input-dependent servers are not forwarded to the Copilot harness. Version managers can hide npx from VS Code, which is fixed by putting the absolute path from which npx in command. In remote windows and dev containers, Node must be installed where the server runs. Organization policy can block servers.

Search results are passages, not full pages. The sample output showed mis-encoded characters (·). The page warns that fetched web content can carry text written to steer the agent.