Ask a language model what happened this morning and it has two choices: say it does not know, or guess. Its knowledge stops at its training cutoff. Anything newer, from a product launch to an election result to a price change, is invisible to it.
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) fixes this. MCP is an open standard that lets an AI app call outside tools. You connect a server once, and from then on the model decides by itself when it needs fresh information and calls the right tool.
This guide shows how to connect Claude (and Cursor or VS Code) to NestDaddy MCP, a remote server for live web search, world and country news, full article text and research papers.
What your agent can do after setup
NestDaddy MCP gives the model nine read-only tools:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
news_search | Finds news by key words across 45+ countries and the last 120 days |
web_search | Searches NestDaddy's own web index, with fresh news on top for time-sensitive questions |
news | Global, tech and financial headlines, refreshed every few minutes |
country_news | Local news by country: Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the US, the UK, Japan and more |
read_page | The full text of an article or page, without menus or ads |
research_papers | Papers from arXiv, PubMed, OpenAlex, CrossRef, Europe PMC and others |
ai_tools | New AI models and their prices, trending models and fast-growing AI projects |
software | Popular apps and developer tools with their current version |
games | Game data by genre, sorted by latest or trending |
You do not call these yourself. You ask a normal question and the model picks the tool.
Before you start: get a key
Every request is made with your own API key. Get one on the NestDaddy MCP page. The key is shown once and also emailed to you, and you can make a new one at any time on your dashboard.
In the examples below, replace YOUR_KEY with that key.
The server address is:
https://mcp.nestdaddy.com/mcp It uses Streamable HTTP, the standard transport for remote MCP servers, so nothing has to be installed on your machine.
Set up in Claude
- Open Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector.
- Name it NestDaddy.
- Paste this URL:
https://mcp.nestdaddy.com/mcp?key=YOUR_KEY The key goes on the URL here because the custom connector form has no field for headers. Treat that URL like a password and do not share it.
Set up in Claude Code
Run this once in your terminal:
claude mcp add --transport http nestdaddy https://mcp.nestdaddy.com/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" Start a new session and run /mcp to check that nestdaddy is connected.
Set up in Cursor
Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, or to .cursor/mcp.json inside a project:
{ "mcpServers": { "nestdaddy": { "url": "https://mcp.nestdaddy.com/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY" } } } } Set up in VS Code
Add this to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:
{ "servers": { "nestdaddy": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.nestdaddy.com/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY" } } } } Windsurf, n8n and any other client that supports remote MCP work the same way. The setup section has the exact config for each one.
Try it: five questions to ask
Once connected, ask questions that need today's information:
- "What is happening in tech today? Give me the five biggest stories with links."
- "Summarise today's news in Indonesia."
- "Find news about the latest interest rate decision in Malaysia and read the two best articles in full."
- "Which new AI models came out this month, and what do they cost?"
- "Find recent research papers on retrieval-augmented generation."
For the third question, the model will usually call news_search first, pick the best results, then call read_page on each one before it answers. You can watch these tool calls appear in the chat.
Tips for better answers
Ask for sources. Add "with links" to your question. Every result comes with its URL, so the model can cite where each fact came from and you can check it.
Use local key words for local news. For news in a country that does not write in English, the original language often finds more. "Harga minyak" finds more Malaysian fuel price stories than "fuel price".
Ask it to check dates. Old stories can look new. Asking "only use news from this week" makes the model filter by the published date that comes with every result.
Turn on full text only when you need it. The news tools accept full_text, which reads the first five articles in full in the same call. It gives much richer answers but uses more of your quota (see below).
How calls are counted
Each tool call counts as one call on your plan. With full_text on, each article read in full counts as one more call. A normal question uses one to three calls; a deep research question with full articles might use five to ten.
| Plan | Price | Calls per month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $9.99 | 10,000 | 60 per minute |
| Pro | $29 | 50,000 | 120 per minute |
| Scale | $99 | 250,000 | 300 per minute |
The same key also works with the NestDaddy REST API if you want to call the data from your own code instead of through an AI app.
Common problems
The tools do not show up. Restart the app after changing the config file. Most clients only read MCP config at start.
Key or authentication errors. Check that the key has no extra spaces, and that the header is exactly Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY.
The model answers without searching. Some models answer from memory when they think they already know. Say "search the news first" or "use NestDaddy" in your question.
Next step
Get your key on the NestDaddy MCP page, paste the config above, and ask your agent what happened today.
Originally published on the NestDaddy blog. NestDaddy is an independent search engine with its own index: nestdaddy.com.
