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Add the Bright Data MCP server to OpenAI’s Codex CLI so your coding agent can search, scrape and browse the live web without getting blocked. Codex reads MCP server definitions from ~/.codex/config.toml, which you can edit directly or update with the codex mcp add command.

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Prerequisites

  • Codex CLI is installed and signed in
  • Node.js is installed and up to date (required only for the self-hosted server)
  • A Bright Data account (new users get free credit for testing, and then you can pay as you go)
  • An API key from the user settings page (new users receive an API key in the welcome email)

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Hosted MCP

The hosted server needs no local install. Add the following table to ~/.codex/config.toml, replacing <your-api-token> with your Bright Data API key: 
[mcp_servers.brightdata]
url = "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=<your-api-token>"
The [mcp_servers.<id>] table uses url for streamable HTTP servers. The Bright Data hosted MCP accepts the API key as the token query parameter, so no separate authentication header is required.
If you prefer to use a different zone name, specify it with the unlocker URL parameter, for example ...?token=<your-api-token>&unlocker=<your-zone>.

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Self-hosted MCP

The self-hosted server runs locally through npx and reads your API key from an environment variable.
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Add the server with the CLI

Run the following command in your terminal. The -- separator tells Codex where the environment flags end and the server command begins:
codex mcp add brightdata --env API_TOKEN=<your-api-token> -- npx -y @brightdata/mcp
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Or edit config.toml directly

Alternatively, add this table to ~/.codex/config.toml:
[mcp_servers.brightdata]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@brightdata/mcp"]

[mcp_servers.brightdata.env]
API_TOKEN = "<your-api-token>"

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Validation

Verify the integration by listing the configured MCP servers: 
codex mcp list
You should see brightdata in the output, confirming the server is configured. Start a Codex session and ask it to fetch a live web page to confirm the tools respond.