Getting Started Video:

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Hosted MCP

1

Get your API token

  1. Go to Bright Data user settings
  2. Copy your API token (it looks like: 2dceb1aa0***************************)
2

Configure your MCP server

  1. Open Claude Desktop
  2. Go to: Settings → Developer → Edit Config
  3. Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Bright Data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE"
      ]
    }
  }
}
  1. Replace YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE with your actual API token from Step 1
  2. Save and restart Claude Desktop
3

Test it works

  1. Ask your AI: “Can you search Google for ‘weather today’?”
  2. Claude will ask for permission - click “Allow”
  3. You should see results!
4

Monitor usage

  1. View your API usage at My Zones in your Bright Data dashboard
  2. Your free tier includes 5,000 requests per month

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Self-hosted MCP

1

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:
If you prefer to use a different zone name, you can specify it with the WEB_UNLOCKER_ZONE environment variable in your configuration
2

Basic Configuration

Go to Claude -> Settings -> Developer -> Edit Config -> claude_desktop_config.json to include the following:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Bright Data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@brightdata/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "<insert your api key from https://brightdata.com/cp/setting/users>"     
      }
    }
  }
}
3

Advanced Configuration

If you want to use advanced features like rate limiting or custom zones, you can add more environment variables:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Bright Data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@brightdata/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "<insert your api key from https://brightdata.com/cp/setting/users>",
        "WEB_UNLOCKER_ZONE": "<Optional - if you want to use a specific name for web_unlocker, the name goes here. If not - REMOVE this field>",
        "BROWSER_ZONE": "<Optional - if you want to use a specific name for browser_api, the name goes here. If not - REMOVE this field>",
        "RATE_LIMIT": "<Optional - rate limit format, possible values: limit/time+unit, e.g., 100/1h, 50/30m, 10/5s. If not in use - REMOVE this field>",
        "ADVANCED_MODE":"<Optional - deafult : false set to true if you want to expose all 60+ tools>"     
      }
    }
  }
}