MCP Substack
🤖 MCP Server for Substack integration with Claude AI Desktop. Download and parse Substack posts directly in your Claude conversations.
What is MCP Substack?
MCP Substack is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to 🤖 mcp server for substack integration with claude ai desktop. download and parse substack posts directly in your claude conversations.
🤖 MCP Server for Substack integration with Claude AI Desktop. Download and parse Substack posts directly in your Claude conversations.
This server falls under the Search & Data Extraction and Communication categories on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- 🤖 MCP Server for Substack integration with Claude AI Desktop
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx mcp-substackConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use MCP Substack
The MCP Substack server integrates Substack with Claude AI Desktop, allowing you to download and parse publicly accessible Substack posts directly inside your Claude conversations. It exposes a single focused tool that fetches the title, author, subtitle, and full article body from any Substack URL and returns the structured content for analysis, summarization, or discussion. This makes it easy to ingest newsletter content without leaving Claude — useful for researchers, writers, or anyone who wants to analyze and discuss long-form writing from Substack authors.
Prerequisites
- Node.js 18 or later installed on your machine
- Claude Desktop application installed
- The repository cloned locally from https://github.com/michalnaka/mcp-substack
- npm installed to fetch dependencies
Clone the repository
Clone the mcp-substack repository to a local directory you can reference in your config.
git clone https://github.com/michalnaka/mcp-substack.git
cd mcp-substackInstall dependencies
Run npm install to pull in all required packages. This compiles the server into the lib/ directory.
npm installLocate your Claude Desktop config file
Open your Claude Desktop configuration file. On macOS it lives at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Create the file if it does not exist.
Add the server to Claude Desktop config
Add the mcp-substack server entry, pointing the args to the compiled index.mjs inside the cloned repo. Replace /path/to/mcp-substack with the actual absolute path where you cloned the repo.
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-substack": {
"command": "/opt/homebrew/bin/node",
"args": ["/path/to/mcp-substack/lib/index.mjs"]
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop
Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop so it picks up the new MCP server configuration. You should see the Substack tool become available in your conversation.
MCP Substack Examples
Client configuration
Claude Desktop config pointing to the locally installed mcp-substack server. Adjust the node path and repo path to match your system.
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-substack": {
"command": "/opt/homebrew/bin/node",
"args": ["/Users/yourname/tools/mcp-substack/lib/index.mjs"]
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example prompts that use the download_substack tool to fetch and work with Substack content.
- "Could you download and summarize this Substack post: https://example.substack.com/p/my-article"
- "Fetch this newsletter and extract the main arguments the author makes: [URL]"
- "Download this Substack post and then compare its claims to what you already know about the topic: [URL]"
- "Get the content of this post and rewrite it as a bullet-point outline: [URL]"Troubleshooting MCP Substack
Claude Desktop does not show the Substack tool after restarting
Verify the absolute path in the args array is correct and that lib/index.mjs exists after running npm install. Check Claude Desktop logs for any startup errors.
The tool returns an error or empty content for a Substack URL
The server only works with publicly accessible Substack posts. Paywalled or subscriber-only articles cannot be fetched. Confirm the URL loads without login in a browser.
node command not found error in Claude Desktop
Find the correct Node.js path with 'which node' in your terminal and use that full path (e.g. /opt/homebrew/bin/node or /usr/local/bin/node) in the command field of the config.
Frequently Asked Questions about MCP Substack
What is MCP Substack?
MCP Substack is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that 🤖 mcp server for substack integration with claude ai desktop. download and parse substack posts directly in your claude conversations. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install MCP Substack?
Follow the installation instructions on the MCP Substack GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with MCP Substack?
MCP Substack works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is MCP Substack free to use?
Yes, MCP Substack is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
MCP Substack Alternatives — Similar Search & Data Extraction Servers
Looking for alternatives to MCP Substack? Here are other popular search & data extraction servers you can use with Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
TrendRadar
★ 58.0kA real-time hotspot monitoring and news aggregation assistant that provides AI-powered analysis of trending topics across multiple platforms via the Model Context Protocol. It enables users to track news and receive automated notifications through va
Scrapling
★ 52.7k🕷️ An adaptive Web Scraping framework that handles everything from a single request to a full-scale crawl!
PDF Math Translate
★ 33.9k[EMNLP 2025 Demo] PDF scientific paper translation with preserved formats - 基于 AI 完整保留排版的 PDF 文档全文双语翻译，支持 Google/DeepL/Ollama/OpenAI 等服务，提供 CLI/GUI/MCP/Docker/Zotero
GPT Researcher
★ 27.2kAn autonomous agent that conducts deep research on any data using any LLM providers
Agent Reach
★ 20.1kGive your AI agent eyes to see the entire internet. Read & search Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, GitHub, Bilibili, XiaoHongShu — one CLI, zero API fees.
Xiaohongshu
★ 13.7kMCP for xiaohongshu.com
Browse More Search & Data Extraction MCP Servers
Explore all search & data extraction servers available in the MCPgee directory. Each server includes setup guides for Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
Set Up MCP Substack in Your Editor
Choose your AI client for step-by-step setup instructions.
Quick Config Preview
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json
Ready to use MCP Substack?
Browse our complete directory of 33,000+ MCP servers, read setup guides for your editor, and start building with the Model Context Protocol.