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👋 Jan

Serper Search MCP

Serper provides Google search results through a simple API, making it perfect for giving AI models access to current web information. The Serper MCP integration enables Jan models to search the web and retrieve real-time information.

Available Tools

Section titled “Available Tools”
  • google_search: Search Google and retrieve results with snippets
  • scrape: Extract content from specific web pages

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • Serper API key from serper.dev
  • Model with tool calling support (recommended: Jan v1)

Setup

Section titled “Setup”

Enable MCP

Section titled “Enable MCP”
  1. Go to Settings > MCP Servers
  2. Toggle Allow All MCP Tool Permission ON

Turn on MCP

Get Serper API Key

Section titled “Get Serper API Key”
  1. Visit serper.dev
  2. Sign up for a free account
  3. Copy your API key from the playground

Serper homepage

Serper playground with API key

Configure MCP Server

Section titled “Configure MCP Server”

Click + in MCP Servers section:

Configuration:

  • Server Name: serper
  • Command: npx
  • Arguments: -y serper-search-scrape-mcp-server
  • Environment Variables:
    • Key: SERPER_API_KEY, Value: your-api-key

Serper MCP configuration in Jan

Download Jan v1

Section titled “Download Jan v1”

Jan v1 is optimized for tool calling and works excellently with Serper:

  1. Go to the Hub tab
  2. Search for Jan v1
  3. Choose your preferred quantization
  4. Click Download

Download Jan v1 from Hub

Enable Tool Calling

Section titled “Enable Tool Calling”

Tool calling is now enabled by default on Jan.

Usage

Section titled “Usage”

Start a New Chat

Section titled “Start a New Chat”

With Jan v1 selected, you’ll see the available Serper tools:

Chat view with Serper tools

Example Queries

Section titled “Example Queries”

Current Information:

What are the latest developments in quantum computing this week?

Comparative Analysis:

What are the main differences between the Rust programming language and C++? Be spicy, hot
takes are encouraged. 😌

Research Tasks:

Find the current stock price of NVIDIA and recent news about their AI chips.

Fact-Checking:

Is it true that the James Webb telescope found signs of life on an exoplanet? What's the latest?

Local Information:

What restaurants opened in San Francisco this month? Focus on Japanese cuisine.

How It Works

Section titled “How It Works”
  1. Query Processing: Jan v1 analyzes your question and determines what to search
  2. Web Search: Calls Serper API to get Google search results
  3. Content Extraction: Can scrape specific pages for detailed information
  4. Synthesis: Combines search results into a comprehensive answer

Tips for Best Results

Section titled “Tips for Best Results”
  • Be specific: “Tesla Model 3 2024 price Australia” works better than “Tesla price”
  • Request recent info: Add “latest”, “current”, or “2024/2025” to get recent results
  • Ask follow-ups: Jan v1 maintains context for deeper research
  • Combine with analysis: Ask for comparisons, summaries, or insights

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

No search results:

  • Verify API key is correct
  • Check remaining credits at serper.dev

Tools not appearing:

  • Restart Jan after configuration changes
  • Ensure MCP Server shows as active

Poor search quality:

  • Use more specific search terms
  • Try rephrasing your question
  • Check if Serper service is operational

API Limits

Section titled “API Limits”
  • Free tier: 2,500 searches
  • Paid plans: Starting at $50/month for 50,000 searches
  • Rate limits: 100 requests per second

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”

Serper MCP enables models to access current web information, making them powerful research assistants. Combine with other MCP tools for even more capabilities - use Serper for search, then E2B for data analysis, or Jupyter for visualization.