Skip to main content

​
Installation

​
For Humans

Paste this into your AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.): 
Help me install AutoSearch: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0xmariowu/Autosearch/main/docs/install.md

​
For AI Agents

​
Goal

Install AutoSearch and configure the MCP server so the user’s agent has access to 40 search channels across academic papers, developer platforms, Chinese social media, and more.

​
⚠️ Boundaries

  • DO NOT run commands with sudo unless the user explicitly approved
  • DO NOT modify system files outside the user’s home directory
  • If something requires elevated permissions, tell the user and let them decide

​
Step 1: Install AutoSearch

# Option 1: npm wrapper — explicit install + init, no npm postinstall hook
npm install -g autosearch-ai
npx autosearch-ai --yes

# Option 2: curl install script
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0xmariowu/Autosearch/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Option 3: pip
pip install autosearch && autosearch init

# Option 4: pipx
pipx install autosearch && autosearch init
The npm package does not run init automatically during npm install. That is intentional: npm lifecycle scripts can execute code at install time, which is a known supply-chain risk. Run npx autosearch-ai --yes for an explicit one-shot install + init, or run autosearch init if the Python CLI is already on PATH. The curl option runs autosearch init automatically. Without --yes, the npx option prints the install URL it’s about to fetch and waits for y to confirm.
This will:
  • Detect available LLM providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, claude CLI)
  • Create ~/.autosearch/config.yaml
  • Auto-configure MCP clients. Claude Code uses claude mcp add when available; autosearch init --client claude --scope project writes project-bound .mcp.json.

​
Step 3: Check status

autosearch doctor
You’ll see a tiered report: 
AutoSearch Channel Status
==========================================
Always-on (27/27)
  ✅ arxiv              1/1 methods available
  ✅ pubmed             1/1 methods available
  ✅ ddgs               1/1 methods available
  ... 24 more

API-key (0/11)
  ○  youtube            autosearch configure YOUTUBE_API_KEY <your-key>
  ○  bilibili           autosearch configure TIKHUB_API_KEY <your-key>
  ... 9 more

Login required (0/2)
  ○  xiaohongshu        autosearch login xhs
  ○  xueqiu             autosearch login xueqiu

Status: 27/40 channels ready

​
Optional: Unlock more channels

Ask the user which optional channels they want, then use these commands:

​
Chinese social media (TikHub auth)

autosearch configure TIKHUB_API_KEY <your-key>
# Unlocks: xiaohongshu, douyin, weibo, zhihu, twitter, tiktok, bilibili, and more
If you use an AutoSearch TikHub proxy, configure the proxy URL and token instead. Together, AUTOSEARCH_PROXY_URL and AUTOSEARCH_PROXY_TOKEN satisfy TikHub channel availability without TIKHUB_API_KEY: 
autosearch configure AUTOSEARCH_PROXY_URL <proxy-url>
autosearch configure AUTOSEARCH_PROXY_TOKEN <proxy-token>

​
Xiaohongshu with your own account (no TikHub fee)

autosearch login xhs
# Reads cookies from Chrome automatically.
# If it fails, use Cookie-Editor browser extension → Export → Header String, then:
autosearch login xhs --from-string "<paste-cookie-string>"

​
Twitter / X

autosearch login twitter

​
Bilibili

autosearch login bilibili

​
YouTube

autosearch configure YOUTUBE_API_KEY <your-key>
# Free key: console.cloud.google.com → Enable YouTube Data API v3

​
MCP server config

AutoSearch writes this automatically during init. For manual setup: Claude Code: 
claude mcp add --transport stdio autosearch -- autosearch-mcp
For project-bound config without the claude CLI, run: 
autosearch init --client claude --scope project
That writes <project>/.mcp.json. Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json): 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "autosearch": {
      "command": "autosearch-mcp",
      "type": "stdio"
    }
  }
}

​
Updating

npm install -g autosearch-ai   # npm
pipx upgrade autosearch        # pipx
pip install --upgrade autosearch  # pip

​
Troubleshooting

Channel returns empty results? 
autosearch doctor  # check which channels are off and why
MCP server not found? 
which autosearch-mcp  # verify it's on PATH
autosearch-mcp --help
Xiaohongshu returns code=300011 (account restricted)? Your XHS account was flagged. Re-login with a normal, actively-used account: 
autosearch login xhs