PacketStream integration

Add PacketStream web search to Claude Desktop

Connect Claude Desktop to PacketStream's remote MCP server through the mcp-remote bridge, then check the tools and your API key.

Give Claude Desktop live Google results and readable web pages through PacketStream’s remote MCP server. Claude Desktop’s configuration file starts local servers only, so it connects through the community mcp-remote bridge, which sends your API key in a header. The bridge needs Node.js. The MCP server is in early beta.

Configure

Create an API key on the MCP page of the dashboard. In Claude Desktop, open Settings, select Developer, and select Edit Config. That opens claude_desktop_config.json:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the packetstream entry and replace YOUR_API_KEY with your key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "packetstream": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.packetstream.io/v1/mcp",
        "--transport",
        "http-only",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:${PACKETSTREAM_AUTH_HEADER}"
      ],
      "env": { "PACKETSTREAM_AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}
  • The header argument has no space after the colon on purpose, because some systems split arguments at spaces. mcp-remote fills in the value from env, where the space after Bearer is safe.
  • --transport http-only keeps the bridge on Streamable HTTP, which is the only transport the server speaks.
  • When it starts, mcp-remote looks for OAuth metadata on the server. The server has none and answers 404, so mcp-remote connects with your header and never opens a browser.

Save the file, then quit Claude Desktop completely and open it again.

Check it works

  1. Select Add files, connectors, and more at the bottom left of the message box, point to Connectors, and select Manage connectors.
  2. Select packetstream. Its tools should be packetstream_search and packetstream_fetch.
  3. Check the key on its own with the free key check. Listing the tools works without a key, so a connected server does not prove the key works:
export PACKETSTREAM_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
curl -sS https://api.packetstream.io/v1/account \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PACKETSTREAM_API_KEY"

A working key returns your balance as JSON. A missing or wrong key returns HTTP 401 with the code unauthorized.

Then ask Claude something that needs current information. It should call packetstream_search. Every successful call is billed, so review Claude Desktop’s tool permissions before you let the tools run without asking.

Troubleshooting

  • packetstream does not appear. Check that npx works in a terminal, then read the MCP logs in ~/Library/Logs/Claude on macOS or %APPDATA%\Claude\logs on Windows.
  • The tool result says missing_api_key. The MCP server does not answer a missing key with HTTP 401. The tool call returns an error result that Claude reads and passes on, and the call is not billed. Check the --header argument and the env entry, then restart Claude Desktop.
  • invalid_api_key. The header does not hold a PacketStream key, often because env still has YOUR_API_KEY. The value should be Bearer followed by a key that starts with ps_.
  • unauthorized. The key was revoked or replaced on the dashboard. Create a new key, put it in env, and restart Claude Desktop.
  • Tool permissions stopped matching after an update. Version 1.3.0 renamed web_search and web_fetch to packetstream_search and packetstream_fetch. Allow the new tool names when Claude asks.
  • The Code tab does not see the server. The Code tab in Claude Desktop uses Claude Code’s settings instead. Set it up as in Claude Code.

Claude custom connectors, added under Customize > Connectors, are a different setup from this configuration file. Read clients that cannot use the tools before you try one.

Ready to give Claude Desktop live web results? Create an account, add funds, and create the API key on the MCP page of the dashboard.
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