Base Intel Search

June 9, 2026 · View on GitHub

Pay-per-call web search for AI agents, settled in USDC on Base via x402.

Add one MCP server and your agent gets a web_search tool. Each query is paid automatically from your wallet (~$0.015 USDC per call) — no API key, no account, no subscription. Powered by the Base Intel /search API.

agent calls web_search("…")
   → GET /search?q=…        → 402 Payment Required
   → x402 signs a USDC payment from your wallet
   → request retried        → 200 + ranked, cited results

The agent never sees the payment — it just calls a tool and gets answers. Payment is transparent, instant, and per-call.

Why use it

No signup / no key. Fund a wallet with a few dollars of USDC on Base; that's it.
Pay only for what you use. ~$0.015 per query, no monthly fee.
Real-time web. Ranked, de-duplicated results with source + date, plus top news.
Filters. Recency (day/week/month/year), site restriction, result count.

Install

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "base-intel-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "base-intel-search-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "EVM_PRIVATE_KEY": "0xYOUR_PAYING_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You'll see a web_search tool.

Any MCP client

EVM_PRIVATE_KEY=0x… npx -y base-intel-search-mcp

Funding the wallet

EVM_PRIVATE_KEY is a wallet you control that pays per query. Fund it on Base:

A few dollars of USDC (covers hundreds of searches at ~$0.015 each)
A tiny amount of ETH for gas

Use a dedicated low-balance wallet for agent spending — never your main wallet.

The `web_search` tool

Param	Type	Notes
`query`	string	required
`recency`	`day` \| `week` \| `month` \| `year`	optional time window
`site`	string	restrict to a domain, e.g. `arxiv.org`
`count`	number (1–20)	results to return (default 10)

Returns ranked results (title, url, snippet, source, date, extra context) + top news as JSON.

Configuration

Env	Default	Purpose
`EVM_PRIVATE_KEY`	— (required)	wallet that pays per query
`SEARCH_API_URL`	Base Intel `/search`	override the search endpoint
`X402_NETWORK`	`eip155:8453`	payment network (Base mainnet)

How payment works

Built on the x402 protocol v2 using @x402/axios + @x402/evm. The first request to /search returns 402 Payment Required; the x402 client signs a USDC transferWithAuthorization from your wallet and retries. Settlement is on Base L2 (sub-cent gas, ~2s). You pay the resource directly — this server holds no funds and takes no custody.

License

MIT