🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio
📰 news-monitor-mcp
MCP server for global news monitoring, media analysis and sentiment tracking via WorldNewsAPI — full-text search across 150+ countries, German/English sentiment analysis, top headlines, GL briefings, newspaper front pages and geo-search. API key required.
🇩🇪 Deutsche Version
Overview
news-monitor-mcp transforms any AI assistant into a proactive media intelligence agent. The server connects LLMs like Claude with global news data: from Swiss institutional reputation monitoring to weekly leadership briefings and trend detection across categories.
Source: WorldNewsAPI (worldnewsapi.com) — the only freely available news API with German-language sentiment analysis.
API key required. Get a free key at worldnewsapi.com/console (1,000 calls/month free tier).
Anchor demo query:
"How has the Schulamt Zürich been portrayed in the media over the last 30 days, and what is the overall sentiment?"
Features
- 🔍 Full-text search – 150+ countries, 50+ languages, Boolean queries and exact phrase matching
- 📊 Sentiment analysis – German and English only (WorldNewsAPI unique feature); scores from −1 (negative) to +1 (positive)
- 📰 Top headlines – clustered by country and language, ranked by number of sources reporting
- 📋 Media briefing – multi-topic weekly report with sentiment overview for GL / leadership updates
- 🗞️ Newspaper front pages – digital covers from 6,000+ publications in 125 countries
- 📡 Trend radar – category-based trend detection (politics, technology, education, …) per country
- 📍 Geo-search – location-specific news (Zürich, Bern, Basel, Kanton Zürich, …)
- ☁️ Dual transport – stdio for Claude Desktop, Streamable HTTP for cloud deployment
| # | Tool | Description |
|---|
| 1 | news_search | Full-text news search in 150+ countries |
| 2 | news_top_headlines | Top headlines by country and language |
| 3 | news_sentiment_monitor | Sentiment analysis for entity or topic |
| 4 | news_media_briefing | Multi-topic weekly briefing report |
| 5 | news_retrieve_article | Fetch full article by ID |
| 6 | news_search_sources | Find available news sources by name/country |
| 7 | news_front_pages | Digital newspaper front pages |
| 8 | news_trend_radar | Category-based trend detection per country |
| 9 | news_geo_search | Location-specific news search |
| 10 | news_alert_create | Create a persistent alert (sentiment / volume / keyword) |
| 11 | news_alert_list | List configured alerts with status |
| 12 | news_alert_check | Evaluate alerts against current data |
| 13 | news_alert_delete | Permanently remove an alert |
| 14 | news_cache_stats | Cache hit-rate and entries by type |
| 15 | news_cache_clear | Clear cache (entirely or per tool type) |
Demo
"Create a media briefing for: AI in education, Volksschule Zürich, school digitalisation"
Data Sources
| Source | API Type | Content |
|---|
| WorldNewsAPI | REST JSON | 150+ countries, 50+ languages, full text, sentiment |
Prerequisites
Installation
# Recommended: uvx (no install step needed)
uvx news-monitor-mcp
# Alternative: pip
pip install news-monitor-mcp
Quickstart
# Start the server (stdio mode for Claude Desktop)
WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY=your-key uvx news-monitor-mcp
Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:
"Show me the top news from Switzerland today"
"How is the Schulamt Zürich covered in German-language media this month?"
"Create a media briefing on: Volksschule Zürich, AI in education, school digitalisation"
Configuration
Environment Variables
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY | – | Required. API key from worldnewsapi.com |
MCP_TRANSPORT | stdio | Transport: stdio or streamable_http |
MCP_HOST | 127.0.0.1 | HTTP bind host. Use 0.0.0.0 only inside a container. |
MCP_PORT | 8000 | Port for HTTP transport |
MCP_BEARER_TOKEN | – | Required in --http mode. Bearer token clients must present in Authorization: Bearer <token>. Generate via python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))". |
MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS | – | Optional CSV allowlist for the Origin header (DNS-rebinding protection). Example: https://claude.ai. |
LOG_LEVEL | INFO | Log level: DEBUG / INFO / WARNING / ERROR. Logs are emitted as JSON to stderr with automatic redaction of api-key= query params and Authorization: Bearer headers. |
NEWS_MONITOR_ALERTS_DIR | ~/.news-monitor-mcp | Directory that holds alerts.json. The parent dir must not be a symlink (refused at startup as a defense against path-injection). File is created with mode 0o600, directory with 0o700. |
NEWS_MONITOR_ALERTS_FILE | – | (Back-compat) explicit path to the alerts file. Same symlink check applies. Prefer NEWS_MONITOR_ALERTS_DIR. |
MCP_ALERT_RETENTION_DAYS | 90 | Alerts older than this many days are deleted on server start (Privacy default per docs/privacy-dsg.md). Set to 0 to disable retention. |
MCP_CACHE_MAX_PER_TYPE | 1000 | Maximum cache entries per tool type. When exceeded, the least-recently-used entry of that type is evicted. Set to 0 to disable the cap (unbounded growth — only safe for short-lived processes). |
MCP_CACHE_SWEEP_SECONDS | 300 | Interval for the background task that removes TTL-expired entries from the cache. Set to 0 to disable the sweep (expired entries are still pruned lazily on news_cache_stats). |
Claude Desktop Configuration
{
"mcpServers": {
"news-monitor": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["news-monitor-mcp"],
"env": {
"WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
}
}
}
}
Config file locations:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
After restarting Claude Desktop, all tools are available. Example queries:
- "Show me the top Swiss news today"
- "What is the media sentiment on AI in education this month?"
- "Create a weekly briefing for: Schulamt Zürich, Volksschule, KI Bildung"
- "Find all German-language articles about school digitalisation in the last 14 days"
- "Show me the front pages of Swiss newspapers today"
Cloud Deployment (Streamable HTTP)
For use via claude.ai in the browser (e.g. on managed workstations without local software):
Authentication is mandatory. The HTTP transport refuses any request without a valid Authorization: Bearer <token> header. Generate a token once and keep it secret:
python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))"
Render.com (recommended):
- Push/fork the repository to GitHub
- On render.com: New Web Service → connect GitHub repo
- Set the following environment variables in the Render dashboard:
WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY — your WorldNewsAPI keyMCP_BEARER_TOKEN — the token generated aboveMCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 — bind on all interfaces inside the containerMCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://claude.ai (optional, recommended)
- In claude.ai under Settings → MCP Servers, add the URL
https://your-app.onrender.com/mcp and configure the Bearer token as the auth header.
# Local HTTP mode (binds 127.0.0.1 by default)
WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY=your-key \
MCP_BEARER_TOKEN=$(python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))") \
news-monitor-mcp --http --port 8000
# Verify auth is enforced
curl -i http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp # → 401
curl -i -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCP_BEARER_TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp
Scaling notes
This server is currently single-process / single-replica:
- The TTL cache lives in process memory (
NewsCache). If you run multiple Render or Kubernetes replicas, each replica has its own cache — hit-rates drop linearly with the replica count.
- Alerts persist to a local
alerts.json (defaults to /data inside the container). Multiple replicas mounting the same persistent volume serialize via fcntl.flock, but for true cluster operation a shared store (Redis / Postgres) is needed — see the open finding SCALE-STATEFUL.
- On Render Free Tier, the container sleeps after ~15 minutes of inactivity and loses non-persistent state. Attach a Persistent Disk for
/data if you need alerts to survive restarts. For Render Free + alerts you must accept that the cache is lost on every wake-up.
The MCP_CACHE_MAX_PER_TYPE cap (default 1000 entries / type) and the background sweep (MCP_CACHE_SWEEP_SECONDS, default 5 min) prevent the in-process cache from growing without bound.
Container image
A non-root multi-stage Dockerfile is included and built on every CI run. Inside the container the server defaults to --http, binds 0.0.0.0:8000, persists alerts under /data, and refuses to start if MCP_BEARER_TOKEN is missing.
docker build -t news-monitor-mcp .
docker run --rm -p 8000:8000 \
-e WORLD_NEWS_API_KEY=your-key \
-e MCP_BEARER_TOKEN=$(python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))") \
-e MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://claude.ai \
-v news-monitor-data:/data \
news-monitor-mcp
Architecture
┌─────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────┐
│ Claude / AI │────▶│ News Monitor MCP │────▶│ WorldNewsAPI │
│ (MCP Host) │◀────│ (MCP Server) │◀────│ REST JSON API │
└─────────────────┘ │ │ │ 150+ countries │
│ 9 Tools │ │ 50+ languages │
│ Stdio | Streamable HTTP │ │ Sentiment DE/EN │
└──────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────┘
Project Structure
news-monitor-mcp/
├── src/
│ └── news_monitor_mcp/
│ ├── __init__.py
│ └── server.py # All 9 tools
├── tests/
│ ├── __init__.py
│ └── test_server.py # 20 tests (unit + live)
├── pyproject.toml
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── LICENSE
├── README.md # This file (English)
└── README.de.md # German version
Testing
# Unit tests (no API key required)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "not live"
# Integration tests (live API calls, API key required)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "live"
Example Use Cases
Schulamt / Institutional Communication
"How has the Schulamt Zürich been portrayed in media over the last 30 days?"
→ news_sentiment_monitor(entity="Schulamt Zürich", language="de", days_back=30)
"Create a weekly media briefing for leadership"
→ news_media_briefing(topics=["Volksschule Zürich", "KI Bildung", "Schuldigitalisierung"])
"What are Swiss media reporting on school digitalisation?"
→ news_search(query="Schuldigitalisierung", language="de", source_country="ch")
KI-Fachgruppe / AI Working Group
"What are the current tech trends in Swiss press this week?"
→ news_trend_radar(category="technology", source_country="ch", language="de")
"How are AI developments in education covered internationally?"
→ news_search(query="AI education classroom", language="en", number=20)
"Compare Swiss and German media coverage of AI regulation"
→ news_search(query="KI Regulierung", source_country="ch", language="de")
→ news_search(query="KI Regulierung", source_country="de", language="de")
City Administration / Location Research
"What is being reported about Zürich school infrastructure?"
→ news_geo_search(location="Zürich", query="Schule")
"Show today's front pages of Swiss newspapers"
→ news_front_pages(source_country="ch")
→ More use cases by audience →
Sentiment Analysis
WorldNewsAPI offers German-language sentiment analysis — rare among news APIs:
| Score | Label | Meaning |
|---|
| > 0.3 | positiv 😊 | Positive coverage |
| −0.3 to 0.3 | neutral 😐 | Neutral / factual coverage |
| < −0.3 | negativ 😟 | Critical / negative coverage |
⚠️ Sentiment is only available for German (de) and English (en).
Safety, Limits & Responsible Use
Read-Only Operation
12 of the 15 tools carry readOnlyHint: true. All 9 monitoring tools (search,
headlines, sentiment, briefing, article, sources, front_pages, trend, geo) are
fully read-only and issue GET requests to WorldNewsAPI only. The 3 exceptions
are local-only operations: news_alert_create and news_alert_delete (write/
delete ~/.news-monitor-mcp/alerts.json) and news_cache_clear (clears
in-memory cache). None of the 15 tools modify any external data source.
API Rate Limits
| Constraint | WorldNewsAPI Free Tier | Paid Plans |
|---|
| Calls/month | 1,000 | Up to 1M |
| Articles/call | 10 | Up to 100 |
| Historical depth | 30 days | Extended |
| Timeout per call | 30 seconds | 30 seconds |
The TTL cache (v0.2+) reduces redundant calls by up to 80%.
Data Privacy
- No personal data stored: The server holds no persistent user data. Cache entries are in-memory and reset on server restart.
- No profiling: The server retrieves publicly published journalism only. It is not designed for surveillance or personal profiling.
- Alert data: Alert configurations are stored locally in
~/.news-monitor-mcp/alerts.json — on your machine only, never transmitted.
Responsible Use
- Query public news only — do not use as a profiling tool for individuals.
- Sentiment scores reflect algorithmic analysis of journalistic tone, not verified editorial judgements.
- Results depend on WorldNewsAPI's indexing; Swiss regional media may be less well-covered than national outlets.
Terms of Service
Users must comply with:
This MCP server is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with WorldNewsAPI.
Synergies with Other MCP Servers
news-monitor-mcp can be combined with other servers in the portfolio:
| Combination | Use Case |
|---|
+ fedlex-mcp | Law meets discourse: legal framework + media coverage |
+ global-education-mcp | OECD stats + current media context |
+ srgssr-mcp | Swiss public media + international news comparison |
+ swiss-environment-mcp | Environmental data + media reporting |
+ swiss-statistics-mcp | BFS statistics + current media narrative |
+ zurich-opendata-mcp | City data + local media coverage |
Changelog
See CHANGELOG.md
Security & Compliance
License
MIT License — see LICENSE
Author
Hayal Oezkan · malkreide
Credits & Related Projects
Installation
Run via uv's uvx — no clone or manual install needed. Add to your MCP client config (mcpServers for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf; use a top-level servers key for VS Code in .vscode/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"news-monitor-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"news-monitor-mcp"
]
}
}
}
