Alterlab MCP Server

MCP server for web scraping, structured data extraction, and screenshots — give Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and AI agents the ability to scrape any website with automatic anti-bot bypass. The alterlab mcp server wraps that behind the Model Context Protocol, so an assistant can use it through 6 defined tools rather than through you.

What it actually does

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is Anthropic's open standard for connecting AI assistants to external tools and data sources. An MCP server is a small program that exposes tools — like web scraping — that Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf can call during a conversation. The AlterLab MCP server gives your AI assistant 23 tools: scrape, extract, screenshot, crawl, search, map, batch scraping, session management, beta features, and more.

Adding it to your client

Being a remote server, there is no local install. You register the endpoint with your client, authorise it once, and the tools appear.

Its toolset

Everything the assistant can do here goes through one of these:

• Tier — Method
• Curl — Direct HTTP
• Stealth — Browser impersonation
• Browser — Headless Chromium
• Cursor — The Cursor tool exposed by this server
• Smithery — The Smithery tool exposed by this server

Configuration

You will need 2 environment variables: ALTERLAB_API_KEY, ALTERLAB_API_URL. The server will not start without them, which is usually why the tools fail to appear on a first run. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than in a file you might commit.

Caveats

• Your data travels to the provider's service, so the usual questions apply about what you send and what they retain.
• Missing credentials fail quietly in some clients — if no tools show up, check the environment block first.
• MCP clients confirm each tool call by default. Leave that on until you have watched what the alterlab mcp server does with a few real requests.

When to reach for it

Among the browser automation options, the useful question is rarely "what can it do" but "what does it cost you to run" — permissions, credentials, and how much of your context its toolset consumes. Alterlab's toolset — Tier, Curl, Stealth and 3 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by GitHub Actions; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

This entry was verified against Alterlab's own documentation before publication; SyncDev keeps the directory reviewed rather than auto-generated.