Wikipedia MCP

Overview

Wikipedia MCP is a Model Context Protocol server that provides access to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. It enables AI agents to search and retrieve information from millions of Wikipedia articles across all languages.

Wikipedia is one of the most comprehensive and frequently updated knowledge bases available, making it an excellent source for general knowledge, historical facts, and current events.

Features

• Article Search — Search Wikipedia articles by keyword
• Article Retrieval — Get full article content
• Random Articles — Get random articles for exploration
• Category Browsing — Browse articles by category
• Language Support — Access Wikipedia in multiple languages
• Page Links — Find pages that link to a specific article

Installation

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-wikipedia

Configuration

No configuration required. The server works out of the box.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-wikipedia"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Tool	Description
search	Search Wikipedia for articles
get_page	Get full content of a Wikipedia page
get_page_summary	Get a summary of a Wikipedia page
get_random_page	Get a random Wikipedia page
get_category_members	Get members of a Wikipedia category
get_links	Get links from a Wikipedia page

Usage Examples

Search for Articles

results = wikipedia.search(query="Artificial Intelligence", limit=5)
for page in results:
    print(f"{page.title}: {page.summary}")

Get Page Content

page = wikipedia.get_page(title="Machine Learning")
print(page.content)
print(page.links[:10])  # First 10 links

Get Page Summary

summary = wikipedia.get_page_summary(title="Quantum Computing")
print(summary.extract)

Get Random Article

random_page = wikipedia.get_random_page()
print(f"Random article: {random_page.title}")

Claude Desktop Setup

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-wikipedia"]
    }
  }
}

Pros

• ✅ Free and no API key required
• ✅ Comprehensive knowledge base
• ✅ Regularly updated by community
• ✅ Multiple language support
• ✅ Reliable and well-structured content
• ✅ Easy to use

Cons

• ❌ Not suitable for very recent events
• ❌ Content quality varies by article
• ❌ May contain bias in some topics
• ❌ Not suitable for academic citations

When to Use

Wikipedia MCP is ideal for:

• Getting general knowledge and facts
• Understanding basic concepts
• Historical information lookup
• Getting overviews of topics
• Finding related articles for exploration

Consider alternatives when:

• You need recent news (use Brave Search)
• You need academic sources (use Semantic Scholar)
• You need specialized technical docs (use official docs)

Resources

• Wikipedia API
• MCP Server GitHub
• Wikipedia Website