Prerender Buddy MCP server

Prerender Buddy MCP

The MCP companion to the Prerender Buddy AI visibility and crawler-readiness platform. It checks what public crawlers can read and can optionally retrieve read-only evidence from a Prerender Buddy workspace.

The server wraps the open-source @prerenderbuddy/cli. The public audit tools do not run a browser, execute JavaScript, call the Prerender Buddy API, or require an account. Pro users can optionally configure an API key to add account-aware health, activity, visibility, recommendation, and content-status tools.

Prefer a terminal or CI workflow? Use the prerenderbuddy-cli directly. See the Prerender Buddy tools overview to compare the CLI, MCP server, Chrome extension, and managed service.

Quick start

Run the stdio server:

npx --yes @prerenderbuddy/mcp

Generic MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prerenderbuddy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--yes", "@prerenderbuddy/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart the MCP client after changing its configuration.

To verify the connection, ask the client to list its MCP tools. You should see:

check_crawler_readability
compare_http_responses
check_discovery_files

With PRERENDERBUDDYAPI_KEY configured, the server also lists:

list_sites
get_site_overview
get_health_evidence
get_crawler_activity
get_ai_visibility
get_recommendations
get_content_status

Grok Build

Grok Build can launch the local stdio server:

grok mcp add prerenderbuddy -- npx --yes @prerenderbuddy/mcp@0.2.5

Or install the official plugin, which already includes Claude-compatible manifests:

grok plugin marketplace add kopachlager/prerenderbuddy-plugins
grok plugin install prerenderbuddy --trust

Set PRERENDERBUDDYAPIKEY in the process environment when workspace evidence is required. Unresolved placeholders such as ${PRERENDERBUDDYAPIKEY} are treated as absent.

Streamable HTTP / Grok Bot

Grok Bot on grok.com, iOS, and Android cannot start a local npx process. It needs a public HTTPS MCP URL.

Run Streamable HTTP locally:

npx --yes @prerenderbuddy/mcp@0.2.5 --http --port 8787

Loopback HTTP (127.0.0.1) allows unauthenticated public diagnostic tools and still rate-limits requests. Binding a public interface (--host 0.0.0.0 or a non-loopback HOST) requires a Bearer token:

• a valid, unrevoked Pro workspace API key (pblive... or pbtest...), verified with the PB API before each authenticated request, which also enables workspace tools; or
• MCPHTTPSHARED_TOKEN, a connector token for public diagnostics only.

MCP_TRANSPORT=http HOST=0.0.0.0 PORT=8787 MCP_HTTP_REQUIRE_AUTH=true \
  npx --yes @prerenderbuddy/mcp@0.2.5

Health check: GET /health. MCP endpoint: POST /mcp. Authenticated GET and DELETE on /mcp return 405; this stateless JSON endpoint does not offer an SSE session stream.

Deploy the Dockerfile as a dedicated service with MCPTRANSPORT=http, HOST=0.0.0.0, and MCPHTTPREQUIREAUTH=true; retain the hosting platform's PORT. railway.json configures the health check. Never set PRERENDERBUDDYAPI_KEY on a shared HTTP service: HTTP tools use only the request's workspace key, and never inherit the process key.

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.