Skip to main content

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

The Screaming Frog SEO Spider MCP server lets AI tools drive crawls, export SEO reports, and analyse data directly from the SEO Spider desktop application running on your machine.

This is a local MCP — the server runs on your own computer inside the SEO Spider app, not on Screaming Frog's servers. Each user must have their own paid licence.

Requirements​

  • Screaming Frog SEO Spider v24 or later with a valid paid licence (buy or renew)
  • The SEO Spider must be running in database storage mode (the default) — File → Settings → Storage Mode

Setting up​

1. Enable the MCP server in the SEO Spider​

  1. Open the SEO Spider and go to File → Settings → MCP Server.
  2. Enable Accept Node.js RE and click Start MCP Server.
  3. A status bar message confirms the server is active: MCP Server Active.

The server listens at http://localhost:11435/mcp.

2. Add the integration in Willow​

  1. Go to MCP Servers → + Add MCP server and find Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
  2. Click + Use. No authentication is required — the server is accessible locally only.

Keep the SEO Spider running while your AI tools are active; the connection is lost when the application is closed or the MCP server is stopped.

Usage notes​

  • Paid licence only. The MCP integration does not work with the free version of the SEO Spider.
  • Per-user, not shared. Each team member must run their own licensed copy. The server is not reachable from the gateway — tools run through the Willow client on your machine.
  • Node.js scripting. The server includes Node.js script runner and npm install tools (disabled by default). Enable them under File → Settings → MCP Server only if you trust the LLM to run arbitrary code on your machine.
  • Context window. Large crawl exports can fill a model's context quickly. Save reports to files or use Node.js scripts to process data externally when working with extensive datasets.

Available tools​

The SEO Spider exposes the full MCP API described in the vendor documentation, including:

  • Crawl management — start, pause, resume, clear, and monitor crawl progress
  • Data export — generate reports, bulk exports, and SEO element exports
  • URL inspection — get URL info, content, inlinks/outlinks, and screenshots
  • Filesystem — read/write files and manage directories in the allowed base directory
  • Node.js scripting — run scripts and install npm packages (opt-in)

Additional resources​

On this page