News Fact-Checker MCP Server

A modern Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for fact-checking news headlines using AI analysis and web search.

Features

• 🔍 Fact-Check Headlines: Verify news claims using Google Gemini AI and web search
• 📈 Trending Topics: Get current trending news from RSS feeds
• 🤖 AI-Powered Analysis: Uses Google Gemini 2.0 Flash for intelligent fact-checking
• 🌐 Multi-Source Verification: Searches multiple sources for comprehensive analysis
• ⚡ Modern MCP: Built with latest MCP conventions using @mcp.tool decorators

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11 or higher
• Google Gemini API key

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd FactChecker

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set up your API key:

export GEMINI_API_KEY="your_gemini_api_key_here"

4. Run the server:

python -m factchck.news_factcheck

Usage

Fact-Check a Headline

# Example MCP tool call
{
    "tool": "fact_check_headline",
    "arguments": {
        "headline": "NASA announces discovery of water on Mars"
    }
}

Get Trending Topics

# Example MCP tool call
{
    "tool": "get_trending_topics",
    "arguments": {
        "location": "international"  # or "local", "india"
    }
}

Available Tools

fact_check_headline

Verifies news headlines using AI analysis and web search.

Parameters:

• headline (string): The news headline to fact-check

Returns:

• Verdict (TRUE/FALSE/PARTIALLY_TRUE/UNVERIFIED/MISLEADING)
• Confidence score
• Truthfulness percentage
• Supporting and contradicting evidence
• Recommendations

get_trending_topics

Retrieves current trending news topics.

Parameters:

• location (string, optional): "international", "local", or "india" (default: "international")

Returns:

• List of trending topics with titles, sources, and URLs

Configuration

Environment Variables

• GEMINI_API_KEY: Required Google Gemini API key
• NEWS_API_KEY: Optional NewsAPI key for enhanced search
• SEARCH_API_KEY: Optional additional search API key

API Keys

1. Google Gemini: Get your API key from Google AI Studio
2. NewsAPI (optional): Get from NewsAPI
3. Search API (optional): Additional search service API key

Development

Project Structure

FactChecker/
├── src/
│   └── factchck/
│       └── news_factcheck.py  # Main MCP server
├── requirements.txt           # Python dependencies
├── pyproject.toml           # Project configuration
└── README.md               # This file

Building

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Run tests (if available)
python -m pytest

MCP Integration

This server is compatible with:

• Claude Desktop
• MCP CLI
• Any MCP-compatible client

Server Configuration

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "news-factcheck": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": ["-m", "factchck.news_factcheck"],
            "env": {
                "GEMINI_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
            }
        }
    }
}

Error Handling

The server includes comprehensive error handling for:

• Missing API keys
• Network connectivity issues
• Invalid input validation
• Service unavailability

Limitations

• Requires internet connection for web search
• Depends on Google Gemini API availability
• RSS feed parsing is simplified (consider using proper XML parser for production)
• Rate limits may apply to API services

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Version History

• v3.0.0: Modernized with latest MCP conventions, simplified codebase
• v2.1.0: Previous version with complex multi-source search
• v0.1.0: Initial release

Support

For issues and questions:

1. Check the error logs
2. Verify API key configuration
3. Ensure network connectivity
4. Open an issue on GitHub