skim-mcp

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Skim — clean web reader for AI agents. Pays $0.002 per call in USDC on Base over the x402 protocol. No signup. No API keys. No monthly bills.

Give your agent the ability to read any URL and get back clean, agent-ready Markdown (no nav, no ads, no boilerplate) plus structured metadata (title, byline, published date, language, excerpt).

What you need

1. Node.js 18+
2. A Base wallet private key with a small amount of USDC in it. A dollar funds ~500 reads. Use a fresh wallet — not your personal one.

Don't have one? Create a key with cast wallet new (Foundry) or any EVM wallet, then send USDC to it on Base mainnet from Coinbase, an exchange, or another wallet.

Install in Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skim": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "skim-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SKIM_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY": "0xYOUR_BASE_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You'll see a new read_url tool. Ask Claude to read any article and it'll fetch it through Skim and pay automatically.

Install in Cursor

Edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or the in-app Settings → MCP panel):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skim": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "skim-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SKIM_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY": "0xYOUR_BASE_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Install in Cline / Continue / Zed

All MCP-compatible clients use the same shape. Run the binary as:

npx skim-mcp

with the same SKIM_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY env var.

Tools

read_url

Reads any URL and returns clean Markdown plus a YAML frontmatter block with metadata.

Input:

{ "url": "https://example.com/article" }

Output (text):

---
title: Example article
byline: Jane Doe
published: 2025-01-15
lang: en
excerpt: A short summary...
---

# Example article

The cleaned article body in Markdown...

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Default	Notes
SKIM_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY	yes	—	Hex private key for the Base wallet that pays for reads. With or without 0x prefix.
SKIM_MAX_PRICE_USD	no	0.01	Maximum USD per call. Caps how much the wallet will sign for in a single read. Skim is currently $0.002/call, well under this.
SKIM_API_URL	no	https://skim402.com	Override the API base URL. Mostly for development.

Security

• Use a dedicated wallet, not your personal one. Fund it with only as much USDC as you're willing to spend.
• The private key never leaves your machine. It's only used locally to sign EIP-3009 payment authorizations consumed by the Skim API.
• Sweep the receive side periodically if you're running Skim yourself.

How it works

1. The MCP server receives a read_url call from your AI agent.
2. It POSTs to https://skim402.com/api/v1/read.
3. The server replies 402 Payment Required with x402 payment details.
4. x402-fetch signs an EIP-3009 USDC transfer authorization using your wallet, attaches it as the X-PAYMENT header, and retries.
5. Skim verifies + settles via the Coinbase CDP facilitator and returns the cleaned content.

End-to-end latency is typically <2 seconds.

Links

• Skim — https://skim402.com
• x402 protocol — https://x402.org
• Model Context Protocol — https://modelcontextprotocol.io

License

MIT