wikipedia-mcp MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

10+ tools: search, article, summary, sections, links, coordinates, related topics
Multi-language with regional variants (zh-Hant, zh-Hans, sr-Latn, etc.)
Optional caching for repeat queries
Country/locale codes accepted alongside language codes
stdio, HTTP, streamable-HTTP transports

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

wikipedia.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "wikipedia-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "wikipedia-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "wikipedia-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "wikipedia-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "wikipedia",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "wikipedia-mcp"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": {
        "path": "uvx",
        "args": [
          "wikipedia-mcp"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add wikipedia -- uvx wikipedia-mcp

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use wikipedia-mcp

Cite Wikipedia instead of relying on model memory

👤 Anyone doing research-style Q&A ⏱ ~2 min beginner

When to use: The model's training cutoff is older than the facts you need (new events, refreshed biographies, updated stats).

Flow

Ask with citation requirement

When did the 2026 Winter Olympics happen and where? Use the wikipedia MCP and cite the article.✓ Copied

→ Answer + Wikipedia article title/URL

Outcome: Answers with a verifiable source, less hallucination.

Pitfalls

Wikipedia itself has errors / vandalism — For high-stakes facts, cross-check with a second source

Build a one-page dossier on a person or topic

👤 Journalists, prep-for-meeting folks ⏱ ~10 min beginner

When to use: You're meeting someone unfamiliar or writing about a new-to-you topic and want structured context fast.

Flow

Summary first

Get a summary of [person/topic] from Wikipedia. Then list sections so I can pick which to deep-read.✓ Copied

→ Summary + TOC
Pull the key sections

Give me full text of the 'Career' and 'Controversies' sections.✓ Copied

→ Section text
Related threads

What related Wikipedia topics should I also skim?✓ Copied

→ Related topic list with 1-line summaries

Outcome: 10-minute dossier better than ad-hoc googling.

Pitfalls

Wikipedia page doesn't exist for the person — Fall back to web search (firecrawl) for less-covered subjects

Combine with: notion

Compare how a topic is covered across languages

👤 Researchers, translators, international ops ⏱ ~15 min intermediate

When to use: You suspect the English and Chinese Wikipedia articles on a topic differ materially (they often do for geopolitical topics).

Flow

Pull both versions

Get Wikipedia articles on [topic] in English and Simplified Chinese (zh-Hans).✓ Copied

→ Two article bodies
Diff the framing

What facts are in one but not the other? How does each frame the controversy?✓ Copied

→ Structured comparison

Outcome: Nuanced multi-perspective understanding.

Pitfalls

Translation quality varies — Ask Claude to quote original language too for contested phrasings

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

wikipedia + notion

Build a 'places visited' Notion DB with Wikipedia summaries

For each row in my 'Trips' Notion DB, fetch the Wikipedia summary of the destination city and populate the 'About' column.✓ Copied

wikipedia + google-map

Show a topic on a map

Get coordinates of these 10 battles from Wikipedia; render them on a static Google map.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call	Cost
search_wikipedia	query: str, language?: str, limit?: int	Find candidate articles	free
get_article	title: str, language?: str	Need full content; use summary if 2-3 sentences suffice	free
get_summary	title, language?	Quick context without full article cost	free
get_sections	title, language?	Decide which sections to pull before pulling full article	free
get_section	title, section, language?	Cheaper than full article when you know what you want	free
get_links	title, language?	Discover related articles	free
get_coordinates	title	Plot an article's place on a map	free
get_related_topics	title	Research-mode expansion	free

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: Wikipedia rate limits: ~200 requests/sec from an IP; add delays for long scripts
Tokens per call: Full articles 2k-15k tokens; summaries 200-500
Monetary: Free
Tip: Always start with get_summary or get_sections — avoid pulling a whole get_article unless you need the full text.

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: Optional Wikimedia OAuth token for higher rate limits

Data egress: Outbound to Wikipedia's servers only

Wikipedia is crowd-edited — always treat as a starting point, not final source for contested facts.
Anonymous requests are throttled more aggressively; authenticate if you hit limits.

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

403 Forbidden on heavy use

Anonymous rate limit hit. Provide a personal access token or slow down (add sleep).

Page not found

Titles are case-sensitive and disambiguation-specific. Use search_wikipedia first to get the canonical title.

Chinese article returns Traditional when I want Simplified

Pass language=zh-Hans or language=zh-Hant explicitly.

Alternatives

wikipedia-mcp vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
DBpedia / Wikidata MCP	You want structured data (infobox fields) rather than prose	Better for querying facts; worse for reading
Direct Wikipedia API via fetch MCP	You need maximum control	You parse the JSON yourself

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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