IndexMachine

IndexMachine MCP server

Check your own sites' pages on Google and request indexing, plus IndexNow, from your AI assistant.

This MCP server lets Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop and claude.ai work with the sites you connected to IndexMachine: list your sites and pages, check whether a URL is on Google, queue a Request indexing click (also a re-index of a page that is already indexed) and notify Bing and the other IndexNow engines. It calls the IndexMachine API with your key and does nothing the API does not.

How a request really travels

IndexMachine uses Request indexing in your own Google Search Console and IndexNow, no link farms. So a request is not instant, and the server says so every time:

1. request_indexing queues the click. It does not reach Google by itself.
2. The IndexMachine Chrome extension, in your Chrome and signed in to the Google account that owns the property, picks the request up when it next checks in: about every 5 minutes on extension 1.2.0 or newer, every 30 minutes on older versions. Chrome has to be running. When the extension has not checked in for 40 minutes there is no ETA, and the request waits in the queue.
3. The extension clicks Request indexing in your Search Console, the same button you would press.
4. Google takes about 10 of these requests per site per day, a day that resets at midnight Pacific. The number is observed; Google does not publish it. Requests you queue go ahead of the extension's daily work on your other pages and share the same 10. Once a site's day is used up, the ETA moves past midnight Pacific.
5. Google then decides whether and when it indexes the page, often days later. The ETA is for the click, never for indexing, and only check_url says a page is indexed.

A re-index of a page that is already on Google (force: true) needs extension 1.2.0 or newer. IndexNow tells Bing, Yandex and the other IndexNow engines directly; it needs the site's IndexNow key file in place, takes 20 submissions per site a day and does not reach Google.

What you need

• An IndexMachine account with your sites connected: app.indexmachine.co. Signing up is free and shows which of your pages Google has not indexed. Requesting indexing needs a paid plan for the site (pricing).
• The IndexMachine Chrome extension, installed and signed in, for the Request indexing clicks.
• An API key (with claude.ai you can add it as a request header, see Remote server).

Create an API key

1. Open the IndexMachine dashboard and choose Settings from your profile menu, or go straight to app.indexmachine.co/settings.
2. Under API keys press Create key and give it a label, such as Claude Code.
3. Pick Full (it also queues and cancels requests and submits to IndexNow) or Read only (sites, pages, checks and requests).
4. Copy the key. It starts with im_live_ and is shown only once.

Roll or revoke a key on the same page at any time; an account holds up to 10 active keys.

Install

The package runs on your machine with npx (Node.js 20 or newer). Keep the key in your user-level config, never in a file that lives in a repository.

Claude Code (user scope, so the key stays out of the project's .mcp.json)

claude mcp add --scope user indexmachine --env INDEXMACHINE_API_KEY=im_live_... -- npx -y indexmachine-mcp

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json, the user-level file)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indexmachine": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "indexmachine-mcp"],
      "env": { "INDEXMACHINE_API_KEY": "im_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json): VS Code asks for the key and keeps it out of the file.

{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "indexmachine-key", "description": "IndexMachine API key", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "indexmachine": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "indexmachine-mcp"],
      "env": { "INDEXMACHINE_API_KEY": "${input:indexmachine-key}" }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json): the same block as Cursor, under mcpServers.

Other MCP clients: run npx -y indexmachine-mcp with INDEXMACHINE_API_KEY in its environment, or use the remote server below.

Remote server

The remote server at https://mcp.indexmachine.co/mcp needs no install. Clients send the API key in a header:

URL:    https://mcp.indexmachine.co/mcp
Header: Authorization: Bearer <your key>   (X-API-Key: <your key> works too)

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http indexmachine https://mcp.indexmachine.co/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $INDEXMACHINE_API_KEY"

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indexmachine": {
      "url": "https://mcp.indexmachine.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer im_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json)

{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "indexmachine-key", "description": "IndexMachine API key", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "indexmachine": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.indexmachine.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:indexmachine-key}" }
    }
  }
}

claude.ai: a custom connector

1. In claude.ai, open Customize > Connectors, press + Add, then Add custom connector.
2. Enter the name IndexMachine and the URL https://mcp.indexmachine.co/mcp.
3. Under Request headers add Authorization with the value Bearer im_live_..., then press Add.
4. In a chat, open +, then Connectors, and switch IndexMachine on.

IndexMachine and the Submitator connector can be on in the same chat: no tool name is shared.

Signing in with your IndexMachine account instead of a key (OAuth) is built into this server and stays off until IndexMachine's API issues sign-in tokens. Until then the server advertises no sign-in, and every client sends a key.

The remote server keeps nothing between requests: it passes the key on to the IndexMachine API and forgets it.

Tools

Prompt: index_url checks a URL, queues a request when it is not indexed, and reports the ETA as it is.

Keys and safety

• request_indexing previews before it queues. It asks you before a re-index of a page that is already on Google, a URL that is not in your sitemap, or your site's last request of the day; declining queues nothing. Clients that can ask their user (MCP elicitation) show the question themselves, and your answer never passes through the model; a question that gets no answer queues nothing either. Clients that cannot ask, and on the remote server clients on an MCP protocol before 2026-07-28, get a refusal first, with the reasons and a confirm token: an HMAC under your API key that fits only that request, on that day, while your site's quota stays as it was. The model cannot make one up, so a call always takes the refusal first. Whether your assistant then shows you the reasons before it sends the token back is up to the assistant and to your client's approval of tool calls; the server cannot see it. submit_indexnow does the same above 10 URLs, with a token for those URLs on that Pacific day.
• cancel_indexing_request is marked destructive (destructiveHint: true), and no other tool is: it undoes a request. The tools that only read are marked read-only, so clients can run them without asking.
• The npx package reads the key from its environment and sends it only to https://api.indexmachine.co. INDEXMACHINE_API_URL may point it to a local development server, and nowhere else.
• A read-only key fits an assistant that only checks: sites, pages, URL checks and requests.
• Every call carries a request id that starts with mcp-. Revoke a key on the Settings page at any time.
• Report a vulnerability by email to vlad@indexmachine.co, not in a public issue (SECURITY.md).

Development

npm install
npm test               # unit, contract and protocol tests (it builds dist/ first)
npm run build
npm run sync:openapi   # refresh openapi/v1.json and src/v1.d.ts from https://api.indexmachine.co/v1/openapi.json
npm run check:pack     # pack, install in an empty folder, run the stdio handshake
npm run release:check  # what a release needs, then the publishing commands

openapi/v1.json is the /v1 contract, and the API serves the same document at /v1/openapi.json. When the API ships a new release, npm run sync:openapi and npm test show which new operations need a tool or a line in EXCLUDED (src/tools/index.ts).

The remote server deploys to Vercel (vercel.json, api/) under the domain mcp.indexmachine.co. OAuth turns on with MCP_OAUTH=1 and MCP_OAUTH_KEYS, the keys IndexMachine's API encrypts its access tokens with.

License

MIT