Torrent Search MCP Server & API

This repository provides a Python API and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server to find torrents programmatically on ThePirateBay, Nyaa, 1337x, YggTorrent (now ygg.gratis) and La Cale. It allows for easy integration into other applications or services.

Fork note: this is a private fork of philogicae/torrent-search-mcp that adds 1337x.to support via a sidecar scraper (torrent_search/wrapper/leetx.py). The 1337x integration uses BeautifulSoup rather than the regex pipeline used for TPB/Nyaa, to keep the new code self-contained and the fork easy to rebase.

Quickstart

How to use it with MCP Clients

Run it with Docker to bypass common DNS issues

Table of Contents

• Features
• Setup
  • Prerequisites
  • Configuration
  • Installation
    • Install from PyPI (Recommended)
    • For Local Development
    • For Docker
• Usage
  • As Python Wrapper
  • As MCP Server
  • As FastAPI Server
  • Via MCP Clients
    • Example with Windsurf
• Contributing
• Changelog
• License

Features

• API wrapper for ThePirateBay, Nyaa, 1337x, YTS (movies, JSON API), EZTV (TV, scrape), TorrentGalaxy (scrape), Solid Torrents (JSON API), BTDigg (DHT meta-search, scrape), YggTorrent (now ygg.gratis) and La Cale.
• MCP server interface for standardized communication (stdio, sse, streamable-http)
• FastAPI server interface for alternative HTTP access (e.g., for direct API calls or testing)
• Tools:
  • Search for torrents across all available sources
  • Get magnet link or torrent file for a specific torrent by id

Setup

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ (required for PyPI install).
• uv (for local development)
• Docker and Docker Compose (for Docker setup)
• Passkey for LaCale (Optional). Create your apikey on https://la-cale.space/settings/api-keys
• Network access caveat (new sidecars): YTS, TorrentGalaxy, Solid Torrents, EZTV, and BTDigg are routinely blocked by German ISPs and other regulated networks (DNS sinkholing to OpenDNS's 146.112.61.106, Cloudflare 403, HTTP 429). The sidecar code gracefully no-ops with a printed error when this happens.
  • Recommended fix: route every sidecar through an upstream proxy by setting SIDECAR_PROXY (the YTS/EZTV/TGx/Solid/BTDigg sidecars all honor it via a shared httpx client factory). Examples:
    • SIDECAR_PROXY=socks5://user:pass@10.9.0.7:1080 (SOCKS5 — needs httpx[socks], included)
    • SIDECAR_PROXY=http://proxy.internal:3128 (HTTP CONNECT)
  • Alternative: EXCLUDE_SOURCES=yts.mx,torrentgalaxy.to,solidtorrents.net,eztvx.to,btdig.com to suppress them on filtered networks.
• 1337x only: a running FlareSolverr instance. 1337x is fronted by Cloudflare's JS challenge; FlareSolverr resolves it. compose.yaml includes a flaresolverr service. For local dev (most common: uv run MCP against containerized FlareSolverr), the default FLARESOLVERR_URL=http://localhost:8191/v1 works as-is. If you also run the MCP in Docker, note that the existing services use network_mode: bridge (legacy bridge, no inter-container DNS) — give the two containers a shared user-defined network if you need them to talk by service name. Eager-magnet cost: each search issues 1 + N FlareSolverr fetches (search page + N detail pages for magnets); steady-state ~20s for max_items=10. To disable 1337x entirely, set EXCLUDE_SOURCES=1337x.to or LEETX_ENABLE=0 (Docker only).

Configuration (Optional)

This application requires credentials if you want to interact with La Cale.

1. La Cale: Find your API key on the La Cale website.
2. Set Environment Variables: The application reads configuration from environment variables. The recommended way to set them is by creating a .env file in your project's root directory. The application will load it automatically. See .env.example for all available options.

Installation

Choose one of the following installation methods.

Install from PyPI (Recommended)

This method is best for using the package as a library or running the server without modifying the code.

1. Install the package from PyPI:

pip install torrent-search-mcp
crawl4ai-setup # For crawl4ai/playwright
playwright install --with-deps chromium # If previous command fails

2. Create a .env file in the directory where you'll run the application and add your credentials (optional):

LA_CALE_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

3. Run the MCP server (default: stdio):

python -m torrent_search

For Local Development

This method is for contributors who want to modify the source code. Using uv:

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/philogicae/torrent-search-mcp.git
cd torrent-search-mcp

2. Install dependencies using uv:

uv sync --locked
uvx playwright install --with-deps chromium

3. Create your configuration file by copying the example and add your credentials (optional):

cp .env.example .env

4. Run the MCP server (default: stdio):

uv run -m torrent_search

For Docker

This method uses Docker to run the server in a container.

compose.yaml is configured to bypass DNS issues (using quad9 DNS).

1. Clone the repository (if you haven't already):

git clone https://github.com/philogicae/torrent-search-mcp.git
cd torrent-search-mcp

2. Create your configuration file by copying the example and modify it (optional):

cp .env.example .env

3. Build and run the container using Docker Compose (default port: 8000):

docker compose up --build -d

4. Access container logs:

docker logs torrent-search-mcp -f

Usage

As Python Wrapper

from torrent_search import torrent_search_api

results = torrent_search_api.search_torrents('...')
for torrent in results:
    print(f"{torrent.filename} | {torrent.size} | {torrent.seeders} SE | {torrent.leechers} LE | {torrent.date} | {torrent.source}")

As MCP Server

from torrent_search import torrent_search_mcp

torrent_search_mcp.run(transport="sse")

As FastAPI Server

This project also includes a FastAPI server as an alternative way to interact with the library via a standard HTTP API. This can be useful for direct API calls, integration with other web services, or for testing purposes.

Running the FastAPI Server:

# With Python
python -m torrent_search --mode fastapi
# With uv
uv run -m torrent_search --mode fastapi

• --host <host>: Default: 0.0.0.0.
• --port <port>: Default: 8000.
• --reload: Enables auto-reloading when code changes (useful for development).
• --workers <workers>: Default: 1.

The FastAPI server will then be accessible at http://<host>:<port>

Available Endpoints: The FastAPI server exposes similar functionalities to the MCP server. Key endpoints include:

• /: A simple health check endpoint. Returns {"status": "ok"}.
• /torrent/search: Search for torrents (POST request with query and optional max_items parameters).
• /torrent/{torrent_id}: Get magnet link or torrent file for a specific torrent by id.
• /docs: Interactive API documentation (Swagger UI).
• /redoc: Alternative API documentation (ReDoc).

Environment variables are configured the same way as for the MCP server (via an .env file in the project root).

Via MCP Clients

Usable with any MCP-compatible client. Available tools:

• search_torrents: Search for torrents across all available sources (ThePirateBay, Nyaa, La Cale).
• get_torrent: Get the magnet link or torrent file for a specific torrent by id.

Available resources:

• data://torrent_sources: Get the list of available torrent sources.

Example with Windsurf

Configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    ...
    # with stdio (only requires uv)
    "torrent-search-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [ "torrent-search-mcp" ]
    },
    # with sse transport (requires installation)
    "torrent-search-mcp": {
      "serverUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/sse"
    },
    # with streamable-http transport (requires installation)
    "torrent-search-mcp": {
      "serverUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp" # not yet supported by every client
    },
    ...
  }
}

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a history of changes to this project.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.