Skim
About
Clean web reader for AI agents. Pays $0.002/call in USDC on Base via x402. No API keys, no signup.
Details
- Author
- JessieJanie
- Downloads
- 333
- Categories
- Web Scraping, Automation, Other
Jump to
- Clean reader returning markdown and metadata.
- No signup or API keys required.
- Pay‑as‑you‑go at $0.002 per call.
- Micropayments over HTTP 402 using USDC.
- Fast response in milliseconds.
- Native Claude Desktop integration.
Setting up with Highlight
This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:
- Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
- Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
-
Configure the plugin with the settings below
Plugin Name
SkimCommand (node, npx, python, etc.)Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
- Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches
From the repository
Add Skim to Claude Desktop by editing claude_desktop_config.json with the command npx -y skim-mcp and setting the environment variable SKIM_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY to your Base wallet private key. Calls are made automatically when an agent requests a URL.
Claude Desktop / Cursor
Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.
{
"mcpServers": {
"skim": {
"skim": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"skim-mcp"
],
"env": {
"SKIM_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY": "<YOUR_BASE_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY>"
}
}
}
}
}McpServers
{
"skim": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"skim-mcp"
],
"env": {
"SKIM_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY": "<YOUR_BASE_WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY>"
}
}
}Give your AI agent the ability to read any URL — clean Markdown, no ads, no nav, no boilerplate. Pays itself per call. No signup, no API key.
skim-mcpis the official Model Context Protocol server forSkim— the canonicalx402clean reader API. It exposes one tool,read_url, that your agent can call to fetch any web page as agent-ready Markdown plus structured metadata (title, byline, published date, language, excerpt). Each call costs$0.002 in USDC on Base, paid automatically by your local wallet over HTTP 402.
See it before you wire it:try Skim free in your browser— 10 free skims a day, no wallet, no signup. Paste a URL, see exactly what your agent gets back.
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" } } } }
Cursor— edit~/.cursor/mcp.json(orSettings → MCP) with the same JSON block.
Cline, Continue, Zed, or any other MCP client— same shape; the binary isnpx skim-mcpwith one env var.
A dollar funds roughly 500 reads. Full step-by-step (with screenshots, for non-crypto-native devs):https://skim402.com/wallet.
Use a fresh wallet, not your personal one.This wallet's private key lives in a plaintext config file on your machine — treat it like a hot-wallet for paying $0.002 tolls, not a savings account.
3. Restart your client and ask it to read something
Claude, read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_402 and summarize it.
The agent will callread_url, your local wallet will sign an EIP-3009 USDC authorization for $0.002, Skim returns clean Markdown, and Claude summarizes. You'll see the payment receipt in your wallet's transaction history onBaseScan.
Skeptical? Test the upstream endpoint directly — it'll return a 402 challenge so you can see the protocol in action:
curl -i -X POST https://skim402.com/api/v1/read \ -H 'content-type: application/json' \ -d '{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_402"}'
You'll get backHTTP/1.1 402 Payment Requiredwith the x402 challenge in the response body. To thenpaythe challenge from a script (not an agent), seex402-fetch.
Reads any URL and returns clean Markdown with a YAML frontmatter block.
{ "url": "https://example.com/article" }
--- title: Example article byline: Jane Doe published: 2025-01-15 lang: en excerpt: A short summary... --- # Example article The cleaned article body in Markdown...
That's it. One tool, one input, one shape of output. Designed to drop into any agent's tool-calling loop with zero ceremony.
your agent ──► skim-mcp ──► POST https://skim402.com/api/v1/read ▲ │ │ ▼ │ 402 Payment Required │ (x402 challenge) │ │ ▼ │ x402-fetch signs EIP-3009 ◄────────────┘ USDC transfer authorization │ ▼ retry POST with X-PAYMENT header │ ▼ Skim verifies + settles via Coinbase CDP facilitator │ ▼ 200 OK + clean Markdown
End-to-end latency is typically1.5–2 secondsincluding settlement. Your private key never leaves your machine — it only signs authorizations locally.
- Dedicated wallet, always.Fund it with only as much USDC as you're willing to spend in a runaway loop. TheSKIM_MAX_PRICE_USDcap catches accidental price escalations on the server side.
- Plaintext config caveat.MCP clients read the private key from a JSON file on disk in plaintext. Anyone with read access to your home directory can drain the wallet. This is a property of every MCP server that needs credentials — keep the wallet small.
- No outbound telemetry from this package.skim-mcponly talks toskim402.com(or whatever you set asSKIM_API_URL). No analytics, no error reporting, no phone-home.
"No tool namedread_urlshows up in Claude/Cursor."Restart the client fully (quit, don't just reload the window). MCP servers are spawned at client startup. If still missing, runnpx skim-mcpdirectly in a terminal — if you get a stack trace, it's likely Node < 18.
"402 Payment Required loops forever."Your wallet is out of USDC on Base mainnet (or you setSKIM_API_URLto a server expecting payment on a different network). Check the balance onBaseScan, top up if needed.
"insufficient funds for gas"Counter-intuitive but: x402 USDC transfers are gasless from your wallet's perspective (the facilitator pays gas, you only sign the authorization). If you see this error, you almost certainly funded the wrong wallet or the wrong network — verify the address in your config matches the one holding the USDC.
"USDC is on Ethereum, not Base."This is the most common funding mistake. USDC on Ethereum mainnet does not work — Skim only accepts USDC on Base. Seehttps://skim402.com/walletfor the bridging walkthrough.
- Skim website—https://skim402.com
- Wallet setup guide—https://skim402.com/wallet
- API docs—https://skim402.com/docs
- x402 protocol—https://x402.org
- Model Context Protocol—https://modelcontextprotocol.io
- GitHub—https://github.com/JessieJanie/skim402
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