mcp-hotnews

HotNews MCP Server provides real-time hot topics from 9 major Chinese platforms through the MCP protocol, designed for easy integration with AI models and other MCP clients. The server fetches data from the api.vvhan.com service and presents it in Markdown-formatted output with clickable links and optional heat index information when available. Use the get_hot_news tool to request topics by platform IDs, enabling you to tailor the feed to Zhihu, Baidu, Bilibili, Weibo, Douyin, and other sources as needed. Examples show how to select subsets of sources, such as getting only Baidu hot discussions or a mix of Zhihu, Baidu, and虎扑 (Hupu), making it straightforward to build dashboards, assistants, or data pipelines around hot topics.

To start, you’ll typically run the server via NPX, which downloads and runs the mcp-server-hotnews package. Once running, you can invoke APIs via the MCP interface to fetch the latest hot lists and render them for downstream consumers or UI components. The included get_hot_news tool accepts an array of Platform IDs to filter results, offering precise control over which sources are included in each response.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js and npm or npm/yarn capable environment (for NPX usage)
• Docker (optional, for containerized deployment)
• Basic familiarity with MCP (Model Context Protocol) and its client usage

Installation steps (NPX):

1. Ensure Node.js and npm are installed on your system.
2. Run the MCP server using NPX (no local install required):

npx -y @wopal/mcp-server-hotnews

This will download and run the mcp-server-hotnews package directly from npm and start the MCP server.

Optional Docker deployment:

1. Build the Docker image if not uploaded to Docker Hub:

# Build command from repository guidance
docker build -t wopal/mcp-server-hotnews:latest -f Dockerfile .

2. Run the container:

docker run -i --rm wopal/mcp-server-hotnews

If you prefer to pull a prebuilt image (when available), you can use:

docker run -i --rm wopal/mcp-server-hotnews

Notes:

• The server sources hot topics from api.vvhan.com. If you experience delays, check the external API status or network connectivity.
• Supported platforms include Zhihu, 36Kr, Baidu, Bilibili, Weibo, Douyin, Hupu, Douban, and IT News; IDs corresponding to these sources are used with get_hot_news.
• The MCP interface can return Markdown-formatted content with clickable links and may include heat index data where available.
• If you need to customize the source list, use get_hot_news with the respective platform IDs to filter results.
• Environment variables (if provided by the package) can be added under env in the mcp_config, for example API keys or rate-limiting settings, depending on deployment needs.
• For Docker development builds, ensure Docker is configured to build images with access to the required network resources.

Environment variables you might encounter (placeholders):

• API_KEY_VVHAN: Your VVHan API key for hot topics data (if required by the service)
• LOG_LEVEL: Set logging verbosity (e.g., info, debug, warn)