Use Webz.io Contextual News Search inside n8n workflows and AI agents with the official community node n8n-nodes-webz-news-search.
The community node calls the hosted News Search MCP server directly. Its built-in controls cover the current filters, while Additional Fields (JSON) can pass newer server-side fields without waiting for a node release.
n8n also ships a built-in MCP Client Tool node that loads the live tool schema from the server. This gives you two ways to search Webz news:
| Approach | Best for |
|---|---|
n8n-nodes-webz-news-search community node | Standalone workflows, one output item per article, and Sheets or Slack automations with no LLM |
| Built-in MCP Client Tool node | AI Agent workflows where the model selects filters from the live MCP schema |
Both use the same token, MCP server, search logic, credits, and rate limits. You can combine them in one workflow.
Webz is distributed as an n8n community node on npm. Find it through npm, this page, or the community-node installer in self-hosted n8n.
The community package declares an n8n-workflow >= 2 < 3 peer dependency. It is currently an unverified community node, so install it on self-hosted n8n. On n8n Cloud, use the built-in MCP Client Tool.
Get your token from the Webz.io dashboard.
In self-hosted n8n, open Settings > Community nodes > Install, enter the package name, acknowledge the risk prompt, and install:
n8n-nodes-webz-news-search
Package: npmjs.com/package/n8n-nodes-webz-news-search
Source: github.com/Webhose/webz-news-search/packages/n8n-node
The package has zero runtime npm dependencies and uses n8n's HTTP helpers.
Current n8n releases create the AI tool variant automatically from the node's usableAsTool setting. If an older self-hosted n8n 2.x release does not expose it, set N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE=true and restart n8n.
Add a Webz.io News Search API credential and paste your Webz.io API token.
The credential test calls MCP initialize only, so saving it does not consume search credits.
Paste the token even if it already exists in a .env file on the host. n8n keeps credentials in its own encrypted store and does not read your project's environment for this credential.
No LLM required:
Nvidia earnings analyst reaction.| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Query | required | Natural-language search. Put the search subject here, not in the Topic filter |
| Limit | 50 | Maximum articles to return |
| Simplify | enabled | Split the response into one item per article |
| Additional Filters | - | Optional filter collection |
With Simplify enabled, each article arrives as its own n8n item:
{
"title": "Michael Burry sends another Nvidia stock verdict to investors",
"url": "https://finance.yahoo.com/...",
"published": "2026-08-30T20:33:00.000+03:00",
"score": 8.6,
"excerpt": "Nvidia earnings beat and August 27 stock reaction...",
"query": "Nvidia earnings analyst reaction",
"resultIndex": 1
}Turn Simplify off to get the raw MCP text response as one { "result": "..." } item.
Each execution uses your News Search API credits and rate limits, same as the MCP server or REST API.
Open Additional Filters and add any of these optional filters. Most accept multiple values.
| Filter | Notes |
|---|---|
| Days | Lookback window. Leave at 0 for the server default |
| Search All Dates | Search the full indexed window instead of a lookback period |
| Language | Full names, not codes: english, french, arabic |
| Country | ISO-2 uppercase: US, GB, IL |
| Sentiment | positive, negative, neutral |
| Category | IPTC labels such as Politics or Science and Technology |
| Domain / Exclude Domain | Restrict to or skip source domains. A domain must not appear in both |
| Topic, Person, Organization, Location | Entity and context enrichment |
| Ticker | Uppercase symbols: NVDA, AAPL |
| Source Type, Political Bias, Trust Category | Source characteristics |
| Domain Rank >= / <= | Source rank range; lower is more popular |
| Score >= / <= | Match score 0-10. Leave at 0 to use the server default |
| Trust >= | Minimum trust score, 0.0-1.0 |
| Sort By | best_score, similarity, date_desc, date_asc |
| Allow Multiple Chunks Per Article | Return more than one matching passage from an article |
| Additional Fields (JSON) | Pass server-side fields newer than the node |
See the MCP tool reference and News Search API filters for accepted values.
The community node and built-in MCP Client Tool behave differently.
The package sets usableAsTool: true, so n8n exposes a Webz.io News Search Tool variant. Connect it to an AI Agent node's Tool input.
This option is available on self-hosted n8n. If an older 2.x release does not show the tool variant, set N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE=true and restart n8n.
Add an MCP Client Tool node, connect it to the agent's Tool input, and configure:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Endpoint | https://news-search-mcp.webz.io/mcp |
| Server Transport | HTTP Streamable |
| Authentication | Bearer Auth |
| Tools to Include | All |
Create a Bearer Auth credential and paste your Webz.io API token as the bearer token. The agent receives a news_search_by_webz tool and reads its filter schema live from the server.
Leave Tools to Include set to All. Webz exposes one tool, so narrowing the selection adds no benefit.
The MCP Client Tool is an agent sub-node and cannot run independently. For search without an LLM, use the community node.
Name the query argument explicitly. topic is a separate list-valued filter; using it for the main search subject causes a validation error.
Four workflows are available in n8n/templates. In n8n, choose Import from File from the workflow menu and select one:
| Template | What it does | Integration |
|---|---|---|
news-to-sheet.json | Manual search that appends structured article rows to Google Sheets | Community node |
daily-news-digest-slack.json | Runs every morning at 08:00 and posts a sourced digest to Slack | MCP Client Tool |
ticker-monitor.json | Checks a ticker every 6 hours and alerts Slack on material news | MCP Client Tool |
news-research-agent.json | Chat interface for interactive news research with memory | MCP Client Tool |
The adjustable values are in each workflow's Settings node:
| Template | Settings fields |
|---|---|
news-to-sheet.json | query, limit, days, sheetId, sheetName |
daily-news-digest-slack.json | searchQuery, lookbackDays, resultCount, slackChannel |
ticker-monitor.json | ticker, lookbackDays, resultCount, slackChannel |
Templates never include credentials, so these arrive empty:
| Node | Credential |
|---|---|
| Webz.io News Search community node | Webz.io News Search API with your Webz.io token |
| Webz.io News Search MCP Client Tool | Bearer Auth with your Webz.io token |
| OpenAI Chat Model | Your OpenAI key, or replace the node with another tool-calling model |
| Append rows | Google Sheets OAuth2 |
| Slack | Slack API with a bot token |
The three agent templates use OpenAI as a default. You can replace the chat model with Anthropic, Google, Ollama, or another tool-calling provider without changing the rest of the workflow.
For Slack, the bot token needs chat:write to post and channels:read to resolve a public channel name, plus groups:read for a private channel. Invite the bot with /invite @YourApp; otherwise Slack returns not_in_channel.
Schedules use the workflow timezone and fall back to the instance timezone. Set the timezone explicitly before relying on a schedule:
GENERIC_TIMEZONE environment variableSelf-hosted n8n defaults to America/New_York when GENERIC_TIMEZONE is unset.
The digest and ticker templates guard their output: they post only when the agent returns content and raise a workflow error after an agent failure rather than sending an empty message.
n8n workflow
↓
n8n-nodes-webz-news-search (npm) or built-in MCP Client Tool
↓
Hosted MCP server: https://news-search-mcp.webz.io/mcp
↓
Webz News Search API
n8n-nodes-webz-news-search.webzNewsSearch; n8n synthesizes ...webzNewsSearchTool for agent usenews_search_by_webztools/list schema through MCP Client ToolAuthorization: Bearer YOUR_WEBZ_API_TOKEN| Name | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| API Token | required | Credential field; get it from the Webz.io dashboard |
| MCP URL | https://news-search-mcp.webz.io/mcp | Hidden community-node credential field for testing another endpoint |
N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE | version-dependent | Compatibility flag for older self-hosted n8n 2.x releases |
GENERIC_TIMEZONE | America/New_York | Self-hosted instance timezone when a workflow does not override it |
| Approach | Best for |
|---|---|
| MCP Server | Cursor, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT connectors |
| MCP Client Tool in n8n | n8n AI Agent workflows using the live schema |
| n8n-nodes-webz-news-search | Structured article rows without an LLM |
All approaches use the same token, server, search logic, credits, and rate limits. Pick the integration that matches your workflow.
A tool failure looks like an empty result
An AI Agent may catch a tool error and answer as though nothing was found. If a scheduled workflow goes quiet, inspect the search node in a recent execution.
Unrecognized node type: n8n-nodes-webz-news-search.webzNewsSearch
Install the community package on this self-hosted instance, then re-import the workflow.
The node does not appear in the node panel
Check that community and unverified packages are enabled on the self-hosted instance.
The community node cannot be attached to an AI Agent
Update n8n first. On older 2.x releases, set N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE=true, restart n8n, and try again.
Empty results with category or sentiment set
Remove those filters and retry before concluding there is no coverage.
Validation error on topic
topic expects a list of topic tags. Put the search subject in Query.
401 Unauthorized from the MCP Client Tool
Confirm the Bearer Auth credential contains your Webz.io token and Tools to Include is set to All.
Self-hosted n8n cannot reach the server
Allow outbound HTTPS from the n8n container to news-search-mcp.webz.io.