Sidewise

What Sidewise MCP server does

Sidewise MCP server gives MCP clients access to current headlines collected from configured RSS and Atom feeds. Each source has a manually assigned bias score from -2 to +2, represented for users as left, center, or right. The service groups related headlines into stories using title-keyword overlap and identifies blindspots when a story is covered by only one political side.

The source list includes general news and technology outlets. Multiple feeds from the same newsroom count as one voice for blindspot detection, so an outlet cannot create an artificial cross-spectrum comparison by supplying separate sections. Results link to the original publisher; Sidewise does not store the stories.

How it works

A Cloudflare Worker polls the feeds and serves the reader, REST API, and MCP endpoint from the same fetched data. Feed data is refreshed at most once every two minutes. Filtering is applied per request, while responses are marked no-store; this prevents one caller's query parameters from being reused for another caller.

The get_news tool can return a flat latest-headlines view or clustered stories. Filters include outlet, bias, developing coverage, text search, and result limit. Story clustering occurs before story-level filtering, preserving comparisons between sources. A developing item is reported when at least three newsrooms have covered it within the stated recent window.

The Sidewise MCP server uses streamable HTTP and is stateless. Its public endpoint does not require credentials. Feed failures can produce stale fallback data, so an empty or one-sided response should be checked with get_feed_health before being treated as a news result.

Setup and configuration

Add the hosted endpoint to Claude Desktop or another MCP client with:

claude mcp add --transport http sidewise https://sidewise.heyitsmejosh.com/mcp

No API key or environment variable is documented for the hosted service. The repository can also be deployed as a Cloudflare Worker with Static Assets using npm run deploy. Feed definitions are maintained in src/feeds.js and can be extended with an outlet name, bias score, and RSS or Atom URL. Run npm run feeds after changing the feed list to check freshness rather than only HTTP availability.

Tools and capabilities

The Sidewise MCP server exposes these tools:

• get_news accepts view, outlet, bias, developing, text query, and limit parameters. It returns current headlines either individually or grouped by story.
• get_blindspots returns stories covered by only one political side.
• compare_coverage requires a query and returns how each side headlines the matching story, including words unique to each presentation.
• get_feed_health reports which feeds responded and whether the current data is complete or a stale fallback.

The same underlying operations are also available through GET /api/stories, with optional filters for blindspots and side-by-side comparisons. /api/health reports feed status and returns HTTP 503 when more than half of the feeds are down. /api/sources lists feeds with their bias, side, and parent newsroom.

Limitations and notes

Bias values are hand-assigned rough leans, not authoritative ratings. Story grouping depends on title-word overlap, so unrelated items can occasionally cluster and comparisons should be interpreted accordingly. A timestamp of zero means the source supplied no date, and those items sort last.

The service links to publisher headlines rather than reproducing a complete news article. Feed freshness and availability can vary, and a stale fallback may resemble a quiet news period unless feed health is checked.