🏮

灯笼 Lantern

The Chinese internet,
lit up for your AI.

A huge share of the internet lives behind the language barrier. Lantern knocks that barrier down. Ask your AI assistant a question in English, and Lantern goes looking across China's biggest platforms, then reports back in English you can actually use.

https://lanternmcp.com/mcp

Paste this address into your AI app to connect Lantern. Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other MCP apps.

New to Lantern? Create a free account · Free plan: 50 searches a month.

24 research tools Secure OAuth 2.1 sign in No API keys to manage

Things people ask Lantern

Real questions, answered with what people in China are actually saying and buying.

“What is everyone in China saying about the new Xiaomi SU7?”

Lantern checks the buzz on Weibo, the reviews on Bilibili and the deep dives on Zhihu, then sums up the mood for you.

“Is this skincare brand genuinely popular in China, or is it all marketing?”

Real notes and reviews from Xiaohongshu and Douyin, written by buyers rather than advertisers.

“What should a second hand Leica Q3 actually cost?”

Live listings and prices from Xianyu, Taobao and JD, so you can spot a fair deal in seconds.

Why Lantern

Google barely sees this world, and machine translation alone misses the point. Lantern was built for both problems.

🔍

Searches like a local

Your question is turned into the Chinese keywords people in China actually type, not a stiff word for word translation that finds nothing.

🧭

Everywhere that matters

Baidu, Weibo, WeChat, Zhihu, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, Kuaishou, Taobao, JD and Xianyu. The platforms where China talks, argues and shops.

🗣️

Answers in your language

Long threads, comments and reviews come back as a clear English summary, with links to the originals when you want to dig deeper.

How it works

1

Connect Lantern

Paste the address above into your AI app and sign in once. It takes about a minute.

2

Ask in plain English

Ask about a product, a place, a trend, a company, anything you would Google if only you could.

3

Get the full picture

Your AI searches China for you and explains what it found, with sources you can open yourself.

Connect your assistant

Pick your app. Every route ends at the same friendly sign in page, and your app handles the rest.

  1. In a terminal, add Lantern:
    claude mcp add --transport http --scope user lantern https://lanternmcp.com/mcp
  2. Sign in (your browser opens the Lantern password page):
    claude mcp login lantern
  3. Start a session and run /mcp to see Lantern connected. Then just ask your question.
  1. Add this to your MCP config file:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lantern": {
      "url": "https://lanternmcp.com/mcp",
      "transport": "http"
    }
  }
}
  1. Restart Claude Desktop. On first connect it opens your browser for the password sign in. No API keys to paste, ever.
  1. Open your profile, then Settings, then Connectors, then Add and Create custom MCP server.
  2. Name it lantern and paste the server address from the top of this page.
  3. Choose OAuth and leave client ID and secret blank. ChatGPT registers itself automatically.
  4. Approve the sign in, then pick Lantern in a new chat and ask away.
  1. In Gemini on your computer, open Settings, then Connected Apps.
  2. Add a custom MCP connection using the server address from the top of this page.
  3. Finish the browser sign in, then ask Gemini to research the Chinese web for you.

Simple pricing

Start free. Go Pro when Lantern becomes part of how you work.

🆓

Free

50 searches a month across every platform Lantern covers. Enough to explore, check a product, or follow a story. No card needed.

🏮

Pro: $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr

Unlimited searches, no monthly cap. Built for researchers, buyers, journalists and the incurably curious. Cancel anytime.

Upgrade to Pro · Create a free account

Good questions, straight answers

Do I need to read Chinese?

Not a word of it. You ask in English and you read in English. Lantern and your AI handle all the Chinese in between.

Which AI apps work with Lantern?

Any app that speaks MCP, the open standard for connecting tools to AI. That includes Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini today, and the list keeps growing.

How does sign in work?

With a password, through a secure OAuth 2.1 flow that your app runs for you in the browser. There are no API keys to copy, paste or accidentally leak.

Can I trust what it finds?

Every answer can cite the original posts, articles and listings it came from, so you can always check the source yourself.

For the technically curious

Under the friendly surface, Lantern is an MCP server with 24 tools your assistant can call. Here is the full toolbox.

Start here

get_keywordsTurns an English question into 3 to 5 Chinese search keywords. The smart first step for any search.

Search

baidu_searchThe wider Chinese web through Baidu: news, articles, announcements, specs.
social_searchWeibo, WeChat, Zhihu, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, Kuaishou and news. Pick one source or search them all.
web_searchThe western web in English, handy for cross checking a Chinese finding.
taobao_searchTaobao and Tmall products with prices and sales volume.
xianyu_searchXianyu (GooFish) second hand listings with prices and sellers.
jd_searchJD.com products, a second source for prices.

Read the details

weibo_post_detailThe full text of a Weibo post.
weibo_post_commentsComments on a Weibo post.
xiaohongshu_note_detailA full Xiaohongshu note.
xiaohongshu_note_commentsComments on a Xiaohongshu note.
zhihu_article_detailA full Zhihu article or answer.
zhihu_answer_commentsComments on a Zhihu answer.
weixin_article_detailA full WeChat public account article.
weixin_article_commentsComments on a WeChat article.
douyin_video_detailDouyin video details and stats.
douyin_video_commentsComments on a Douyin video.
bilibili_video_detailBilibili video details and stats.
bilibili_video_commentsComments on a Bilibili video.
taobao_item_detailFull Taobao or Tmall product details.
taobao_item_reviewsReal buyer reviews on Taobao and Tmall.
jd_item_detailFull JD.com product details.
jd_item_reviewsReal buyer reviews on JD.com.
jd_item_priceThe live price of a JD.com item.