Nextcloud MCP Server

A production-ready MCP server that connects AI assistants to your Nextcloud instance.

Enable Large Language Models like Claude, GPT, and Gemini to interact with your Nextcloud data through a secure API. Create notes, manage calendars, organize contacts, work with files, and more - all through natural language conversations.

This is a dedicated standalone MCP server designed for external MCP clients like Claude Code and IDEs. It runs independently of Nextcloud (Docker, VM, Kubernetes, or local) and provides deep CRUD operations across Nextcloud apps.

Quick Start

The fastest way to get started is via Smithery - no Docker or self-hosting required:

1. Visit the Smithery marketplace page

2. Click "Deploy" and configure:

   • Nextcloud URL: Your Nextcloud instance (e.g., https://cloud.example.com)

   • Username: Your Nextcloud username

   • App Password: Generate one in Nextcloud → Settings → Security → Devices & sessions

Docker (Self-Hosted)

For full features including semantic search, run with Docker:

Next Steps:

• Connect your MCP client (Claude Desktop, IDEs, mcp dev, etc.)

• See docs/installation.md for other deployment options (local, Kubernetes)

Key Features

• 90+ MCP Tools - Comprehensive API coverage across 8 Nextcloud apps

• MCP Resources - Structured data URIs for browsing Nextcloud data

• Semantic Search (Experimental) - Optional vector-powered search for Notes, Files, News items, and Deck cards (requires Qdrant + Ollama)

• Document Processing - OCR and text extraction from PDFs, DOCX, images with progress notifications

• Flexible Deployment - Docker, Kubernetes (Helm), VM, or local installation

• Production-Ready Auth - Basic Auth with app passwords (recommended) or OAuth2/OIDC (experimental)

• Multiple Transports - SSE, HTTP, and streamable-http support

Supported Apps

Want to see another Nextcloud app supported? Open an issue or contribute a pull request!

Authentication

Recommended: Basic Auth with app-specific passwords provides secure, production-ready authentication. See docs/authentication.md for setup details and OAuth configuration.

Authentication Modes

The server supports three authentication modes:

Single-User Mode (BasicAuth):

• One set of credentials shared by all MCP clients

• Simple setup: username + app password in environment variables

• All clients access Nextcloud as the same user

• Best for: Personal use, development, single-user deployments

Multi-User Mode (OAuth):

• Each MCP client authenticates separately with their own Nextcloud account

• Per-user scopes and permissions (clients only see tools they're authorized for)

• More secure: tokens expire, credentials never shared with server

• Best for: Teams, multi-user deployments, production environments with multiple users

Hybrid Mode (Multi-User BasicAuth + OAuth):

• MCP clients use BasicAuth (simple, stateless)

• Admin operations use OAuth (webhooks, background sync)

• Best for: Nextcloud deployments with admin-managed webhooks and semantic search

• Requires: ENABLE_MULTI_USER_BASIC_AUTH=true + ENABLE_OFFLINE_ACCESS=true

See docs/authentication.md for detailed setup instructions.

Semantic Search

The server provides an experimental RAG pipeline to enable Semantic Search that enables MCP clients to find information in Nextcloud based on meaning rather than just keywords. Instead of matching "machine learning" only when those exact words appear, it understands that "neural networks," "AI models," and "deep learning" are semantically related concepts.

Example:

• Keyword search: Query "car" only finds notes containing "car"

• Semantic search: Query "car" also finds notes about "automobile," "vehicle," "sedan," "transportation"

This enables natural language queries and helps discover related content across your Nextcloud notes.

Documentation

Getting Started

• Installation - Docker, Kubernetes, local, or VM deployment

• Configuration - Environment variables and advanced options

• Authentication - Basic Auth vs OAuth2/OIDC setup

• Running the Server - Start, manage, and troubleshoot

Features

• App Documentation - Notes, Calendar, Contacts, WebDAV, Deck, Cookbook, Tables

• Document Processing - OCR and text extraction setup

• Semantic Search Architecture - Experimental vector search (Notes, Files, News items, Deck cards; opt-in)

• Vector Sync UI Guide - Browser interface for semantic search visualization and testing

Advanced Topics

• OAuth Architecture - How OAuth works (experimental)

• OAuth Quick Start - 5-minute OAuth setup

• OAuth Setup Guide - Detailed OAuth configuration

• Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions

• Comparison with Context Agent - When to use each approach

Examples

Create a Note

Import Recipes

Schedule Meetings

Manage Files

Semantic Search (Experimental, Opt-in)

Note: For AI-generated answers with citations, use nc_semantic_search_answer (requires MCP client with sampling support).

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

• Report bugs or request features: GitHub Issues

• Submit improvements: Pull Requests

• Development guidelines: CLAUDE.md

Security

This project takes security seriously:

• Production-ready Basic Auth with app-specific passwords

• OAuth2/OIDC support (experimental, requires upstream patches)

• Per-user access tokens

• No credential storage in OAuth mode

• Regular security assessments

Found a security issue? Please report it privately to the maintainers.

License

This project is licensed under the AGPL-3.0 License. See LICENSE for details.

Star History

References

• Model Context Protocol

• MCP Python SDK

• Nextcloud