How do I use everything-mcp?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@everything-mcp search for .pdf files modified today" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

everything-mcp

by elis132

Overview Schema Related Servers Score Discussions

Python

Local

Why This One?

Feature	everything-mcp (this)	mamertofabian (271⭐)	essovius (0⭐)
Tools	5 well-designed	1 generic	16 granular
Auto-detection	✅ Finds Everything + es.exe automatically	❌ Manual DLL path	❌ Manual setup
Everything 1.5	✅ Auto-detects instance	❌ No support	⚠️ Manual flag
Content preview	✅ Read first N lines	❌	❌
File type categories	✅ 10 categories	❌	✅
Stats & counts	✅ Size stats, extension breakdown	❌	Partial
Error handling	✅ All tools return clean errors	❌ Raw exceptions	❌
Test suite	✅ pytest	❌	❌
Zero config	✅ Works out of the box	❌ Need SDK DLL path	❌ Need es.exe in PATH

Performance

Real benchmark from this machine (Windows, query: everything.exe):

everything-mcp (Everything index via es.exe): 220.22 ms avg (5 runs)
Naive filesystem walk over C:\: 66,539.03 ms (single run)
Observed speedup: ~302x faster

Reproduce locally (PowerShell):

@'
import os
import subprocess
import time
import statistics

ES = os.path.expandvars(r"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Everything\es.exe")
QUERY = "everything.exe"

es_runs = []
for _ in range(5):
    t0 = time.perf_counter()
    subprocess.run([ES, "-n", "100", QUERY], capture_output=True, text=True)
    es_runs.append((time.perf_counter() - t0) * 1000)

t0 = time.perf_counter()
matches = []
for dirpath, _, filenames in os.walk(r"C:\\"):
    for name in filenames:
        if name.lower() == QUERY:
            matches.append(os.path.join(dirpath, name))
walk_ms = (time.perf_counter() - t0) * 1000

es_avg = statistics.mean(es_runs)
print("ES avg ms:", round(es_avg, 2))
print("Walk ms:", round(walk_ms, 2))
print("Speedup x:", round(walk_ms / es_avg, 1))
print("Matches:", len(matches))
'@ | python -

Installation

Prerequisites

Windows with Everything installed and running
es.exe (Everything command-line interface):
- Everything 1.5 alpha: es.exe is included
- Everything 1.4: Download from github.com/voidtools/es
- Place es.exe in your PATH or in the Everything installation directory
Python 3.10+ or uv

Via uv (recommended - no install needed)

uvx everything-mcp

Via pip

pip install everything-mcp

From source

git clone https://github.com/elis132/everything-mcp.git
cd everything-mcp
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Configuration

Use this server definition anywhere a client asks for MCP JSON:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "everything": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["everything-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Use the Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add everything -- uvx everything-mcp
claude mcp list

Or add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "everything": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["everything-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Add to %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "everything": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["everything-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Use the Codex CLI:

codex mcp add everything -- uvx everything-mcp
codex mcp list

Use the Gemini CLI:

gemini mcp add -s user everything uvx everything-mcp
gemini mcp list

Use the Kimi CLI:

kimi mcp add --transport stdio everything -- uvx everything-mcp
kimi mcp list

Use the Qwen CLI:

qwen mcp add -s user everything uvx everything-mcp
qwen mcp list

Cursor currently uses MCP settings/deeplinks rather than a stable mcp add CLI command. Add the JSON config in Cursor's MCP settings UI.

Windsurf currently uses MCP settings rather than a stable mcp add CLI command. On Windows, add the JSON config to:

%USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json

Any MCP-compatible client can use this format:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "everything": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["everything-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "everything": {
      "command": "everything-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or with explicit Python:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "everything": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "everything_mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables (Optional)

Everything MCP auto-detects your setup, but you can override:

Variable	Description	Example
`EVERYTHING_ES_PATH`	Path to es.exe	`C:\Program Files\Everything\es.exe`
`EVERYTHING_INSTANCE`	Everything instance name	`1.5a`

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "everything": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["everything-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "EVERYTHING_INSTANCE": "1.5a"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

1. `everything_search` - The Workhorse

Search files and folders using Everything's full query syntax.

Parameter	Default	Description
`query`	(required)	Everything search query
`max_results`	50	1–500
`sort`	`date-modified-desc`	See sort options below
`match_case`	false	Case-sensitive
`match_whole_word`	false	Whole words only
`match_regex`	false	Regex mode
`match_path`	false	Match full path
`offset`	0	Pagination offset

Everything Search Syntax:

*.py                          → All Python files
ext:py;js;ts                  → Multiple extensions
ext:py path:C:\Projects       → Python files in Projects
size:>10mb                    → Larger than 10 MB
size:1kb..1mb                 → Between 1 KB and 1 MB
dm:today                      → Modified today
dm:last1week                  → Modified in the last week
dc:2024                       → Created in 2024
"exact name.txt"              → Exact filename match
project1 | project2           → OR search
!node_modules                 → Exclude term
ext:py !test !__pycache__     → Python, excluding tests
content:TODO                  → Files containing TODO (requires content indexing)
regex:^test_.*\.py$           → Regex search
parent:src ext:py             → Python files in 'src' folders
dupe:                         → Duplicate filenames
empty:                        → Empty folders

2. `everything_search_by_type` - Category Search

Search by pre-defined file type categories.

Categories: audio, video, image, document, code, archive, executable, font, 3d, data

Parameter	Default	Description
`file_type`	(required)	Category name
`query`	`""`	Additional filter
`path`	`""`	Directory restriction
`max_results`	50	1–500
`sort`	`date-modified-desc`	Sort order

3. `everything_find_recent` - What Changed?

Find recently modified files. Sorted newest-first.

Periods: 1min, 5min, 10min, 15min, 30min, 1hour, 2hours, 6hours, 12hours, today, yesterday, 1day, 3days, 1week, 2weeks, 1month, 3months, 6months, 1year

Parameter	Default	Description
`period`	`1hour`	Time period
`path`	`""`	Directory restriction
`extensions`	`""`	Extension filter (e.g. `py,js,ts`)
`query`	`""`	Additional filter
`max_results`	50	1–500

4. `everything_file_details` - Deep Inspection

Get metadata and optional content preview for specific files.

Parameter	Default	Description
`paths`	(required)	File paths to inspect (1–20)
`preview_lines`	0	Lines of text to preview (0–200)

Returns: Full metadata (size, dates, permissions, hidden status). Directories: item count and listing. Text files with preview: first N lines of content.

5. `everything_count_stats` - Quick Analytics

Get count and size statistics without listing individual files.

Parameter	Default	Description
`query`	(required)	Search query
`include_size`	true	Calculate total size
`breakdown_by_extension`	false	Sampled per-extension stats (files only)

Examples

"Find all Python files modified today in my project"

→ everything_find_recent(period="today", extensions="py", path="C:\Projects\myapp")

"How much disk space do my log files use?"

→ everything_count_stats(query="ext:log", include_size=true, breakdown_by_extension=true)

"Show me the first 50 lines of that config file"

→ everything_file_details(paths=["C:\Projects\app\config.yaml"], preview_lines=50)

"Find all duplicate filenames in Documents"

→ everything_search(query='dupe: path:"C:\Users\me\Documents"')

"Find all images larger than 5MB"

→ everything_search(query="ext:jpg;png;gif size:>5mb")

Troubleshooting

"es.exe not found"

Ensure Everything is installed: https://www.voidtools.com/
Download es.exe: https://github.com/voidtools/es/releases
Place es.exe in your PATH or set EVERYTHING_ES_PATH

"Everything IPC window not found"

Ensure Everything is running (check system tray)
If using Everything 1.5 alpha, set EVERYTHING_INSTANCE=1.5a
Ensure you're not running Everything Lite (no IPC support)

"No results for valid queries"

Verify Everything's index is built (needs time on first run)
Try the same query in Everything's GUI
Check that the drive/path is included in Everything's index settings

Debugging

# View server logs
everything-mcp 2>everything-mcp.log

# MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx everything-mcp

Architecture

┌──────────────┐     MCP (stdio)     ┌──────────────────┐
│  AI Agent    │◄────────────────────►│  Everything MCP  │
│ (Claude,     │                      │  Server          │
│  Codex, etc) │                      │                  │
└──────────────┘                      │  5 Tools:        │
                                      │  • search        │
                                      │  • search_by_type│
                                      │  • find_recent   │
                                      │  • file_details  │
                                      │  • count_stats   │
                                      └────────┬─────────┘
                                               │ async subprocess
                                               ▼
                                      ┌──────────────────┐
                                      │     es.exe       │
                                      │  (CLI interface)  │
                                      └────────┬─────────┘
                                               │ IPC / Named Pipes
                                               ▼
                                      ┌──────────────────┐
                                      │   Everything     │
                                      │   Service        │
                                      │  (voidtools)     │
                                      │                  │
                                      │  Real-time NTFS  │
                                      │  file index      │
                                      └──────────────────┘

Development

# Install with dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Lint
ruff check src/ tests/

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Areas for improvement:

Direct named pipe IPC (bypass es.exe for lower latency)
Everything SDK3 integration for Everything 1.5
Content search integration
File watching / change notifications
Bookmark and tag support (Everything 1.5)

License

MIT - see LICENSE

Acknowledgments

voidtools for the incredible Everything search engine
Anthropic for the Model Context Protocol specification
The MCP community for driving adoption across AI tools

This server cannot be installed

license - permissive license

quality - not tested

maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers

–Response time

–Release cycle

–Releases (12mo)

Issues opened vs closed

Resources

GitHub Repository

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