Prism

Multi-level web search MCP server. Wraps Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Tavily behind a unified interface.

Search Levels

• Level 0: Instant - direct worker call (default: claude_search), supports multi-provider selection

• Level 1: Quick - 4 workers, parallel dispatch (~3 min)

• Level 2: Standard - 6 workers, comprehensive (~5 min)

• Level 3: Deep - 8 workers, exhaustive research (~10-15 min)

All 4 worker types (claude_search, tavily_search, perplexity_search, gemini_search) are available at every level. L0 supports explicit provider selection via the providers parameter. Levels 1-3 use a search manager that plans tasks, dispatches parallel workers, and synthesizes results.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Podman with podman compose

• API keys: copy .dev.env.example to .dev.env and fill in values. Keys already in your OS environment (e.g., via ~/.bashrc) flow through automatically -- only add entries for keys not in your shell.

Development

cp .dev.env.example .dev.env    # fill in missing API keys
make dev                         # start PostgreSQL + Prism with hot-reload
make dev-logs                    # view logs
make dev-down                    # stop

Data lives in /tmp for easy cleanup: /tmp/prism-postgres, /tmp/prism-claude.

Production

cp .prod.env.example .prod.env  # fill in secrets

# Create postgres password
openssl rand -base64 32 > ~/.config/prism/postgres_password
chmod 600 ~/.config/prism/postgres_password

make prod                        # start

Data persists at ~/.local/share/prism/postgres and ~/.local/share/prism/claude.

Configuration

All settings with defaults and comments live in config/config.yaml -- this file IS the config documentation.

Loading chain (highest priority wins):

• PRISM_SECTION_KEY environment variables

• Custom override YAML (config-custom/, sparse -- only values that differ)

• config/config.yaml (defaults, always present in image)

Env var naming: YAML paths joined with underscores, prefixed PRISM_:

• server.port --> PRISM_SERVER_PORT

• retry.max_transient_retries --> PRISM_RETRY_MAX_TRANSIENT_RETRIES

Secrets use environment variables injected via --env-file into compose. See .prod.env.example for required variables. Custom config overrides go in config-custom/ (gitignored).

MCP Registration

Add to your MCP client config (e.g., ~/.claude.json for Claude Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prism": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8765/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-User-Id": "your-username"
      }
    }
  }
}

The X-User-Id header identifies the user for session scoping. Each user sees only their own sessions. Omitting the header defaults to "default".

API

Tools:

• search(query, level=0, providers=None) - Execute search at specified depth

  • providers (L0 only): ["claude_search"], ["tavily_search"], ["gemini_search"], ["perplexity_search"], any combination, or ["mix"] for all 4 in parallel. Default (None): claude_search only.

• cancel_all() - Cancel all running searches for the current user

• get_session(session_id) - Retrieve session details

• list_sessions(limit=20, offset=0, search=None) - List recent sessions

• resume(session_id, follow_up) - Resume L1-L3 session with follow-up

The session_id a search returns is the id every other tool accepts — pass it straight to get_session or resume.

Development

UV for Python

All Python commands through UV (never python or pip directly):

uv run pytest tests/unit/ -v
uv run python -m prism
uv run ruff check src/

Testing

# Unit tests (fast, mocked, no API keys)
uv run pytest tests/unit/ -v

# E2E tests (manages full container lifecycle + requires API keys)
uv run python tests/e2e/run_e2e.py                     # all tests
uv run python tests/e2e/run_e2e.py --only l0_default,l1 # specific tests

Database Migrations

uv run alembic revision --autogenerate -m "Description"
uv run alembic upgrade head

Architecture

                       MCP Client
                           |
                      [FastMCP Server]
                           |
           +---------------+---------------+
           |               |               |
       Level 0         Level 1-3       Session
   (multi-provider)  (orchestrated)   Management
           |               |
    [Worker Factory]  [Search Manager]
           |               |
    +------+------+   [Worker Dispatcher]
    |      |      |        |
  [1-4 workers]    +-------+-------+-------+
    in parallel    |       |       |       |
           [Claude] [Gemini] [Tavily] [Perplexity]
                   |       |       |       |
                   +-------+-------+-------+
                           |
                     [Synthesizer]
                           |
                       Response

Key patterns:

• Dual CLI executors: core/executor.py (Claude), core/gemini.py (Gemini)

• Unified worker factory: same 4 worker types available at all levels

• Two-tier retry: transient errors + schema validation with --resume (Claude only)

• Time-aware hooks for both Claude and Gemini CLI agents

• JSON-lines structured logging

• DI throughout, no global state

• Multi-tenancy via user_id scoping