Local Docs MCP v0.4.0

Fast, local, multi-folder document search for Windows using SQLite FTS5, PDF OCR (Tesseract), a tray app, and a standalone MCP server for Goose Desktop.

Supports PDF, DOCX, XLSX/XLSM, TXT, Markdown, CSV (scanned PDFs get nld+eng OCR). No cloud services — Dropbox is only an autodetected default folder. Index any local folder(s) into one database. Separate from outlook-classic-mcp; does not touch Outlook mail.

Requirements

• Windows 10/11, Python 3.11+ with pip, venv, tkinter (3.12/3.13 recommended)

• Files must be locally accessible (cloud online-only placeholders need downloading first)

• Optional: Tesseract OCR with nld + eng for scanned PDFs

• Optional: Goose Desktop for MCP chat search

Related MCP server: context-bridge

Installation

py -3.13 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -e ".[tray]"
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli doctor
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli index   # autodetects a local Dropbox

Any other folder (or add more):

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli add-root "D:\Documents"
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli index

Do not register nested/overlapping roots (the indexer blocks this). Only index folders you're comfortable exposing to your local AI assistant.

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli roots
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli status
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli search '"annual report"'

DB location: %LOCALAPPDATA%\local-docs-mcp\index.sqlite (override with LOCAL_DOCS_MCP_DB or --db). It contains extracted text — keep it private.

Tray app

.\.venv\Scripts\pythonw.exe -m local_docs_mcp.tray

Tray icon → Search documents…; double-click a result to open it, or Show in Explorer. Enable Start with Windows if desired. Syncs after each scan and ~every 15 minutes; works without Goose. Offline roots keep their indexed rows while others sync. If launch fails, run python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.tray in a terminal (log: tray.log beside the DB).

Do not run watch while the tray is running. Console-only sync instead:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli watch --interval 900

Goose Desktop

Extensions → Add custom extension → Standard IO: Name Local Docs Search, Command your venv python.exe, Arguments -m local_docs_mcp.server.

Tools: search_documents, read_document, open_document (only on explicit request), index_status.

Example: “Find Word or PDF contracts mentioning a payment of €5,000, and open the best match.”

Tesseract / OCR

winget install -e --id UB-Mannheim.TesseractOCR

Language packs (PowerShell as Administrator, default folder):

$dest = 'C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tessdata'
Invoke-WebRequest 'https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast/raw/main/nld.traineddata' -OutFile "$dest\nld.traineddata"
Invoke-WebRequest 'https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tessdata_fast/raw/main/eng.traineddata' -OutFile "$dest\eng.traineddata"
& 'C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe' --list-langs

Low-text PDF pages are rendered and OCR'd locally. Set TESSERACT_CMD if installed elsewhere; disable with index --no-ocr; other languages via --ocr-languages nld+eng+fra. Changing OCR settings re-extracts PDFs once. Images inside DOCX/XLSX and legacy .doc/.xls are not OCR'd.

Upgrading

1. Exit the old tray, stop any watch (the old indexer can delete v0.4 rows; disable its Start with Windows first).

2. Move your old index.sqlite to %LOCALAPPDATA%\local-docs-mcp\.

3. Extract, create/use the venv, pip install -e ".[tray]".

4. python -m local_docs_mcp.cli index — migrates in place; IDs and FTS data preserved.

5. Restart the tray; existing Goose extension keeps working.

Managing roots

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli add-root "E:\SharedFiles"
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli index
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli remove-root "E:\SharedFiles"          # keeps records
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m local_docs_mcp.cli remove-root "E:\SharedFiles" --purge  # also deletes records

Without --purge, indexed text is retained for recovery, but the opener refuses those docs (folder no longer authorized). To purge: re-add the root, then remove with --purge.

Safety and limits

• Files open only inside an authorized root (symlinks resolved).

• Deletions >20% per root are blocked; confirm with index --allow-large-delete after checking files/sync client.

• Traversal errors and offline folders preserve records; other folders keep indexing.

• Indexing is size/mtime-based, not real-time. Deleted/moved files drop out on reconciliation; document IDs aren't stable after moves.

• Text capped at 2M chars / 100 MiB per file.

• The DB holds plaintext excerpts — keep it local and use trusted AI providers.

Publishing

Commit source, pyproject.toml, README, tests. Never commit .venv, SQLite DBs, or logs.

pip install "local-docs-mcp[tray] @ git+https://github.com/koenvaneijk/local-docs-mcp.git"

The local_docs_mcp module provides the CLI, tray, search UI, and MCP entry points.