Skip to main content
Glama
manticoresoftware

Manticore Search MCP

Official

Manticore Search MCP Server

PyPI - Version uv

MCP server for Manticore Search — enables AI assistants to query and manage Manticore Search databases directly.

Quick Start

Installation

# Option 1: Install with uv (recommended, requires PyPI release)
uvx mcp-manticore

# Option 2: Install with pip
pip install mcp-manticore

# Option 3: Run from source (for local development)
uvx --from . mcp-manticore
# Or: uv run mcp-manticore

Note:

  • uvx runs the package directly without installation. First-time run may take a moment to download dependencies.

  • The package must be published to PyPI for uvx mcp-manticore to work.

  • For local development or testing unreleased versions, use uvx --from . mcp-manticore


What It Does

Tools

Tool

Description

run_query

Execute SQL queries (SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, etc.)

list_tables

List all tables and indexes

describe_table

Get table schema

list_documentation

List available documentation files

get_documentation

Fetch specific documentation from Manticore manual

Prompts

  • manticore_initial_prompt — Built-in prompt teaching LLMs about Manticore Search features (full-text operators, KNN vector search, fuzzy search, etc.)

Health Check

HTTP endpoint at /health for monitoring connectivity.


Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable

Default

Description

MANTICORE_HOST

localhost

Manticore server host

MANTICORE_PORT

9308

HTTP API port

MANTICORE_USER

Username (optional)

MANTICORE_PASSWORD

Password (optional)

MANTICORE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT

30

Connection timeout (seconds)

MANTICORE_QUERY_TIMEOUT

30

Query timeout (seconds)

MANTICORE_ALLOW_WRITE_ACCESS

false

Enable write operations (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)

MANTICORE_ALLOW_DROP

false

Enable destructive operations (DROP, TRUNCATE)

GITHUB_TOKEN

GitHub token for higher API rate limit

Safety

By default, all write operations are blocked. To enable:

# Enable writes (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)
export MANTICORE_ALLOW_WRITE_ACCESS=true

# Enable destructive operations (DROP, TRUNCATE)
export MANTICORE_ALLOW_DROP=true

Connect to Your AI Assistant

Open terminal and run:

claude mcp add manticore -- uvx mcp-manticore

Or with environment variables:

claude mcp add manticore -- uvx mcp-manticore -- \
  MANTICORE_HOST=localhost \
  MANTICORE_PORT=9308

For full configuration, edit ~/.claude/mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manticore": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-manticore"],
      "env": {
        "MANTICORE_HOST": "localhost",
        "MANTICORE_PORT": "9308"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code or type /mcp restart to apply changes.

Method 1: Via Settings UI

  1. Open Cursor → Settings → Tools & MCP

  2. Click "Add MCP Server"

  3. Enter name: manticore

  4. Command: uvx mcp-manticore

Method 2: Via Config File

Global config (~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manticore": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-manticore"],
      "env": {
        "MANTICORE_HOST": "localhost",
        "MANTICORE_PORT": "9308"
      }
    }
  }
}

Project config (.cursor/mcp.json in your project):

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

Method 1: Via Cascade UI

  1. Open Windsurf → Cascade panel

  2. Click the MCPs icon (🔨) in the top-right

  3. Click "Add Server"

  4. Enter: uvx mcp-manticore

Method 2: Via Config File

Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manticore": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-manticore"],
      "env": {
        "MANTICORE_HOST": "localhost",
        "MANTICORE_PORT": "9308"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or open directly in Windsurf: Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P → "MCP Configuration Panel"

VS Code uses the same MCP configuration as Cursor. Edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manticore": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-manticore"],
      "env": {
        "MANTICORE_HOST": "localhost",
        "MANTICORE_PORT": "9308"
      }
    }
  }
}

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manticore": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-manticore"],
      "env": {
        "MANTICORE_HOST": "localhost",
        "MANTICORE_PORT": "9308"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP Transport (Remote MCP)

By default, MCP uses stdio (local). For remote access:

export MANTICORE_MCP_SERVER_TRANSPORT=http
export MANTICORE_MCP_BIND_PORT=8000
export MANTICORE_MCP_AUTH_TOKEN="your-secure-token"

uvx mcp-manticore

Connect via URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manticore": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-secure-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Install uv (required)

macOS / Linux:

# Via installer script (recommended)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Or via Homebrew
brew install uv

Windows:

# Via PowerShell
irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex

# Or via winget
winget install astral-sh.uv

Verify installation:

uv --version

MCP server not connecting

  1. Verify Manticore is running: curl http://localhost:9308/health

  2. Check environment variables are set correctly

  3. For Claude Code: restart with /mcp restart

Too many tools loaded

Some agents limit active MCP tools. Remove unused servers or use project-scoped configs.


Development

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/manticoresoftware/mcp-manticore.git
cd mcp-manticore

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Run locally
uv run mcp-manticore

# Run with custom config
MANTICORE_HOST=remote-server MANTICORE_PORT=9308 uv run mcp-manticore

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Build package
uv build

# Publish to PyPI
uv publish

Architecture

File

Purpose

mcp_manticore/mcp_env.py

Configuration management

mcp_manticore/mcp_server.py

MCP server implementation

mcp_manticore/manticore_prompt.py

LLM guidance/prompts

mcp_manticore/docs_fetcher.py

GitHub docs fetcher

mcp_manticore/main.py

CLI entry point


License

Apache-2.0

Install Server
A
security – no known vulnerabilities
A
license - permissive license
A
quality - confirmed to work

Resources

Unclaimed servers have limited discoverability.

Looking for Admin?

If you are the server author, to access and configure the admin panel.

Latest Blog Posts

MCP directory API

We provide all the information about MCP servers via our MCP API.

curl -X GET 'https://glama.ai/api/mcp/v1/servers/manticoresoftware/mcp-manticore'

If you have feedback or need assistance with the MCP directory API, please join our Discord server