NetDocuments MCP (Draft)

Minimal remote MCP server for ChatGPT connectors that lets users search and fetch NetDocuments files via per-user OAuth (Authorization Code + PKCE). Binary files are downloaded and converted to plaintext (PDF/DOCX/TXT best effort) and returned to the model.

What this is

• An MCP server exposing only two tools:

  • search(query: string) → { results: [{ id, title, text, url }] }

  • fetch(id: string) → { id, title, text, url, metadata }

• Built for ChatGPT Connectors (Deep Research & chat).

• Uses Authorization Code + PKCE with scope=read.

Connectors do not upload the original binary like drag-and-drop; they consume returned text and urls.

Related MCP server: Fetch MCP Server

Quickstart (Replit or local)

1. Install deps

pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Create .env from .env.example and fill in:

   • ND_CLIENT_ID=...

   • ND_CLIENT_SECRET=...

   • ND_REDIRECT_URI=https://<your-replit-host>.repl.co/oauth/callback

   • (Optional) adjust SEARCH_DEFAULT_TOP, MAX_FETCH_CHARS, region URLs.

3. Authorize once (saves tokens to tokens.json):

python oauth_runner.py
# browser opens: complete the ND login/approval

4. Run the MCP server (SSE):

python app.py

Confirm your repl URL ends with /sse/ (FastMCP exposes this automatically).

5. Connect in ChatGPT → Settings → Connectors
   Add your /sse/ URL, allow search and fetch (approval: never). Test a query.

Tool behavior

search(query: string)

• Accepts a single string (per MCP spec), but also supports an inline mini-language to pass ND params:

  • cabinetId:<id> — Cabinet to search (if omitted, uses the first available cabinet for the user).

  • top:<n> — Page size (default 50; ND allows up to 500).

  • orderby:<relevance|lastMod> — Sort order (desc).

  • select:<standardAttributes> — Returned fields set.

• Remaining words are treated as the full-text q parameter (pass ND query syntax directly).

• Returns up to top results, each with {id, title, text (snippet), url}.

fetch(id: string)

• Looks up metadata, downloads binary via GET /v1/Document/{id}?base64=true, decodes, and extracts plaintext:

  • PDF → pdfminer.six

  • DOCX → python-docx (toggle via ENABLE_DOCX=true in .env)

  • TXT/CSV/JSON → decoded as text

  • Others → best-effort decode; if not extractable, text is empty with metadata hint.

• Truncates output over MAX_FETCH_CHARS with metadata.truncated=true.

Notes & limits

• Per-user OAuth: this MVP stores a single user's tokens in tokens.json. For multi-user, add a session/token store keyed per SSE connection or user subject.

• Cross-cabinet search: supported by ND. If you omit cabinetId, we attempt a cross-cabinet call. To be precise per ND docs, some scenarios require special qualifiers in q. Supply full ND syntax in your query if needed.

• Rate limits: the client retries on 401 by refreshing; consider backoff for 429 (future work).

• Security: scope is read. Do not log tokens. Consider encrypting tokens.json for real deployments.

Environment variables

See .env.example. All values are read from .env.

• ND_CLIENT_ID, ND_CLIENT_SECRET, ND_REDIRECT_URI, ND_OAUTH_SCOPE

• ND_AUTH_AUTHORIZE_URL, ND_AUTH_TOKEN_URL, ND_API_BASE (US by default)

• SERVER_HOST, SERVER_PORT

• SEARCH_DEFAULT_TOP, SEARCH_DEFAULT_ORDER, MAX_FETCH_CHARS, ENABLE_DOCX

Development

• Extend nd_client.search(...) to expose more ND search params as needed.

• Consider adding $skiptoken support for paging if you want "Load more".

• Add per-connection token scoping if you expect multiple concurrent users.

License

MIT (draft)