mcp-semantic-search
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@mcp-semantic-searchhow does authentication work"
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.
MCP Semantic Search
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that indexes codebases using semantic embeddings for natural language search.
Features
🔍 Semantic Code Search – Find code using natural language queries instead of exact text matching
⚡ Fast Indexing – Efficient chunking and batch embedding with background processing
🧠 Smart Chunking – Language-aware code splitting:
Python: Function/class boundary detection
Others: Line-based with configurable overlap
🌐 Multi-language Support – Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, JSX, TSX, Markdown, YAML, JSON, HTML, CSS, Bash, SQL, and more
👀 Live Watch – Automatically re-index on file changes with debouncing
🔄 Incremental Updates – Reindex only changed files without full rebuild
🗑️ Deletion Handling – Automatically removes chunks for deleted files
📊 Status Tracking – Real-time indexing progress and queue monitoring
Related MCP server: Acemcp
Quick Start
Prerequisites
Python 3.12 or higher
Qdrant vector database (running locally or remotely)
Google Gemini API key
Installation
# Using uvx (recommended - no installation needed)
uvx mcp-semantic-search
# Or install with pip
pip install mcp-semantic-searchConfiguration
Set environment variables:
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your_gemini_api_key"
export QDRANT_URL="http://localhost:6333"Optional environment variables:
# Embedding model (default: text-embedding-004)
export GEMINI_EMBEDDING_MODEL="text-embedding-004"
# Chunk configuration (defaults: 50/10/5)
export CHUNK_MAX_LINES=50 # Max lines per chunk
export CHUNK_OVERLAP_LINES=10 # Overlap between chunks
export CHUNK_MIN_LINES=5 # Min lines for valid chunkOr create a .env file:
GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key
QDRANT_URL=http://localhost:6333Running Qdrant
# Using Docker
docker run -p 6333:6333 qdrant/qdrant
# Or using docker-compose
echo '
services:
qdrant:
image: qdrant/qdrant
ports:
- "6333:6333"
' | docker-compose -f - upUsage with Claude Code
Method 1: Using MCP Config JSON (Recommended)
Edit your Claude Code MCP configuration file (~/.claude.json or ~/.config/claude/config.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-search": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-semantic-search"],
"env": {
"GEMINI_API_KEY": "your_gemini_api_key_here",
"QDRANT_URL": "http://localhost:6333"
}
}
}
}For a local installation (after pip install mcp-semantic-search):
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-search": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "mcp-semantic-search",
"env": {
"GEMINI_API_KEY": "your_gemini_api_key_here",
"QDRANT_URL": "http://localhost:6333"
}
}
}
}With optional chunk configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"semantic-search": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-semantic-search"],
"env": {
"GEMINI_API_KEY": "your_gemini_api_key_here",
"QDRANT_URL": "http://localhost:6333",
"CHUNK_MAX_LINES": "50",
"CHUNK_OVERLAP_LINES": "10",
"CHUNK_MIN_LINES": "5"
}
}
}
}Method 2: Using CLI
claude mcp add semantic-search \
-e GEMINI_API_KEY="$GEMINI_API_KEY" \
-e QDRANT_URL="$QDRANT_URL" \
-- uvx mcp-semantic-searchAvailable Tools
Tool | Description | Returns |
| Index the codebase |
|
| Semantic search across all files |
|
| Search within a specific file |
|
| Check indexing status |
|
| Start file watching |
|
| Stop file watching |
|
| Reset the entire index |
|
Example Workflow
# Index your codebase (auto-starts on first use)
index_codebase(root_dir="/path/to/project")
# Returns: {"status": "success", "files_queued": 1234}
# Search for code using natural language
search_code("how does authentication work")
# Returns:
# {
# "query": "...",
# "count": 5,
# "results": [
# {
# "file": "src/auth/middleware.py",
# "lines": "10-25",
# "score": 0.876,
# "content": "..."
# },
# ...
# ]
# }
# Check indexing status
get_status()
# Returns:
# {
# "collection": {"total_chunks": 12345, "files_indexed": 1234},
# "queue": {"running": true, "queued": 0, "pending": 0}
# }
# Enable live watching (auto-index on file changes)
start_live_watch(root_dir="/path/to/project")Configuration
Chunking Configuration
Control how code is split into searchable chunks:
# Smaller chunks = more precise results, more storage
export CHUNK_MAX_LINES=30
# Larger chunks = more context per result
export CHUNK_MAX_LINES=100
# Adjust overlap for context continuity
export CHUNK_OVERLAP_LINES=15Variable | Default | Description |
| 50 | Maximum lines per chunk |
| 10 | Overlap between chunks |
| 5 | Minimum lines for valid chunk |
Search Configuration
# Adjust search parameters
search_code(
query="your query",
limit=20, # More results (default: 10)
score_threshold=0.3 # Lower threshold = more results (default: 0.5)
)Development
Setup
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/mcp-semantic-search.git
cd mcp-semantic-search
# Install in development mode
pip install -e .Testing
# Test with a small subset
python -c "
from mcp_semantic_search import GeminiEmbedder, QdrantCodeStore, index_repository
embedder = GeminiEmbedder()
store = QdrantCodeStore()
# Test with just 5 files
stats = index_repository(
root_dir='.',
embedder=embedder,
store=store,
max_files=5
)
print(stats)
"
# Test semantic search
python -c "
from mcp_semantic_search import GeminiEmbedder, QdrantCodeStore
embedder = GeminiEmbedder()
store = QdrantCodeStore()
query_embedding = embedder.embed_query('authentication')
results = store.search(query_embedding, limit=5)
for r in results:
print(f'{r[\"file_path\"]}:{r[\"start_line\"]} ({r[\"score\"]:.2f})')
print(r['content'][:200])
print('---')
"Technical Details
Embedding Model: Google
text-embedding-004(768 dimensions)Vector Database: Qdrant with cosine similarity
Chunking Strategy:
Python: AST-based function/class boundary detection
Others: Line-based with configurable chunk size and overlap
File Watching: Watchdog with 3-second debouncing
Deduplication: SHA256 hash-based, unchanged files are skipped
Background Processing: FIFO queue for incremental reindexing
Supported Languages
Extension | Language |
| Python |
| JavaScript |
| TypeScript |
| JSX |
| TSX |
| Markdown |
| YAML |
| JSON |
| HTML |
| CSS |
| Bash |
| SQL |
| Text |
License
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Acknowledgments
Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
Qdrant - Vector Database
Google Gemini - Embedding API
fastmcp - MCP framework
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