search_vectara

Instructions

Run a semantic search query using Vectara, without generation.

Args:
    query: str, The user query to run - required.
    corpus_keys: list[str], List of Vectara corpus keys to use for the search - required. Please ask the user to provide one or more corpus keys. 
    api_key: str, The Vectara API key - required.
    n_sentences_before: int, Number of sentences before the answer to include in the context - optional, default is 2.
    n_sentences_after: int, Number of sentences after the answer to include in the context - optional, default is 2.
    lexical_interpolation: float, The amount of lexical interpolation to use - optional, default is 0.005.

Returns:
    The response from Vectara, including the matching search results.

Implementation Reference

• vectara_mcp/server.py:578-628 (handler)

  The @mcp.tool()-decorated async function search_vectara implements the core tool logic: parameter validation, payload construction for semantic search (no generation), API call to Vectara query endpoint, and error handling with progress reporting.

  @mcp.tool()
  async def search_vectara(
      query: str,
      ctx: Context,
      corpus_keys: list[str],
      n_sentences_before: int = 2,
      n_sentences_after: int = 2,
      lexical_interpolation: float = 0.005
  ) -> dict:
      """
      Run a semantic search query using Vectara, without generation.
  
      Args:
          query: str, The user query to run - required.
          corpus_keys: list[str], List of Vectara corpus keys to use for the search - required. Please ask the user to provide one or more corpus keys.
          n_sentences_before: int, Number of sentences before the answer to include in the context - optional, default is 2.
          n_sentences_after: int, Number of sentences after the answer to include in the context - optional, default is 2.
          lexical_interpolation: float, The amount of lexical interpolation to use - optional, default is 0.005.
  
      Note: API key must be configured first using 'setup_vectara_api_key' tool
  
      Returns:
          dict: Raw search results from Vectara API containing:
              - "search_results": List of search result objects with scores, text, and metadata
              - Additional response metadata from the API
          On error, returns dict with "error" key containing error message.
      """
      # Validate parameters
      validation_error = _validate_common_parameters(query, corpus_keys)
      if validation_error:
          return {"error": validation_error}
  
      if ctx:
          ctx.info(f"Running Vectara semantic search query: {query}")
  
      try:
          payload = _build_query_payload(
              query=query,
              corpus_keys=corpus_keys,
              n_sentences_before=n_sentences_before,
              n_sentences_after=n_sentences_after,
              lexical_interpolation=lexical_interpolation,
              enable_generation=False
          )
  
          result = await _call_vectara_query(payload, ctx)
          return result
  
      except Exception as e:
          return {"error": _format_error("Vectara semantic search query", e)}

• vectara_mcp/server.py:578-578 (registration)

  The @mcp.tool() decorator registers the search_vectara function as an MCP tool with the FastMCP server instance.

  @mcp.tool()

• vectara_mcp/server.py:579-586 (schema)

  Function signature defines the input schema (parameters with types and defaults) and output type (dict) for the search_vectara tool, with detailed docstring description.

  async def search_vectara(
      query: str,
      ctx: Context,
      corpus_keys: list[str],
      n_sentences_before: int = 2,
      n_sentences_after: int = 2,
      lexical_interpolation: float = 0.005
  ) -> dict:

• vectara_mcp/server.py:234-283 (helper)

  Helper function _build_query_payload constructs the API payload for search_vectara, configuring search parameters, reranker, and conditionally generation settings.

  def _build_query_payload(
      query: str,
      corpus_keys: list[str],
      n_sentences_before: int = 2,
      n_sentences_after: int = 2,
      lexical_interpolation: float = 0.005,
      max_used_search_results: int = 10,
      generation_preset_name: str = "vectara-summary-table-md-query-ext-jan-2025-gpt-4o",
      response_language: str = "eng",
      enable_generation: bool = True
  ) -> dict:
      """Build the query payload for Vectara API"""
      payload = {
          "query": query,
          "search": {
              "limit": 100,
              "corpora": [
                  {
                      "corpus_key": corpus_key,
                      "lexical_interpolation": lexical_interpolation
                  } for corpus_key in corpus_keys
              ],
              "context_configuration": {
                  "sentences_before": n_sentences_before,
                  "sentences_after": n_sentences_after
              },
              "reranker": {
                  "type": "customer_reranker",
                  "reranker_name": "Rerank_Multilingual_v1",
                  "limit": 100,
                  "cutoff": 0.2
              }
          },
          "save_history": True,
      }
  
      if enable_generation:
          payload["generation"] = {
              "generation_preset_name": generation_preset_name,
              "max_used_search_results": max_used_search_results,
              "response_language": response_language,
              "citations": {
                  "style": "markdown",
                  "url_pattern": "{doc.url}",
                  "text_pattern": "{doc.title}"
              },
              "enable_factual_consistency_score": True
          }
  
      return payload

• vectara_mcp/server.py:285-298 (helper)

  Helper function _call_vectara_query makes the HTTP POST to Vectara's /query endpoint using shared request logic.

  async def _call_vectara_query(
      payload: dict,
      ctx: Context = None,
      api_key_override: str = None
  ) -> dict:
      """Make API call to Vectara query endpoint"""
      return await _make_api_request(
          f"{VECTARA_BASE_URL}/query",
          payload,
          ctx,
          api_key_override,
          "query"
      )