The MCP Lucene Server is a Java-based implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) designed to provide efficient search and retrieval capabilities using Apache Lucene. This server allows you to manage and query documents, leveraging Lucene's powerful indexing and search features. It is built using Spring Boot for easy setup and deployment.
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MCP Compliance: Implements the core Model Context Protocol.
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Lucene-Powered: Utilizes Apache Lucene for full-text search and indexing.
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RESTful API: Provides a RESTful API for interacting with the server.
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Document Management:
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Upsert: Add or update documents in the Lucene index.
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Delete: Delete documents from the Lucene index.
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List: Retrieve a list of documents from the index.
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Querying:
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Supports complex queries using the Lucene query syntax.
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Filtering: Filter queries based on document metadata.
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Status: Check the server status.
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Spring Boot: Built with Spring Boot for easy setup and deployment.
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Dockerization: Includes instructions for containerizing the application using Docker.
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Java: Java 11 or higher.
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Maven: Maven 3.6.0 or higher.
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Docker: Install Docker if you plan to use the Docker image.
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Clone the repository:
git clone [https://github.com/your-username/mcp-lucene-server.git](https://github.com/your-username/mcp-lucene-server.git) cd mcp-lucene-server(Replace
your-usernamewith your GitHub username) -
Build the project using Maven:
mvn clean install
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Run the Spring Boot application:
java -jar target/mcp-lucene-server-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
(The exact name of the
.jarfile might vary slightly depending on your project version.) -
The server will start on port
8080by default.
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Ensure you have Docker installed: Follow the instructions on the official Docker website: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/
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Build the Docker image: Navigate to the root directory of your project in your terminal and run:
docker build -t mcp-lucene-server . -
Run the Docker container:
docker run -p 8080:8080 mcp-lucene-server
This will map port
8080on your host machine to port8080inside the container.
This project includes an optional MCP shim (mcp-shim/) that exposes the server's REST endpoints as MCP tools over STDIO so you can use them directly from Claude Desktop.
- Java 17+
- Node.js 18+
- Maven 3.6+
mvn spring-boot:runThe API will be available at http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1.
cd mcp-shim
npm install
# JSON + text output (default)
LUCENE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1 npm start
# If your client cannot render JSON tool outputs, force text-only
MCP_FORCE_TEXT=1 LUCENE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1 npm startUpdate ~/.claude/mcp/config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"lucene": {
"command": "/opt/homebrew/bin/node",
"args": [".../MCP-Lucene-Server/mcp-shim/server.js"],
"env": {
"LUCENE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1",
"MCP_FORCE_TEXT": "1"
}
}
}
}Alternatively, use the wrapper script to capture shim logs to /tmp/mcp-lucene-shim.stderr.log:
cat > .../MCP-Lucene-Server/mcp-shim/run-shim.sh <<'SH'
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
export LUCENE_BASE_URL="${LUCENE_BASE_URL:-http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1}"
exec node .../MCP-Lucene-Server/mcp-shim/server.js \
2> /tmp/mcp-lucene-shim.stderr.log
SH
chmod +x .../MCP-Lucene-Server/mcp-shim/run-shim.shThen set in ~/.claude/mcp/config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"lucene": {
"command": ".../MCP-Lucene-Server/mcp-shim/run-shim.sh",
"env": {
"LUCENE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1",
"MCP_FORCE_TEXT": "1"
}
}
}
}lucene_status: Get server/index statuslucene_upsert: Upsert documentslucene_query: Query documents (with optional metadata filters)lucene_delete: Delete by IDslucene_list: List documents with pagination
- Run
lucene_status - Run
lucene_listwith:{ "limit": 10, "offset": 0 } - Run
lucene_upsertwith:{"documents":[{"id":"doc-1","text":"hello world","metadata":{"lang":"en"}}]} - Run
lucene_querywith:{"queries":[{"query":"hello","top_k":5}]} - Run
lucene_deletewith:{ "ids": ["doc-1"] }
- Verify the API returns JSON:
curl -i http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1/status- If Claude shows "unsupported format", start the shim with text-only output:
MCP_FORCE_TEXT=1 LUCENE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1 npm start- View shim logs (when using wrapper):
tail -n +1 /tmp/mcp-lucene-shim.stderr.log- Ensure the paths in your
config.jsonare absolute and correct, then restart Claude Desktop.
The server provides the following API endpoints:
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GET /mcp/v1/status- Returns the status of the server.
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POST /mcp/v1/upsert-
Upserts (inserts or updates) one or more documents.
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Request body:
{ "documents": [ { "id": "doc1", "text": "This is the text of document 1.", "metadata": { "category": "example", "language": "english" } }, { "id": "doc2", "text": "This is document 2's text.", "metadata": { "category": "sample", "language": "spanish" } } ] }
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POST /mcp/v1/query-
Queries the Lucene index.
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Request body:
{ "queries": [ { "query": "document", "top_k": 10, "filter": { "language": "english" } }, { "query": "text search", "filter": { "category": "example" } } ] } -
query: The Lucene query string. -
top_k: (Optional) The maximum number of results to return (default: 10). -
filter: (Optional) A map of metadata fields and values to filter by.
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POST /mcp/v1/delete-
Deletes documents from the Lucene index.
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Request body:
{ "ids": ["doc1", "doc2"] }
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GET /mcp/v1/list-
Lists documents from the Lucene index.
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Request body:
{ "ids": ["doc1", "doc2"] }
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Get server status:
curl http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1/statusUpsert documents:
curl -X POST
http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1/upsert
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'
-d '{
"documents": [
{
"id": "doc1",
"text": "This is the text of document 1.",
"metadata": {
"category": "example",
"language": "english"
}
},
{
"id": "doc2",
"text": "This is document 2''s text.",
"metadata": {
"category": "sample",
"language": "spanish"
}
}
]
}'Query documents:
curl -X POST
http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1/query
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'
-d '{
"queries": [
{
"query": "document text",
"top_k": 5,
"filter": {
"language": "english"
}
}
]
}'Delete documents:
curl -X POST
http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1/delete
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'
-d '{
"ids": ["doc1"]
}'List documents:
curl -X POST
http://localhost:8080/mcp/v1/list
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'
-d '{
"ids": ["doc1", "doc2"]
}'The server can be configured using Spring Boot's application properties. Here are some of the key properties:
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server.port: The port the server listens on (default: 8080). -
lucene.index.path: The path to the Lucene index directory. This is where the indexed data is stored. If not set, a default location is used. It is highly recommended to configure this to a persistent storage location.
You can set these properties in an application.properties or application.yml file in your src/main/resources directory, or by using environment variables.
Example application.properties:
server.port=8080 lucene.index.path=/path/to/lucene/index
This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

