Meilisearch MCP

A high-performance Go implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Meilisearch. This server enables AI tooling (desktop & cloud) to connect with your Meilisearch data using the MCP standard over HTTP or stdio.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Quick Start
  • Connect to Remote MCP Server
  • Download Latest Release
  • Build from Source
    • Prerequisites
    • Build
    • Run (HTTP Transport)
    • Run (STDIO Transport)
• Available Tools
• Docker
  • Build Image
  • Run Container
  • Environment Variables
  • docker-compose Example
• Configuration Examples
  • Generic HTTP (mcp-remote)
  • Local STDIO
• Supported Clients
• Security Notes
• Resources
• Contributing
• License

Features

• Full-featured Meilisearch integration: Supports the complete Meilisearch API for search, indexing, and management.
• MCP over HTTP and stdio: Flexible transport for local and remote use, with HTTP supporting multiple clients and multi-instance connections.
• Secure by design: Built-in support for API keys, recommended TLS via reverse proxy, and security best practices for header forwarding and rate limiting.
• Streaming JSON: Efficient newline-delimited streaming for requests and responses.
• Configurable: Easily connect to any Meilisearch instance and manage API keys per client.
• Multi-client, multi-instance support: HTTP transport allows multiple clients to connect simultaneously, each with their own Meilisearch instance and API key.
• Remote MCP server available: Use the public MCP endpoint at https://meilisearch.javad.dev for remote access and testing.
• Open Source: MIT licensed.

Quick Start

1. Connect to Remote MCP Server

You can use the public MCP server at:

https://meilisearch.javad.dev/mcp

Example configuration for mcp-remote:

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y","mcp-remote@latest","https://meilisearch.javad.dev/mcp", "--header","X-Meili-Instance: ${MEILISEARCH_INSTANCE}", "--header","X-Meili-APIKey: ${MEILISEARCH_API_KEY}"],
  "env": {"MEILISEARCH_INSTANCE": "http://localhost:7700", "MEILISEARCH_API_KEY": "masterKey"},
  "active": true
}

2. Download Latest Release

Download the latest binary from the releases page and extract it:

wget https://github.com/ja7ad/meilisearch-mcp/releases/latest/download/mcp
chmod +x mcp

3. Build from Source

Prerequisites

• Go 1.20+ (for building from source)
• Meilisearch instance (local or remote)

Build

git clone https://github.com/ja7ad/meilisearch-mcp.git
cd meilisearch-mcp
make build

Run (HTTP Transport)

./build/meilisearch-mcp serve http --addr :8080 --meili-host http://localhost:7700 --meili-api-key masterKey

Run (STDIO Transport)

./build/meilisearch-mcp serve stdio --meili-host http://localhost:7700 --meili-api-key masterKey

Available Tools

A concise reference of all MCP tools exposed by this server. Each tool returns JSON text (raw Meilisearch API response or task object). Errors are returned via MCP error tool results.

Tool	Description
create_index	Create a new index (optionally with a primary key)
update_index	Update an primary key of index in Meilisearch
delete_index	Delete an existing index
get_index	Retrieve a single index definition
list_indexes	List indexes (paginated)
swap_index	Swap pairs of indexes atomically
list_keys	List API keys (paginated)
get_key	Get a single API key (by key or UID)
create_key	Create a new API key with actions & index scope
get_task	Get status of an asynchronous task

Using Tools Over HTTP

When using HTTP transport, include these headers per request to target different Meilisearch instances dynamically:

• X-Meili-Instance: http://host:7700 (required on HTTP transport)
• X-Meili-APIKey: (optional if instance allows anonymous access)

Stdio transport uses the CLI flags/ENV (--meili-host, --meili-api-key) and does not require headers.

Pagination defaults: limit=20, offset=0 when omitted or <=0.

Docker

Build Image

docker build -t meilisearch-mcp:latest .

Run Container

docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 \
  -e MEILI_HOST=http://host.docker.internal:7700 \
  -e MEILI_API_KEY=masterKey \
  meilisearch-mcp:latest

Environment Variables

• MEILI_HOST (default: http://localhost:7700)
• MEILI_API_KEY (optional)
• MCP_ADDR (default: :8080)
• MCP_POOL_SIZE (default: 100)
• MCP_POOL_DURATION (default: 5m)
• MCP_RATE_LIMIT_RPS (default: 300)
• MCP_DEBUG (1 to enable --debug)

docker-compose Example

services:
  mcp:
    image: meilisearch-mcp:latest
    build: .
    environment:
      MEILI_HOST: http://meili:7700
      MEILI_API_KEY: ${MEILI_API_KEY:-masterKey}
      MCP_RATE_LIMIT_RPS: 200
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    depends_on:
      - meili
  meili:
    image: getmeili/meilisearch:latest
    environment:
      MEILI_MASTER_KEY: masterKey
    ports:
      - "7700:7700"

Configuration Examples

Generic HTTP (mcp-remote)

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y","mcp-remote@latest","https://meilisearch.javad.dev/mcp", "--header","X-Meili-Instance: ${MEILISEARCH_INSTANCE}", "--header","X-Meili-APIKey: ${MEILISEARCH_API_KEY}"],
  "env": {"MEILISEARCH_INSTANCE": "http://localhost:7700", "MEILISEARCH_API_KEY": "masterKey"},
  "active": true
}

Local STDIO

{
  "command": "/usr/bin/meilisearch-mcp",
  "args": ["serve", "stdio","--meili-host","http://localhost:7700","--meili-api-key","masterKey"],
  "env": {},
  "active": false
}

Flip active flags to select transport. Prefer stdio locally; HTTP for remote/container usage.

Supported Clients

• Jan (desktop) – native MCP provider config
• Claude Desktop – tool integration (future MCP support)
• Cursor / VS Code (Continue) – configure remote/stdio MCP backend
• Zed / JetBrains (plugins) – emerging MCP adopters
• Custom – use mcp-remote CLI or direct HTTP POST

Security Notes

• Place behind TLS (reverse proxy) when exposed publicly
• Forward required auth headers only; strip unknown ones
• Enforce payload size limits & rate limiting at the proxy

Resources

• Meilisearch
• MCP Spec
• Project GitHub

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, commit message conventions (feat:, fix:, chore:, test:, ci: etc.), and required PR title prefixes ([Feat], [Fix], [Chore], [Refactor], etc.).

License

MIT