Npm Search MCP server

The npm-search MCP server allows you to search for npm packages directly through AI assistants by calling the npm search command. This Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enables your AI assistant to retrieve information about npm packages based on your search queries.

Installation

Using NPM (Recommended)

You can install the npm-search-mcp-server globally using npm:

npm install -g npm-search-mcp-server

After installation, you can run it as a command:

npm-search-mcp-server

Using Smithery

To install npm-search for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install npm-search-mcp-server --client claude

Using uv

If you have the uv package manager installed, you can run the server directly without installation using uvx:

uvx npm-search-mcp-server

Configuration

Configure for Claude.app

To add the npm-search MCP server to Claude, add the following to your Claude settings:

Using npm installation:

"mcpServers": {
  "npm-search": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "npm-search-mcp-server"]
  }
}

Using uvx:

"mcpServers": {
  "npm-search": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["npm-search-mcp-server"]
  }
}

Configure for Zed

To add the npm-search MCP server to Zed, add the following to your Zed settings.json:

Using npm installation:

"context_servers": {
  "npm-search-mcp-server": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "npm-search-mcp-server"]
  }
}

Using uvx:

"context_servers": {
  "npm-search-mcp-server": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["npm-search-mcp-server"]
  }
}

Usage Examples

Searching for NPM Packages

When using an AI assistant configured with the npm-search MCP server, you can ask it to search for npm packages by using the search_npm_packages tool:

{
  "name": "search_npm_packages",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "express"
  }
}

The response will include package details like:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "name": "express",
      "description": "Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework",
      "version": "4.17.1",
      "author": "TJ Holowaychuk",
      "license": "MIT"
    },
    ...
  ]
}

Example Queries for Claude

You can ask Claude questions like:

• "Search for express package on npm"
• "Find packages related to react"
• "Show me npm packages for web development"

Debugging

If you need to debug the MCP server, you can use the MCP inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector npx -y npm-search-mcp-server

Or if you've installed the package in a specific directory:

cd path/to/servers/src/npm-search
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run npm-search-mcp-server

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "npm-search" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","npm-search-mcp-server"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "npm-search": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "npm-search-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "npm-search": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "npm-search-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect