Hermes Search (Azure Cognitive Search) MCP server

The Hermes Search MCP server provides a bridge between AI systems and data sources using the Model Context Protocol, enabling full-text and semantic search capabilities over your data through Azure Cognitive Search. This server allows AI clients like Claude to search, index, and manage documents stored in your Azure search service.

Prerequisites

Before installing the Hermes Search MCP server, ensure you have:

• Azure Cognitive Search service and credentials
• An MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Cline)
• Node.js (v20 or higher)
• Git (only needed for Git installation method)

Installation

Quick Installation with NPX

The simplest way to run the server is using NPX:

npx -y hermes-search-mcp@latest

Installation via Smithery

You can also install the server automatically for Claude Desktop using Smithery:

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

Client Configuration

Configuring Cline

Marketplace Installation (Recommended)

1. Open Cline in VS Code
2. Click the Cline icon in the sidebar
3. Navigate to the "MCP Servers" tab (4 squares icon)
4. Search for "Hermes Search" and click "install"
5. Enter your Azure Cognitive Search credentials when prompted

Manual Configuration

1. Open the Cline MCP settings file:

# For macOS:
code ~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

# For Windows:
code %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\saoudrizwan.claude-dev\settings\cline_mcp_settings.json

2. Add the Hermes Search server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hermes-search-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "hermes-search-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "AZURE_SEARCH_ENDPOINT": "your-search-endpoint",
        "AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME": "your-index-name"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

3. Save and restart Cline if it's already running

Configuring Cursor

Note: Requires Cursor version 0.45.6 or higher

1. Open Cursor Settings
2. Navigate to Features > MCP Servers
3. Click "+ Add New MCP Server"
4. Fill out the form:
   • Name: A nickname for the server (e.g., "hermes-search-mcp")
   • Type: Select "command"
   • Command: Enter the command with your credentials:

   env AZURE_SEARCH_ENDPOINT=your-search-endpoint AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY=your-api-key AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME=your-index-name npx -y hermes-search-mcp@latest
   

Configuring Claude Desktop

1. Open the configuration file:

# For macOS:
touch "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json"
open -e "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json"

# For Windows:
code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the Hermes Search server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hermes-search-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "hermes-search-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "AZURE_SEARCH_ENDPOINT": "your-search-endpoint",
        "AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME": "your-index-name"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using Hermes Search

After configuring your client, completely close and reopen it to apply the changes. You should see a search icon in the bottom left of the Claude Desktop app, indicating that the MCP tools are available.

Example Commands

1. Search for Documents:

Search for documents containing "machine learning" in the Azure Cognitive Search index, returning the top 10 results.

2. Index New Content:

Index the following documents into Azure Cognitive Search: [{"id": "1", "title": "AI Overview", "content": "Artificial Intelligence is..."}]

3. Delete an Index:

Delete the current Azure Cognitive Search index.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Server Not Found

   • Verify npm installation with npm --version
   • Check your client configuration syntax
   • Ensure Node.js is properly installed with node --version

2. Azure Search Credential Issues

   • Confirm your Azure Cognitive Search credentials are valid
   • Check the credentials are correctly set in the config
   • Verify there are no spaces or quotes around the credentials

3. Index Access Issues

   • Verify the index exists in your Azure Cognitive Search service
   • Check the index permissions
   • Ensure the API key has appropriate access rights

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 "hermes-search-mcp" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","hermes-search-mcp@latest"],"env":{"AZURE_SEARCH_ENDPOINT":"your-search-endpoint","AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY":"your-api-key","AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME":"your-index-name"}}'

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": {
        "hermes-search-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "hermes-search-mcp@latest"
            ],
            "env": {
                "AZURE_SEARCH_ENDPOINT": "your-search-endpoint",
                "AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
                "AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME": "your-index-name"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "hermes-search-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "hermes-search-mcp@latest"
            ],
            "env": {
                "AZURE_SEARCH_ENDPOINT": "your-search-endpoint",
                "AZURE_SEARCH_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
                "AZURE_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME": "your-index-name"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect