Simple File Vector Store MCP server

This MCP server provides semantic search capabilities across your files by monitoring specified directories and creating vector embeddings of file contents. It enables you to search documents based on their meaning rather than just keywords.

Installation

To use the simple-files-vectorstore MCP server, you need to add it to your MCP settings file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "files-vectorstore": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@lishenxydlgzs/simple-files-vectorstore"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WATCH_DIRECTORIES": "/path/to/your/directories"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

The MCP settings file is located at:

• For VSCode Cline Extension: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
• For Claude Desktop App: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Configuration

Required Settings

You must specify directories to watch using ONE of these methods:

• WATCH_DIRECTORIES: Comma-separated list of directories to monitor
• WATCH_CONFIG_FILE: Path to a JSON configuration file with a watchList array

Example using WATCH_DIRECTORIES:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "files-vectorstore": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@lishenxydlgzs/simple-files-vectorstore"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WATCH_DIRECTORIES": "/path/to/dir1,/path/to/dir2"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Example using WATCH_CONFIG_FILE:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "files-vectorstore": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@lishenxydlgzs/simple-files-vectorstore"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WATCH_CONFIG_FILE": "/path/to/watch-config.json"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

The watch config file should have this structure:

{
  "watchList": [
    "/path/to/dir1",
    "/path/to/dir2",
    "/path/to/specific/file.txt"
  ]
}

Optional Settings

Fine-tune the server behavior with these environment variables:

• CHUNK_SIZE: Size of text chunks for processing (default: 1000)
• CHUNK_OVERLAP: Overlap between chunks (default: 200)
• IGNORE_FILE: Path to a .gitignore style file to exclude files/directories

Example with all optional parameters:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "files-vectorstore": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@lishenxydlgzs/simple-files-vectorstore"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WATCH_DIRECTORIES": "/path/to/dir1,/path/to/dir2",
        "CHUNK_SIZE": "2000",
        "CHUNK_OVERLAP": "500",
        "IGNORE_FILE": "/path/to/.gitignore"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Using the MCP Tools

The server provides the following tools that you can use in your AI interactions:

Searching Files

Use the search tool to perform semantic searches across indexed files:

Parameters:

• query (required): The search query string
• limit (optional): Maximum number of results to return (default: 5, max: 20)

Example response:

[
  {
    "content": "matched text content",
    "source": "/path/to/file",
    "fileType": "markdown",
    "score": 0.85
  }
]

Getting Statistics

Use the get_stats tool to view information about the indexed files:

Parameters: None

Example response:

{
  "totalDocuments": 42,
  "watchedDirectories": ["/path/to/docs"],
  "processingFiles": []
}

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 "files-vectorstore" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@lishenxydlgzs/simple-files-vectorstore"],"env":{"WATCH_DIRECTORIES":"/path/to/your/directories"},"disabled":false,"autoApprove":[]}'

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": {
        "files-vectorstore": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@lishenxydlgzs/simple-files-vectorstore"
            ],
            "env": {
                "WATCH_DIRECTORIES": "/path/to/your/directories"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "autoApprove": []
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "files-vectorstore": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@lishenxydlgzs/simple-files-vectorstore"
            ],
            "env": {
                "WATCH_DIRECTORIES": "/path/to/your/directories"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "autoApprove": []
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect