Python Documentation Search MCP server

This MCP server enhances Claude with documentation search capabilities across popular AI/ML libraries, making it easier to find and understand technical information without leaving your conversation.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• Claude Pro subscription
• Serper API key (from serper.dev)
• Claude Desktop application

Setup Instructions

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/your-username/claude-docs-assistant.git
cd claude-docs-assistant

# Create a virtual environment (recommended)
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Configuration

Create a .env file in the project root with your API key:

SERPER_API_KEY=your_serper_api_key_here

Using the MCP Server

Starting the Server

Launch the MCP server with:

python main.py

You should see output indicating the server is running and waiting for Claude to connect.

Connecting with Claude Desktop

1. Open the Claude Desktop App
2. Click on your profile icon and select "Settings"
3. Navigate to the "Tools" section
4. Click "Add Tool"
5. Select "Connect to a local tool"
6. Follow the prompts to connect to your running MCP server
7. Confirm the connection is successful

Example Usage

Once connected, you can ask Claude questions that will trigger the documentation search:

Could you explain how to use FAISS with LangChain? Please search the langchain documentation to help me.

Claude will automatically:

• Search for relevant documentation
• Retrieve the content
• Process and explain the information

Supported Documentation

The assistant currently searches documentation for:

• LangChain: python.langchain.com/docs
• LlamaIndex: docs.llamaindex.ai/en/stable
• OpenAI: platform.openai.com/docs

Advanced Configuration

Adding New Documentation Sources

You can extend the supported documentation by modifying the docs_urls dictionary in main.py:

docs_urls = {
    "langchain": "python.langchain.com/docs",
    "llama-index": "docs.llamaindex.ai/en/stable",
    "openai": "platform.openai.com/docs",
    "huggingface": "huggingface.co/docs",  # Add new documentation sources
    "tensorflow": "www.tensorflow.org/api_docs",
}

Customizing Search Results

To adjust the number of search results:

payload = json.dumps({"q": query, "num": 5})  # Increase from default 2

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

• "Connection refused" error: Ensure the MCP server is running before connecting Claude
• Timeout errors: Check your internet connection or increase the timeout value
• API key issues: Verify your Serper API key is correct in the .env file

Enabling Debug Logging

For more detailed logs, add this to the main.py file:

import logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

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 "python-documentation-search" '{"command":"python","args":["main.py"]}'

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": {
        "python-documentation-search": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "main.py"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "python-documentation-search": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "main.py"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect