npm package: @mhalder/qdrant-mcp-server
Description: MCP server for semantic search using local Qdrant and Ollama (default) with support for OpenAI, Cohere, and Voyage AI
Author: mhalder
Latest version: 3.3.3

# Qdrant MCP Server

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A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server providing semantic search capabilities using Qdrant vector database with multiple embedding providers.

## Features

- **Zero Setup**: Works out of the box with Ollama - no API keys required
- **Privacy-First**: Local embeddings and vector storage - data never leaves your machine
- **Code Vectorization**: Intelligent codebase indexing with AST-aware chunking and semantic code search
- **Git History Search**: Index commit history for semantic search over past changes, fixes, and patterns
- **Advanced Search**: Contextual search (code + git with correlations) and federated search across multiple repositories
- **Multiple Providers**: Ollama (default), OpenAI, Cohere, and Voyage AI
- **Hybrid Search**: Combine semantic and keyword search for better results
- **Semantic Search**: Natural language search with metadata filtering
- **Incremental Indexing**: Efficient updates - only re-index changed files
- **Configurable Prompts**: Create custom prompts for guided workflows without code changes
- **Rate Limiting**: Intelligent throttling with exponential backoff
- **Full CRUD**: Create, search, and manage collections and documents
- **Structured Logging**: JSON logging via Pino with configurable log levels
- **Flexible Deployment**: Run locally (stdio) or as a remote HTTP server
- **API Key Authentication**: Connect to secured Qdrant instances (Qdrant Cloud, self-hosted with API keys)

## Quick Start

### Prerequisites

- Node.js 22.x or 24.x
- Podman or Docker with Compose support

### Installation

```bash
# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/mhalder/qdrant-mcp-server.git
cd qdrant-mcp-server

# Node 22.x
npm install

# Node 24.x (requires C++20 flag for native module compilation)
CXXFLAGS='-std=c++20' npm install

# Start services (choose one)
podman compose up -d   # Using Podman
docker compose up -d   # Using Docker

# Pull the embedding model
podman exec ollama ollama pull nomic-embed-text  # Podman
docker exec ollama ollama pull nomic-embed-text  # Docker

# Build
npm run build
```

### Configuration

#### Local Setup (stdio transport)

```bash
claude mcp add --transport stdio qdrant -- node /path/to/qdrant-mcp-server/build/index.js
```

Or add to `~/.claude.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qdrant": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/qdrant-mcp-server/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}
```

For Qdrant Cloud or secured instances, add `--env QDRANT_API_KEY=your-key` or set in env config.

**Try it:**

```
Create a collection called "notes" and add a document about machine learning
```

**Enable example prompts:** Copy `prompts.example.json` to `prompts.json` and restart. Use `/prompt` to list available prompts.

#### Remote Setup (HTTP transport)

> **⚠️ Security Warning**: When deploying the HTTP transport in production:
>
> - **Always** run behind a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy) with HTTPS
> - Implement authentication/authorization at the proxy level
> - Use firewalls to restrict access to trusted networks
> - Never expose directly to the public internet without protection
> - Consider implementing rate limiting at the proxy level
> - Monitor server logs for suspicious activity

**Start the server:**

```bash
TRANSPORT_MODE=http HTTP_PORT=3000 node build/index.js
```

**Option 1: Using `claude mcp add`**

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http qdrant http://your-server:3000/mcp
```

**Option 2: Add to `~/.claude.json`**

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qdrant": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://your-server:3000/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

**Using a different provider:**

```json
"env": {
  "EMBEDDING_PROVIDER": "openai",  // or "cohere", "voyage"
  "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-...",      // provider-specific API key
  "QDRANT_URL": "http://localhost:6333"
}
```

Restart after making changes.

See [Advanced Configuration](#advanced-configuration) section below for all options.

## Tools

### Collection Management

| Tool                  | Description                                                          |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `create_collection`   | Create collection with specified distance metric (Cosine/Euclid/Dot) |
| `list_collections`    | List all collections                                                 |
| `get_collection_info` | Get collection details and statistics                                |
| `delete_collection`   | Delete collection and all documents                                  |

### Document Operations

| Tool               | Description                                                                   |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `add_documents`    | Add documents with automatic embedding (supports string/number IDs, metadata) |
| `semantic_search`  | Natural language search with optional metadata filtering                      |
| `hybrid_search`    | Hybrid search combining semantic and keyword (BM25) search with RRF           |
| `delete_documents` | Delete specific documents by ID                                               |

### Code Vectorization

| Tool               | Description                                                                |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `index_codebase`   | Index a codebase for semantic code search with AST-aware chunking          |
| `search_code`      | Search indexed codebase using natural language queries                     |
| `reindex_changes`  | Incrementally re-index only changed files (detects added/modified/deleted) |
| `get_index_status` | Get indexing status and statistics for a codebase                          |
| `clear_index`      | Delete all indexed data for a codebase                                     |

### Git History

| Tool                   | Description                                                              |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `index_git_history`    | Index git commit history for semantic search over past changes and fixes |
| `search_git_history`   | Search indexed git history using natural language queries                |
| `index_new_commits`    | Incrementally index only new commits since last indexing                 |
| `get_git_index_status` | Get indexing status and statistics for a repository's git history        |
| `clear_git_index`      | Delete all indexed git history data for a repository                     |

### Advanced Search

| Tool                | Description                                                                   |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `contextual_search` | Combined code + git history search with file-commit correlations              |
| `federated_search`  | Search across multiple repositories with Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) ranking |

### Resources

- `qdrant://collections` - List all collections
- `qdrant://collection/{name}` - Collection details

## Configurable Prompts

Create custom prompts tailored to your specific use cases without modifying code. Prompts provide guided workflows for common tasks.

**Note**: By default, the server looks for `prompts.json` in the project root directory. If the file exists, prompts are automatically loaded. You can specify a custom path using the `PROMPTS_CONFIG_FILE` environment variable.

### Setup

1. **Create a prompts configuration file** (e.g., `prompts.json` in the project root):

   See [`prompts.example.json`](prompts.example.json) for example configurations you can copy and customize.

2. **Configure the server** (optional - only needed for custom path):

If you place `prompts.json` in the project root, no additional configuration is needed. To use a custom path:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qdrant": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/qdrant-mcp-server/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "QDRANT_URL": "http://localhost:6333",
        "PROMPTS_CONFIG_FILE": "/custom/path/to/prompts.json"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

3. **Use prompts** in your AI assistant:

**Claude Code:**

```bash
/mcp__qdrant__find_similar_docs papers "neural networks" 10
```

**VSCode:**

```bash
/mcp.qdrant.find_similar_docs papers "neural networks" 10
```

### Example Prompts

See [`prompts.example.json`](prompts.example.json) for ready-to-use prompts including:

- `setup_rag_collection` - Create RAG-optimized collections
- `analyze_and_optimize` - Collection insights and recommendations
- `compare_search_strategies` - Semantic vs hybrid search comparison
- `migrate_to_hybrid` - Collection migration guide
- `debug_search_quality` - Troubleshoot poor search results
- `build_knowledge_base` - Structured documentation with metadata
- `index_git_history` - Index repository commit history for semantic search
- `search_project_history` - Search git history to understand feature implementations
- `investigate_code_with_history` - Deep dive into code with contextual search
- `cross_repo_search` - Search patterns across multiple repositories
- `trace_feature_evolution` - Track how features evolved over time
- `security_audit_search` - Find security-related code and fixes

### Template Syntax

Templates use `{{variable}}` placeholders:

- Required arguments must be provided
- Optional arguments use defaults if not specified
- Unknown variables are left as-is in the output

## Code Vectorization

Intelligently index and search your codebase using semantic code search. Perfect for AI-assisted development, code exploration, and understanding large codebases.

### Features

- **AST-Aware Chunking**: Intelligent code splitting at function/class boundaries using tree-sitter
- **Multi-Language Support**: 35+ file types including TypeScript, Python, Java, Go, Rust, C++, and more
- **Incremental Updates**: Only re-index changed files for fast updates
- **Smart Ignore Patterns**: Respects .gitignore, .dockerignore, and custom .contextignore files
- **Semantic Search**: Natural language queries to find relevant code
- **Metadata Filtering**: Filter by file type, path patterns, or language
- **Local-First**: All processing happens locally - your code never leaves your machine

### Quick Start

**1. Index your codebase:**

```bash
# Via Claude Code MCP tool
/mcp__qdrant__index_codebase /path/to/your/project
```

**2. Search your code:**

```bash
# Natural language search
/mcp__qdrant__search_code /path/to/your/project "authentication middleware"

# Filter by file type
/mcp__qdrant__search_code /path/to/your/project "database schema" --fileTypes .ts,.js

# Filter by path pattern
/mcp__qdrant__search_code /path/to/your/project "API endpoints" --pathPattern src/api/**
```

**3. Update after changes:**

```bash
# Incrementally re-index only changed files
/mcp__qdrant__reindex_changes /path/to/your/project
```

### Usage Examples

#### Index a TypeScript Project

```typescript
// The MCP tool automatically:
// 1. Scans all .ts, .tsx, .js, .jsx files
// 2. Respects .gitignore patterns (skips node_modules, dist, etc.)
// 3. Chunks code at function/class boundaries
// 4. Generates embeddings using your configured provider
// 5. Stores in Qdrant with metadata (file path, line numbers, language)

index_codebase({
  path: "/workspace/my-app",
  forceReindex: false, // Set to true to re-index from scratch
});

// Output:
// ✓ Indexed 247 files (1,823 chunks) in 45.2s
```

#### Search for Authentication Code

```typescript
search_code({
  path: "/workspace/my-app",
  query: "how does user authentication work?",
  limit: 5,
});

// Results include file path, line numbers, and code snippets:
// [
//   {
//     filePath: "src/auth/middleware.ts",
//     startLine: 15,
//     endLine: 42,
//     content: "export async function authenticateUser(req: Request) { ... }",
//     score: 0.89,
//     language: "typescript"
//   },
//   ...
// ]
```

#### Search with Filters

```typescript
// Only search TypeScript files
search_code({
  path: "/workspace/my-app",
  query: "error handling patterns",
  fileTypes: [".ts", ".tsx"],
  limit: 10,
});

// Only search in specific directories
search_code({
  path: "/workspace/my-app",
  query: "API route handlers",
  pathPattern: "src/api/**",
  limit: 10,
});
```

#### Incremental Re-indexing

```typescript
// After making changes to your codebase
reindex_changes({
  path: "/workspace/my-app",
});

// Output:
// ✓ Updated: +3 files added, ~5 files modified, -1 files deleted
// ✓ Chunks: +47 added, -23 deleted in 8.3s
```

#### Check Indexing Status

```typescript
get_index_status({
  path: "/workspace/my-app",
});

// Output:
// {
//   status: "indexed",      // "not_indexed" | "indexing" | "indexed"
//   isIndexed: true,        // deprecated: use status instead
//   collectionName: "code_a3f8d2e1",
//   chunksCount: 1823,
//   filesCount: 247,
//   lastUpdated: "2025-01-30T10:15:00Z",
//   languages: ["typescript", "javascript", "json"]
// }
```

### Supported Languages

**Programming Languages** (35+ file types):

- **Web**: TypeScript, JavaScript, Vue, Svelte
- **Backend**: Python, Java, Go, Rust, Ruby, PHP
- **Systems**: C, C++, C#
- **Mobile**: Swift, Kotlin, Dart
- **Functional**: Scala, Clojure, Haskell, OCaml
- **Scripting**: Bash, Shell, Fish
- **Data**: SQL, GraphQL, Protocol Buffers
- **Config**: JSON, YAML, TOML, XML, Markdown

See [configuration](#code-vectorization-configuration) for full list and customization options.

### Custom Ignore Patterns

Create a `.contextignore` file in your project root to specify additional patterns to ignore:

```gitignore
# .contextignore
**/test/**
**/*.test.ts
**/*.spec.ts
**/fixtures/**
**/mocks/**
**/__tests__/**
```

### Best Practices

1. **Index Once, Update Incrementally**: Use `index_codebase` for initial indexing, then `reindex_changes` for updates
2. **Use Filters**: Narrow search scope with `fileTypes` and `pathPattern` for better results
3. **Meaningful Queries**: Use natural language that describes what you're looking for (e.g., "database connection pooling" instead of "db")
4. **Check Status First**: Use `get_index_status` to verify a codebase is indexed before searching
5. **Local Embedding**: Use Ollama (default) to keep everything local and private

### Performance

Typical performance on a modern laptop (Apple M1/M2 or similar):

| Codebase Size     | Files | Indexing Time | Search Latency |
| ----------------- | ----- | ------------- | -------------- |
| Small (10k LOC)   | 50    | ~10s          | <100ms         |
| Medium (100k LOC) | 500   | ~2min         | <200ms         |
| Large (500k LOC)  | 2,500 | ~10min        | <500ms         |

**Note**: Indexing time varies based on embedding provider. Ollama (local) is fastest for initial indexing.

## Git History Search

Index and search your repository's git commit history using natural language. Perfect for finding past fixes, understanding change patterns, and learning from previous work.

### Features

- **Semantic Commit Search**: Find commits by describing what you're looking for in natural language
- **Conventional Commit Classification**: Automatic classification of commits (feat, fix, refactor, etc.)
- **Incremental Updates**: Only index new commits for efficient updates
- **Rich Filtering**: Filter by commit type, author, or date range
- **Metadata Extraction**: Includes files changed, insertions/deletions, and full commit context

### Quick Start

**1. Index your repository's git history:**

```bash
# Via Claude Code MCP tool
/mcp__qdrant__index_git_history /path/to/your/repo
```

**2. Search for relevant commits:**

```bash
# Natural language search
/mcp__qdrant__search_git_history /path/to/your/repo "fix authentication bug"

# Filter by commit type
/mcp__qdrant__search_git_history /path/to/your/repo "database optimization" --commitTypes fix,perf

# Filter by author
/mcp__qdrant__search_git_history /path/to/your/repo "API changes" --authors "john@example.com"
```

**3. Keep index up to date:**

```bash
# Incrementally index only new commits
/mcp__qdrant__index_new_commits /path/to/your/repo
```

### Use Cases

- **Finding Similar Fixes**: "How was the null pointer issue in auth fixed before?"
- **Understanding Patterns**: "What refactoring was done to the database layer?"
- **Learning from History**: "Show me examples of API endpoint implementations"
- **Code Archaeology**: "What changes were made to the payment system last year?"

## Advanced Search

Combine code and git history search for deeper codebase understanding. Requires repositories to be indexed with both `index_codebase` and `index_git_history` first.

- **Contextual Search**: Query code + git history together with automatic file-commit correlations
- **Federated Search**: Search across multiple repositories with RRF ranking

See **[Advanced Search Examples](examples/advanced-search/)** for detailed usage, workflows, and scenarios.

## Examples

See [examples/](examples/) directory for detailed guides:

- **[Basic Usage](examples/basic/)** - Create collections, add documents, search
- **[Hybrid Search](examples/hybrid-search/)** - Combine semantic and keyword search
- **[Knowledge Base](examples/knowledge-base/)** - Structured documentation with metadata
- **[Advanced Filtering](examples/filters/)** - Complex boolean filters
- **[Rate Limiting](examples/rate-limiting/)** - Batch processing with cloud providers
- **[Code Search](examples/code-search/)** - Index codebases and semantic code search
- **[Advanced Search](examples/advanced-search/)** - Contextual and federated search across repositories

## Advanced Configuration

### Environment Variables

#### Core Configuration

| Variable                  | Description                                              | Default               |
| ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- |
| `TRANSPORT_MODE`          | "stdio" or "http"                                        | stdio                 |
| `HTTP_PORT`               | Port for HTTP transport                                  | 3000                  |
| `HTTP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS` | Request timeout for HTTP transport (ms)                  | 300000                |
| `EMBEDDING_PROVIDER`      | "ollama", "openai", "cohere", "voyage"                   | ollama                |
| `QDRANT_URL`              | Qdrant server URL                                        | http://localhost:6333 |
| `QDRANT_API_KEY`          | API key for Qdrant authentication                        | -                     |
| `LOG_LEVEL`               | Logging level (fatal/error/warn/info/debug/trace/silent) | info                  |
| `PROMPTS_CONFIG_FILE`     | Path to prompts configuration JSON                       | prompts.json          |

#### Embedding Configuration

| Variable                            | Description              | Default           |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------ | ----------------- |
| `EMBEDDING_MODEL`                   | Model name               | Provider-specific |
| `EMBEDDING_BASE_URL`                | Custom API URL           | Provider-specific |
| `EMBEDDING_MAX_REQUESTS_PER_MINUTE` | Rate limit               | Provider-specific |
| `EMBEDDING_RETRY_ATTEMPTS`          | Retry count              | 3                 |
| `EMBEDDING_RETRY_DELAY`             | Initial retry delay (ms) | 1000              |
| `OPENAI_API_KEY`                    | OpenAI API key           | -                 |
| `COHERE_API_KEY`                    | Cohere API key           | -                 |
| `VOYAGE_API_KEY`                    | Voyage AI API key        | -                 |

#### Code Vectorization Configuration

| Variable                 | Description                                  | Default |
| ------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- | ------- |
| `CODE_CHUNK_SIZE`        | Maximum chunk size in characters             | 2500    |
| `CODE_CHUNK_OVERLAP`     | Overlap between chunks in characters         | 300     |
| `CODE_ENABLE_AST`        | Enable AST-aware chunking (tree-sitter)      | true    |
| `CODE_BATCH_SIZE`        | Number of chunks to embed in one batch       | 100     |
| `CODE_CUSTOM_EXTENSIONS` | Additional file extensions (comma-separated) | -       |
| `CODE_CUSTOM_IGNORE`     | Additional ignore patterns (comma-separated) | -       |
| `CODE_DEFAULT_LIMIT`     | Default search result limit                  | 5       |

#### Git History Configuration

| Variable                   | Description                              | Default |
| -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------- |
| `GIT_MAX_COMMITS`          | Maximum commits to index per run         | 5000    |
| `GIT_INCLUDE_FILES`        | Include changed file list in chunks      | true    |
| `GIT_INCLUDE_DIFF`         | Include truncated diff in chunks         | true    |
| `GIT_MAX_DIFF_SIZE`        | Maximum diff size in bytes per commit    | 5000    |
| `GIT_TIMEOUT`              | Timeout for git commands (ms)            | 300000  |
| `GIT_MAX_CHUNK_SIZE`       | Maximum characters per chunk             | 3000    |
| `GIT_BATCH_SIZE`           | Number of chunks to embed in one batch   | 100     |
| `GIT_BATCH_RETRY_ATTEMPTS` | Retry attempts for failed batches        | 3       |
| `GIT_SEARCH_LIMIT`         | Default search result limit              | 10      |
| `GIT_ENABLE_HYBRID`        | Enable hybrid search with sparse vectors | true    |

### Provider Comparison

| Provider   | Models                                                          | Dimensions     | Rate Limit | Notes                |
| ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | ---------- | -------------------- |
| **Ollama** | `nomic-embed-text` (default), `mxbai-embed-large`, `all-minilm` | 768, 1024, 384 | None       | Local, no API key    |
| **OpenAI** | `text-embedding-3-small` (default), `text-embedding-3-large`    | 1536, 3072     | 3500/min   | Cloud API            |
| **Cohere** | `embed-english-v3.0` (default), `embed-multilingual-v3.0`       | 1024           | 100/min    | Multilingual support |
| **Voyage** | `voyage-2` (default), `voyage-large-2`, `voyage-code-2`         | 1024, 1536     | 300/min    | Code-specialized     |

**Note:** Ollama models require pulling before use:

- Podman: `podman exec ollama ollama pull <model-name>`
- Docker: `docker exec ollama ollama pull <model-name>`

## Troubleshooting

| Issue                          | Solution                                                                                  |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Qdrant not running**         | `podman compose up -d` or `docker compose up -d`                                          |
| **Collection missing**         | Create collection first before adding documents                                           |
| **Ollama not running**         | Verify with `curl http://localhost:11434`, start with `podman compose up -d`              |
| **Model missing**              | `podman exec ollama ollama pull nomic-embed-text` or `docker exec ollama ollama pull ...` |
| **Rate limit errors**          | Adjust `EMBEDDING_MAX_REQUESTS_PER_MINUTE` to match your provider tier                    |
| **API key errors**             | Verify correct API key in environment configuration                                       |
| **Qdrant unauthorized**        | Set `QDRANT_API_KEY` environment variable for secured instances                           |
| **Filter errors**              | Ensure Qdrant filter format, check field names match metadata                             |
| **Codebase not indexed**       | Run `index_codebase` before `search_code`                                                 |
| **Slow indexing**              | Use Ollama (local) for faster indexing, or increase `CODE_BATCH_SIZE`                     |
| **Files not found**            | Check `.gitignore` and `.contextignore` patterns                                          |
| **Search returns no results**  | Try broader queries, check if codebase is indexed with `get_index_status`                 |
| **Out of memory during index** | Reduce `CODE_CHUNK_SIZE` or `CODE_BATCH_SIZE`                                             |
| **Node 24 tree-sitter error**  | Run `CXXFLAGS='-std=c++20' npm install` - Node 24 requires C++20 for native modules       |

## Development

```bash
npm run dev          # Development with auto-reload
npm run build        # Production build
npm run type-check   # TypeScript validation
npm test             # Run test suite
npm run test:coverage # Coverage report
```

### Testing

**748 tests** across 27 test files with **97%+ coverage**:

- **Unit Tests**: QdrantManager (56), Ollama (41), OpenAI (25), Cohere (29), Voyage (31), Factory (43), Prompts (50), Transport (15), MCP Server (19)
- **Integration Tests**: Code indexer (56), scanner (15), chunker (24), synchronizer (42), snapshot (26), merkle tree (28)
- **Git History Tests**: Git extractor (28), extractor integration (11), chunker (30), indexer (42), synchronizer (18)
- **Advanced Search Tests**: Federated tools (30) - normalizeScores, calculateRRFScore, buildCorrelations, contextual_search, federated_search

**CI/CD**: GitHub Actions runs build, type-check, and tests on Node.js 22.x and 24.x for every push/PR.

## Contributing

Contributions welcome! See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for:

- Development workflow
- Conventional commit format (`feat:`, `fix:`, `BREAKING CHANGE:`)
- Testing requirements (run `npm test`, `npm run type-check`, `npm run build`)

**Automated releases**: Semantic versioning via conventional commits - `feat:` → minor, `fix:` → patch, `BREAKING CHANGE:` → major.

## Acknowledgments

The code vectorization feature is inspired by and builds upon concepts from the excellent [claude-context](https://github.com/zilliztech/claude-context) project (MIT License, Copyright 2025 Zilliz).

## License

MIT - see [LICENSE](LICENSE) file.