Verify the server (stdio, HTTP, tools)

Run these checks in a terminal before you wire any client. They use the indexed CLI only (see indexed mcp --help).

Tools and resources (fast) — no long-running process:

indexed mcp inspect

You should see a short report listing tools (e.g. search, search_collection) and resources. If this fails, fix your install or PATH before continuing.

Stdio (typical for local agents) — the server waits for a client on stdin/stdout; press Ctrl+C after you see the ready banner:

indexed mcp run

A healthy startup looks like this:

Indexed MCP server started
Transport: stdio
Collections available: my-docs, eng-tickets
Waiting for client connection...

If you see an error instead (e.g., "command not found"), check your PATH first — which indexed. For a full troubleshooting guide, see Debugging MCP.

Press Ctrl+C to stop the server once you've confirmed it starts.

HTTP (remote or container clients) — bind on loopback to test locally; use --host 0.0.0.0 only on trusted networks (see MCP commands):

indexed mcp run --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

Point an HTTP-capable MCP client at http://127.0.0.1:8000 (exact path and protocol depend on the client; MCP Setup summarizes patterns). Press Ctrl+C when done.

Add the config to your client

Most MCP-compatible clients use a JSON configuration file. The universal pattern is:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indexed": {
      "command": "indexed",
      "args": ["mcp", "run"]
    }
  }
}

This pattern works for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, and most stdio MCP clients. GitHub Copilot uses a different top-level shape — see MCP Setup.

Restart the client and verify

After saving the config, fully restart your client (quit and relaunch — a reload or refresh is often not enough).

Then ask a question that requires searching your indexed content:

A working response will include results from your collections with document names, scores, and excerpts. The client calls the search tool automatically — you don't need to invoke it explicitly.

Searching indexed documents for "deployment process"...

Found 3 results:

1. [my-docs] deploy-guide.md
   To deploy to production, first ensure all CI checks pass,
   then run the release pipeline from the main branch...

2. [my-docs] runbook.md
   If a rollback is needed, revert the last deployment using
   the rollback script in the ops/ directory...