everything-search-mcp

An MCP server that exposes voidtools Everything — the instant Windows file search — to Claude Code and other MCP clients. Index-backed, sub-second results across the whole disk.

Supports both Everything generations side-by-side:

• 1.4 — name / path search (mature, window-message IPC)
• 1.5 — name / path plus full-text content search with snippet highlighting (named-pipe IPC)

When Everything 1.5 has its content index built, full-text search via this server is significantly faster than running ripgrep over the same scope, because lookups hit a pre-built index instead of re-reading files.

Why it exists

Agents tend to assume Everything is "just a filename indexer" and skip it for code-grep tasks. That's true of 1.4 but not of 1.5 — and the AI SDK never made this discoverable. This server bridges that gap with one MCP tool that does both, auto-selecting the right backend.

Install

Option A — npx (no clone required)

claude mcp add everything-search --scope user -- npx -y @konamgil/everything-search-mcp

npx downloads the package and runs its postinstall, which fetches both SDK DLLs from voidtools and the voidtools/everything_sdk3 GitHub release. Re-launch Claude Code so the new MCP is picked up.

You also need the Everything app itself installed:

winget install voidtools.Everything
# For content search: also install Everything 1.5 alpha from https://www.voidtools.com/

Option B — clone & build (for development)

git clone https://github.com/konamgil/everything-search-mcp.git
cd everything-search-mcp
npm install                # postinstall fetches both DLLs automatically
npm run build

The two SDK DLLs are git-ignored. If the auto-download is blocked by your network, run them manually:

npm run install-sdk        # → Everything64.dll      (1.4 SDK)
npm run install-sdk-v3     # → Everything3_x64.dll   (1.5 SDK 3.0.0.9)

Set EVERYTHING_MCP_SKIP_POSTINSTALL=1 to disable the auto-downloader.

Register a cloned build manually

claude mcp add everything-search --scope user \
  -e EVERYTHING_DLL_PATH=C:\path\to\everything-search-mcp\Everything64.dll \
  -e EVERYTHING3_DLL_PATH=C:\path\to\everything-search-mcp\Everything3_x64.dll \
  -- node C:\path\to\everything-search-mcp\dist\index.js

EVERYTHING3_DLL_PATH is optional — if absent, the server probes common install locations.

Tools

everything_search

Search Windows files. Same call site handles filename, path, and full-text content queries.

| Parameter | Default | Notes | |---|---|---| | query | (required) | Everything query syntax — see below | | max | 100 | Cap on returned results | | offset | 0 | Pagination | | matchCase, matchWholeWord, matchPath, regex | false | Modifiers | | sort | (none) | e.g. DATE_MODIFIED_DESCENDING, SIZE_DESCENDING | | includeSize, includeDates | true | Cheap metadata | | includeExtension, includeAttributes | false | Extra metadata | | includeSnippet | false | Returns matched-content excerpt with *highlight* markers (1.5 only) | | backend | auto | auto | v3-1.5 | v1-1.4 |

Query syntax (full reference: voidtools docs):

| Form | Meaning | |---|---| | foo bar | implicit AND | | foo \| bar | OR | | !foo | NOT | | "exact phrase" | exact substring | | ext:ts | filename extension | | path:packages\core | filename path contains | | size:>1mb, dm:thisweek | function operators | | content:keyword | full-text content match (1.5 only) | | regex:content:export\s+function | regex content match (set regex: true) |

Example results

{
  "backend": "v3-1.5",
  "version": "1.5.0.1409",
  "totalResults": 37,
  "returnedResults": 3,
  "results": [
    {
      "fullPath": "C:\\proj\\src\\runtime\\server.ts",
      "size": 206137,
      "dateModified": "2026-04-30T07:37:58.879Z",
      "snippet": "...class *ServerRegistry* {..."
    }
  ]
}

everything_status

Reports which backends are reachable and whether the database is loaded. Use this to verify content search is available:

{
  "v3": { "available": true,  "version": "1.5.0.1409", "dbLoaded": true },
  "v1": { "available": false, "error": "..." }
}

If v3.available is true and v3.dbLoaded is true, content: queries work.

Enabling 1.5 content indexing

Content indexing is off by default in Everything 1.5a. To turn it on, edit %APPDATA%\Everything\Everything-1.5a.ini while Everything is not running:

content_indexing_enabled=1
content_indexing_include_only_folders=C:\path\to\your\project
content_indexing_exclude_folders=C:\path\to\your\project\node_modules;C:\path\to\your\project\.git;C:\path\to\your\project\dist
content_indexing_include_only_files=*.ts;*.tsx;*.js;*.jsx;*.json;*.md;*.yml;*.toml;*.txt

Save, then launch C:\Program Files\Everything 1.5a\Everything.exe. The service worker will index in the background — everything_status will report dbLoaded: true once it finishes.

Scope the include folders narrowly. Indexing the contents of the entire C: drive is heavy.

Permissions — the named-pipe gotcha

Everything 1.5's IPC pipe (\\.\pipe\Everything IPC (1.5a)) is ACL'd to High-IL processes only. If your shell or Claude Code launched at the default Medium integrity, the MCP server will get 0xE0000002 IPC_PIPE_NOT_FOUND even though the pipe is visible.

Fix: launch Claude Code (or whichever client hosts this MCP) with "Run as administrator" once. All child processes — including the MCP server — inherit High IL and the pipe accepts them.

The 1.4 backend is not affected; it uses window-message IPC which crosses IL boundaries normally.

Architecture

src/
  index.ts                MCP server (stdio transport, McpServer + registerTool)
  everything-search.ts    Dispatcher: tries v3, falls back to v1, normalizes results
  everything-sdk.ts       1.4 SDK FFI (Everything64.dll, window-message IPC)
  everything-sdk-v3.ts    1.5 SDK 3 FFI (Everything3_x64.dll, named-pipe IPC)
  everything-process.ts   Detect Everything.exe; auto-spawn with `-startup` if IPC down
  smoke.ts                CLI: smoke test for 1.4
  v3-smoke.ts             CLI: smoke test for 1.5 (use elevated shell)

FFI binding uses koffi. __stdcall calling convention for both DLLs.

Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Cause | Fix | |---|---|---| | everything_status reports v3.available: false with 0xE0000002 | MCP running at Medium IL; 1.5 pipe rejects | Restart Claude Code as administrator | | everything_status reports v3.available: true but content queries return 0 | Content index not built or scope mismatch | Check INI content_indexing_enabled=1 and folder scope | | Everything64.dll not found | 1.4 SDK DLL missing | npm run install-sdk | | Everything3_x64.dll not found | 1.5 SDK DLL missing | npm run install-sdk-v3 | | Both backends unreachable | Everything app itself not running | The MCP server auto-spawns the installed exe; install Everything if absent |

License

MIT. Everything itself is © voidtools, distributed under its own license — this server only links its public C SDK via FFI.