@shxiaj/everything-mcp

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Everything — the lightning-fast Windows file search engine.

Forked and extended from everythingsdk-mcp.

Uses ffi-rs to call the Everything SDK natively and @modelcontextprotocol/sdk for the MCP server protocol.

Features

• Dual SDK support — Auto-detects Everything 1.5 (SDK v3) or 1.4 (SDK v2)
• Lightning-fast file search — Leverage Everything's native search capabilities
• Multiple tools — Search, version check, status, and file info
• Flexible configuration — Environment variable overrides for SDK paths

Prerequisites

• Windows (the Everything SDK is Windows-only)
• Everything 1.4+ installed and running (download)
• Node.js 18+ and pnpm

Installation

pnpm install
pnpm build

Usage

Running the MCP server

npx @shxiaj/everything-mcp

The server communicates via stdin/stdout (MCP stdio transport).

Configuring in Claude Desktop / VS Code Copilot

Add to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "@shxiaj/everything-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@shxiaj/everything-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
EVERYTHING_SDK_VERSION	Force SDK version (v3 or v2)	Auto-detect
EVERYTHING_SDK_DIR	Path to the Everything SDK v3 directory	./everything_sdk3/dll
EVERYTHING_DLL_PATH	Full path to the Everything SDK v3 DLL	$SDK_DIR/Everything3_x64.dll
EVERYTHING_V2_SDK_DIR	Path to the Everything SDK v2 directory	./Everything-SDK/dll
EVERYTHING_V2_DLL_PATH	Full path to the Everything SDK v2 DLL	$V2_SDK_DIR/Everything64.dll
EVERYTHING_IPC_PIPE_NAME	Override v3 IPC pipe name	Auto-probe

Tools

everything_search

Search for files and folders using Everything search syntax.

Parameters:

• query (required) — Search query using Everything syntax
• maxResults — Max results (default: 50, max: 1000)
• offset — Zero-based offset for pagination
• matchCase — Case-sensitive search
• matchWholeWord — Match whole words only
• matchPath — Match against full path
• regex — Treat query as regex

Everything search syntax examples:

• *.txt — all .txt files
• foo bar — files containing both "foo" AND "bar"
• foo|bar — files containing "foo" OR "bar"
• ext:jpg size:>1mb — JPEGs larger than 1 MB
• folder:node_modules — folders named node_modules
• content:TODO — files containing "TODO" in their content
• datemodified:today — files modified today
• parent:C:\Projects — files under C:\Projects

everything_version

Get the version information of the running Everything instance.

everything_status

Check if Everything is running and its database is loaded.

everything_file_info

Get Windows file attributes and run count for a specific file path.

Parameters:

• path (required) — Full path to the file or folder

SDK Architecture

src/
├── index.ts              # MCP server entry point (tools, request handlers)
├── everything-client.ts  # EverythingClient + SdkProvider abstraction
├── ffi-bindings.ts       # Raw FFI bindings to Everything3_*.dll (SDK v3, Everything 1.5)
└── ffi-bindings-v14.ts   # Raw FFI bindings to Everything*.dll (SDK v2, Everything 1.4)

EverythingClient auto-detects the SDK version: tries v3 first, falls back to v2. Override with EVERYTHING_SDK_VERSION=v2 or v3 env var.

SDK v3 (Everything 1.5) vs SDK v2 (Everything 1.4)

Aspect	SDK v3 (Everything 1.5)	SDK v2 (Everything 1.4)
DLL names	Everything3_x64.dll	Everything64.dll
API prefix	Everything3_*	Everything_*
Connection	Explicit ConnectW/DestroyClient handles	Implicit via IPC on QueryW
State model	Per-client, per-search-state objects	Global mutable state
Search exec	Search(client, state) returns result list	QueryW(TRUE) populates global results
Result props	Must call AddSearchPropertyRequest first	Use SetRequestFlags bitmask
File info	Direct GetFileAttributesW(client, path)	Requires a search with SetMatchPath(true)

License

MIT