
Minima
On-premises conversational RAG with configurable containers - dmayboroda/minima
dmayboroda
README
<p align="center"> <a href="https://www.mnma.ai/" target="blank"><img src="assets/logo-full.svg" width="300" alt="MNMA Logo" /></a> </p>
Minima is an open source RAG on-premises containers, with ability to integrate with ChatGPT and MCP. Minima can also be used as a fully local RAG.
Minima currently supports three modes:
-
Isolated installation – Operate fully on-premises with containers, free from external dependencies such as ChatGPT or Claude. All neural networks (LLM, reranker, embedding) run on your cloud or PC, ensuring your data remains secure.
-
Custom GPT – Query your local documents using ChatGPT app or web with custom GPTs. The indexer running on your cloud or local PC, while the primary LLM remains ChatGPT.
-
Anthropic Claude – Use Anthropic Claude app to query your local documents. The indexer operates on your local PC, while Anthropic Claude serves as the primary LLM.
Running as containers
-
Create a .env file in the project’s root directory (where you’ll find env.sample). Place .env in the same folder and copy all environment variables from env.sample to .env.
-
Ensure your .env file includes the following variables: <ul> <li> LOCAL_FILES_PATH </li> <li> EMBEDDING_MODEL_ID </li> <li> EMBEDDING_SIZE </li> <li> OLLAMA_MODEL </li> <li> RERANKER_MODEL </li> <li> USER_ID </li> - required for ChatGPT integration, just use your email <li> PASSWORD </li> - required for ChatGPT integration, just use any password </ul>
-
For fully local installation use: docker compose -f docker-compose-ollama.yml --env-file .env up --build.
-
For ChatGPT enabled installation use: docker compose -f docker-compose-chatgpt.yml --env-file .env up --build.
-
For MCP integration (Anthropic Desktop app usage): docker compose -f docker-compose-mcp.yml --env-file .env up --build.
-
In case of ChatGPT enabled installation copy OTP from terminal where you launched docker and use Minima GPT
-
If you use Anthropic Claude, just add folliwing to /Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"minima": {
"command": "uv",
"args": [
"--directory",
"/path_to_cloned_minima_project/mcp-server",
"run",
"minima"
]
}
}
}
-
To use fully local installation go to
cd electron
, then runnpm install
andnpm start
which will launch Minima electron app. -
Ask anything, and you'll get answers based on local files in {LOCAL_FILES_PATH} folder.
Explanation of Variables:
LOCAL_FILES_PATH: Specify the root folder for indexing (on your cloud or local pc). Indexing is a recursive process, meaning all documents within subfolders of this root folder will also be indexed. Supported file types: .pdf, .xls, .docx, .txt, .md, .csv.
EMBEDDING_MODEL_ID: Specify the embedding model to use. Currently, only Sentence Transformer models are supported. Testing has been done with sentence-transformers/all-mpnet-base-v2, but other Sentence Transformer models can be used.
EMBEDDING_SIZE: Define the embedding dimension provided by the model, which is needed to configure Qdrant vector storage. Ensure this value matches the actual embedding size of the specified EMBEDDING_MODEL_ID.
OLLAMA_MODEL: Set up the Ollama model, use an ID available on the Ollama site. Please, use LLM model here, not an embedding.
RERANKER_MODEL: Specify the reranker model. Currently, we have tested with BAAI rerankers. You can explore all available rerankers using this link.
USER_ID: Just use your email here, this is needed to authenticate custom GPT to search in your data.
PASSWORD: Put any password here, this is used to create a firebase account for the email specified above.
Example of .env file for on-premises/local usage:
LOCAL_FILES_PATH=/Users/davidmayboroda/Downloads/PDFs/
EMBEDDING_MODEL_ID=sentence-transformers/all-mpnet-base-v2
EMBEDDING_SIZE=768
OLLAMA_MODEL=qwen2:0.5b # must be LLM model id from Ollama models page
RERANKER_MODEL=BAAI/bge-reranker-base # please, choose any BAAI reranker model
To use a chat ui, please navigate to http://localhost:3000
Example of .env file for Claude app:
LOCAL_FILES_PATH=/Users/davidmayboroda/Downloads/PDFs/
EMBEDDING_MODEL_ID=sentence-transformers/all-mpnet-base-v2
EMBEDDING_SIZE=768
For the Claude app, please apply the changes to the claude_desktop_config.json file as outlined above.
Example of .env file for ChatGPT custom GPT usage:
LOCAL_FILES_PATH=/Users/davidmayboroda/Downloads/PDFs/
EMBEDDING_MODEL_ID=sentence-transformers/all-mpnet-base-v2
EMBEDDING_SIZE=768
USER_ID=user@gmail.com # your real email
PASSWORD=password # you can create here password that you want
Also, you can run minima using run.sh.
Installing via Smithery (MCP usage)
To install Minima for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install minima --client claude
For MCP usage, please be sure that your local machines python is >=3.10 and 'uv' installed.
Minima (https://github.com/dmayboroda/minima) is licensed under the Mozilla Public License v2.0 (MPLv2).
Recommended Servers
playwright-mcp
A Model Context Protocol server that enables LLMs to interact with web pages through structured accessibility snapshots without requiring vision models or screenshots.
Neon Database
MCP server for interacting with Neon Management API and databases
Qdrant Server
This repository is an example of how to create a MCP server for Qdrant, a vector search engine.
Mult Fetch MCP Server
A versatile MCP-compliant web content fetching tool that supports multiple modes (browser/node), formats (HTML/JSON/Markdown/Text), and intelligent proxy detection, with bilingual interface (English/Chinese).
AIO-MCP Server
🚀 All-in-one MCP server with AI search, RAG, and multi-service integrations (GitLab/Jira/Confluence/YouTube) for AI-enhanced development workflows. Folk from
React MCP
react-mcp integrates with Claude Desktop, enabling the creation and modification of React apps based on user prompts
Atlassian Integration
Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Atlassian Cloud products (Confluence and Jira). This integration is designed specifically for Atlassian Cloud instances and does not support Atlassian Server or Data Center deployments.

Any OpenAI Compatible API Integrations
Integrate Claude with Any OpenAI SDK Compatible Chat Completion API - OpenAI, Perplexity, Groq, xAI, PyroPrompts and more.
MySQL Server
Allows AI assistants to list tables, read data, and execute SQL queries through a controlled interface, making database exploration and analysis safer and more structured.
Browser Use (used by Deploya.dev)
AI-driven browser automation server that implements the Model Context Protocol to enable natural language control of web browsers for tasks like navigation, form filling, and visual interaction.