MCP Grep

🚀 MCP-Grep Server

A grep server implementation that exposes the grep functionality through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

🚀 Quick Start

MCP-Grep Server exposes the grep functionality via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It can be easily integrated with MCP-compatible clients for efficient text searching.

📦 Installation

Install via Smithery

To automatically install the Grep Server for Claude Desktop, you can use Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @erniebrodeur/mcp-grep --client claude

Manual Installation

pip install mcp-grep

💻 Usage Examples

Basic Usage

MCP-Grep runs as a server and can be used via MCP-compatible clients:

# Start the MCP-Grep server
mcp-grep-server

# Or perform interactive debugging and testing via the MCP inspector
mcp-grep-inspector

The server exposes the following MCP functions:

• Resource: grep://info - Returns information about the system grep binary.
• Tool: grep - Searches for patterns in files using the system grep binary.

Advanced Usage

Using the MCP Python client:

from mcp.client import MCPClient

# Connect to the MCP-Grep server
client = MCPClient()

# Get information about the grep binary
grep_info = client.get_resource("grep://info")
print(grep_info)

# Search for a pattern in files
result = client.use_tool("grep", {
    "pattern": "search_pattern",
    "paths": ["file.txt", "directory/"],
    "ignore_case": True,
    "recursive": True
})
print(result)

✨ Features

• System grep binary information (path, version, supported features).
• Search for patterns in files using regular expressions.
• Support for common grep options:
  • Case-insensitive matching.
  • Matching context lines (prefix and suffix).
  • Maximum number of matches.
  • Fixed string matching (non-regular expression).
  • Recursive directory search.
• Natural language prompt understanding for large language models (LLMs), making it more user-friendly.
• Interactive debugging and testing via the MCP inspector.

📚 Documentation

Natural Language Prompts

MCP-Grep understands natural language prompts, making it more convenient to use in conjunction with LLMs. Examples:

# Basic search
Search for 'error' in log.txt

# Case-insensitive search
Find all case-insensitive instances of 'WARNING' in system.log

# Search with context lines
Search for 'exception' in error.log and show 3 lines of context before and after each match

# Recursive search
Find all occurrences of 'deprecated' in the src directory and its subdirectories

# Fixed string search (non-regular expression)
Search for the exact string '.*' in config.js

# Result limitation
Show the first 5 matches of 'TODO' in project files

# Combination of multiple options
Find 'password' case-insensitively in all .php files, show 2 lines of context, and limit to 10 results

MCP Inspector Integration

MCP-Grep includes an MCP inspector integration for interactive debugging and testing:

# Start the MCP inspector with MCP-Grep
mcp-grep-inspector

This will open a web-based UI where you can:

• Explore available resources and tools.
• Test grep operations with different parameters.
• View formatted results.
• Debug issues with your grep queries.

🔧 Technical Details

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/your-repository.git  # Replace with the actual repository address
cd mcp-grep

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run tests
python -m pytest tests/

🤝 Contributors

• [Your Name] - Initial implementation

📄 License

[Add license information here, e.g., MIT License or other applicable open-source licenses]

This document serves as a reference guide for the MCP-Grep project, covering its installation, usage, features, and development instructions.