needle-mcp

Overview

Needle MCP Server provides a standardized interface for connecting LLMs to document data sources. It allows users to organize documents across PDFs, DOCX, XLSX and other formats, then perform semantic searches through Claude Desktop. The server offers both remote and local installation options with multiple configuration methods for different clients.

Try asking AI

After installing, here are 5 things you can ask your AI assistant:

• create_collection

  Create a new collection for organizing documents

  Try:Create a new collection called 'Technical Docs'Try:Make a collection named 'Research Papers'
• add_document

  Add a document to a collection

  Try:Add this document to the collection, which is https://needle.appTry:Add PDF file to collection
• search_collection

  Search within collections for information

  Try:Search the collection for information about AITry:Find documents about machine learning
• list_collections

  List all available collections

  Try:List all my collectionsTry:Show me my collections

Note: inferred from usage examples in README, no explicit tool documentation

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Installation

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "needle": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.needle.app/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:Bearer ${NEEDLE_API_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "NEEDLE_API_KEY": "<your-needle-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "needle": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/path/to/needle-mcp", "run", "needle-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NEEDLE_API_KEY": "<your-needle-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

FAQ

What document formats are supported?

Needle MCP Server supports PDF, DOCX, XLSX and various other file formats.

Can I use this with other AI assistants besides Claude?

Currently, the documentation specifically mentions integration with Claude Desktop, though MCP protocol may allow future expansion to other assistants.

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