rust-docs-mcp

Overview

Rust-docs-mcp is a specialized MCP server designed to help AI agents explore and understand Rust crates through comprehensive documentation access, source code analysis, and dependency tracing. It supports multiple sources including crates.io, GitHub repositories, and local filesystem paths, with workspace support and offline caching capabilities. The server implements a rich set of tools for crate inspection, including documentation search, item inspection, dependency analysis, and module structure visualization.

Try asking AI

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

• cache_crate

  Download and cache a crate from various sources (cratesio, github, local)

  Try:Cache serde version 1.0.215 from crates.ioTry:Cache a local crate from ~/projects/my-crate
• remove_crate

  Remove cached crate versions to free disk space

  Try:Remove cached version of serdeTry:Clean up all cached crates
• list_cached_crates

  View all cached crates with versions and sizes

  Try:Show all cached cratesTry:List my cached Rust crates
• list_crate_versions

  List cached versions for a specific crate

  Try:Show all cached versions of tokioTry:List versions of serde in cache
• get_crates_metadata

  Batch metadata queries for multiple crates

  Try:Get metadata for serde and tokioTry:Fetch info about all cached crates
• list_crate_items

  Browse all items in a crate with optional filtering

  Try:List all items in the tokio crateTry:Show all functions in serde
• search_items

  Full search with complete documentation

  Try:Search for async functions in tokioTry:Find all serialization methods in serde
• search_items_preview

  Lightweight search returning only IDs, names, and types

  Try:Find async functions in tokio (preview)Try:Search for serialization methods in serde (preview)
• get_item_details

  Get detailed information about specific items

  Try:Show details for tokio::spawn functionTry:Get information about serde::Serialize trait
• get_item_docs

  Extract just the documentation string for an item

  Try:Show documentation for tokio::spawnTry:Get docs for serde::Serialize trait
• get_item_source

  View source code with configurable context lines

  Try:Show source of tokio::spawn functionTry:Display source code for serde::Serialize with 5 context lines
• get_dependencies

  Analyze direct and transitive dependencies with filtering

  Try:Show dependencies of tokio crateTry:Get transitive dependencies of serde with version numbers

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Installation

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/snowmead/rust-docs-mcp/main/install.sh | bash

cargo install rust-docs-mcp

{
  "rust-docs": {
    "command": "/path/to/rust-docs-mcp",
    "transport": "stdio"
  }
}

FAQ

What is the cache directory location?

By default, crates are cached in `~/.rust-docs-mcp/cache/`. You can customize this location using the `--cache-dir` option or by setting the `RUST_DOCS_MCP_CACHE_DIR` environment variable.

How do I access private GitHub repositories?

Set the `GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable with your personal access token. This also increases GitHub API rate limits from 60 to 5,000 requests/hour.

On Hacker News

Recent discussion from the developer community.

• Why rust-docs-MCP is the only MCP tool I like▲ 2💬 1
  Story by monadoid · 2025-11-02
• Show HN: I Built a Rust Docs MCP Server for Agents▲ 2
  Story by snowmead · 2025-06-20

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