compendio-mcp — Claude Code MCP server: what it does, how to install
Indexes project markdown files and serves relevant excerpts via local hybrid search. Keeps context clean by pulling single sections instead of full documents.
claude mcp add compendio-mcp -- npx -y compendio-mcpWhat compendio-mcp does
Agents frequently burn context by reading entire source files with grep and cat. Compendio changes this habit. It combines keyword matching with semantic vector search, giving assistants direct access to the exact paragraph that answers the prompt.
The system stores data in a local SQLite file at .compendio/compendio.db. Vectors are calculated on your CPU with the Xenova/multilingual-e5-small model. No external network requests happen during retrieval, and running services or API tokens are unnecessary.
Running the tool requires Node.js version 22.12 or newer. The initial indexing step downloads an embedding model that takes tens of megabytes. Running compendio index in your terminal beforehand avoids timeouts on the first agent request.
What it helps with
- reduce token consumption when querying local documentation
- retrieve project guidelines by conceptual meaning rather than exact phrasing
- prevent agents from reading entire files into memory
- sync documentation updates automatically without separate watcher processes
Example prompts for the agent
- Search our markdown docs for the database migration workflow
- Locate the architecture decision record explaining token limits
How to install compendio-mcp
Platform CLI
claude mcp add compendio-mcp -- npx -y compendio-mcpPlatform CLI
codex mcp add compendio-mcp -- npx -y compendio-mcpConfig file
{
"mcpServers": {
"compendio-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"compendio-mcp"
]
}
}
}Config file
{
"servers": {
"compendio-mcp": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"compendio-mcp"
]
}
}
}Platform CLI
gemini mcp add compendio-mcp npx -y compendio-mcpStep by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about compendio-mcp
How to install compendio-mcp in Claude Code?
Run claude mcp add compendio-mcp -- npx -y compendio-mcp in your terminal. You must have Node.js 22.12 or higher installed on your system.
What does compendio-mcp do?
It indexes your markdown files locally and provides tools for hybrid search. Your assistant retrieves targeted text fragments instead of scanning whole documents.
Does compendio-mcp require third-party API keys?
No cloud services or credentials are used. The server computes embeddings on your CPU and saves the index in a local SQLite file.
