dowse — Claude Code MCP server for file search
Search Windows file names and contents, including text found in images. dowse exposes local search to AI agents over MCP stdio.
Open on GitHubWhat dowse does
dowse builds a searchable index of Windows files. It can find source code and text documents, plus content in PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. For PNG, JPG, WebP, and BMP images, it recognizes text locally. File changes are indexed as they happen, with a reconciliation check at startup.
The MCP server gives an agent access to local search over stdio. Chinese text is segmented with jieba and ranked with BM25; multi-word queries use AND semantics by default. Image OCR relies on Windows.Media.Ocr, so that part of the search workflow is tied to Windows.
What it helps with
- locate a phrase in local documents
- find a file by name or indexed contents
- search text recognized in screenshots
- narrow results by path, modification date, or size
Example prompts for the agent
- Search my local files for matches under
path:reports. - Find documents containing the exact phrase “quarterly summary”.
- Search screenshots for text containing the project name.
How to install dowse
Install
The MCP registry has no launch command for it: see the repository README
Step 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 dowse
How do I install dowse in Claude Code?
Connect dowse as an MCP server over stdio. It searches the local Windows file index.
What does dowse do?
It indexes Windows file names and contents, including document text and text recognized in images, then makes local search available to AI agents over MCP.
How does dowse search text in images?
It runs OCR locally with Windows.Media.Ocr and supports PNG, JPG, WebP, and BMP images.
