# dowse

Search Windows file names and contents, including text found in images. dowse exposes local search to AI agents over MCP stdio.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed · ★ 37
- Author: ltspace
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/ltspace/dowse
- Updated: 2026-10-19
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/dowse

## What it 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.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Install**
- The MCP registry has no launch command for it: see the repository README

## When to use it
- 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
- 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.

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NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md