searchLABSCO SUMMARY
Whole-disk filename search at index speed, with the richer query language only on Windows.
One tool, answered from an index the operating system is already keeping, which is why a search across an entire drive comes back rather than timing out. The platforms are not equal and it is worth knowing which one you are on: Windows gets the full Everything syntax including extension and date filters, while macOS and Linux fall back to filename matching through their own indexes.
What it is
One search tool that hands the query to whichever index the platform already maintains: the Everything utility on Windows, Spotlight's command-line search on macOS, and the locate database on Linux. The tool is the same everywhere; what it can do behind it is not.
What you get
- search — files and folders across the whole system, returning path, size in bytes and last modified date for each hit
- A cap on how many results come back, so a broad query does not flood the conversation
- Matching against the full path rather than the filename alone, with case sensitivity, whole-word and regular-expression matching as separate switches
- Sorting by name, path, size, extension, creation date or modification date, in either direction
- On Windows, the full Everything query language — extension filters, date filters and the rest of its syntax
- On macOS and Linux, filename search through the system index, with macOS also reaching file contents through Spotlight
Requirements
What you need beyond the server depends on the platform: on Windows, the Everything utility installed with its service running, and its SDK library present and pointed at from the configuration; on Linux, locate or plocate installed, with its database built once before the first search returns anything; on macOS, nothing extra, since it uses the built-in Spotlight search command. Python is needed on all three, launched through a tool runner or installed from the package index.
Setup effort
One command — pip install mcp-server-everything-search
USE CASES
01
Finding a file when you only remember part of the name
Search the whole system by name pattern and get paths back with sizes and modification dates, so you can tell the copy from the original.
02
Gathering every file of one type scattered across a drive
Match by extension across the full path rather than one directory, and cap the number of results so the answer stays readable.
03
Finding what is eating the disk
Sort the results by size with the largest first, and read the sizes that come back with each hit rather than checking each file.
04
Picking up whatever you were editing today
Sort by modification date with the newest first, or on Windows filter to today's changes directly in the query.
05
Locating something by a pattern a plain name search cannot express
Turn on regular-expression matching and match against the full path, for the cases where a wildcard is not enough.
1 tool
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
1 tool named in the project's documentation.
Requires
- On Windows: the Everything search utility installed with its service running, and the Everything SDK downloaded and extracted — EVERYTHING_SDK_PATH points at its Everything64.dll
- On Linux: locate or plocate installed, with its database built once before the first search (for plocate, sudo updatedb)
- On macOS: nothing extra — it uses the built-in mdfind command
- uvx on PATH for the uvx configurations; pip for the pip-installed configurations
Where it runs
All 4 documented setups run the server on your machine.
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
pip install mcp-server-everything-searchMCP Clients
Claude Desktop — Windows
CLAUDE DESKTOP — WINDOWS · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"everything-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-everything-search"
],
"env": {
"EVERYTHING_SDK_PATH": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_EVERYTHING_SDK>/dll/Everything64.dll"
}
}
}
}Claude Desktop — macOS or Linux
CLAUDE DESKTOP — MACOS OR LINUX · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"everything-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-everything-search"
]
}
}
}Claude Desktop — Windows pip
CLAUDE DESKTOP — WINDOWS PIP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"everything-search": {
"command": "python",
"args": [
"-m",
"mcp_server_everything_search"
],
"env": {
"EVERYTHING_SDK_PATH": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_EVERYTHING_SDK>/dll/Everything64.dll"
}
}
}
}Claude Desktop — Linux And macOS pip
CLAUDE DESKTOP — LINUX AND MACOS PIP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"everything-search": {
"command": "python",
"args": [
"-m",
"mcp_server_everything_search"
]
}
}
}
