Silica Core MCP Server

Lightweight, local evidence retrieval tools for code and research Silica locates the source, symbol, page, or passage you and your agents need. Maximum signal, minimum machinery. Its README documents 5 tools, including silica_files, silica_search, silica_read.

People who work with obsidian, codex and bm25 and want it reachable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in Python.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-09-17 · ★ 60 · #21 OF 160 MAINTAINED PRODUCTIVITY · VERIFIED 2026-09-18

MIT · Python servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Silica Core

before you install - you'll need

Set SILICA_EMBEDDING_MODEL before connecting.

Claude Code

claude mcp add kiycoh-silica-core -- uvx silica-core

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kiycoh-silica-core": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "silica-core"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions

license MIT - declared in the repository

pypi package silica-core - check the name against the project README before installing (PyPI has no namespace ownership)

registry namespace io.github.kiycoh is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Silica Core can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

What you can build

An agent gets 5 documented tools, including silica_files, silica_search, silica_read, silica_code_pack, silica_write_note.

The 5 tools it gives your agent

Extracted from the project's README - what Silica Core lets an agent do.

silica_files: - silica files
silica_search: - silica search
silica_read: - silica read
silica_code_pack: - silica code-pack
silica_write_note: - silica write-note

Limitations (from the README)

- What it reads: markdown, .txt, .rst and PDFs with a text layer directly, one PDF page per section; DOCX, EPUB, FB2, RTF, XLS and ODF converted with no extra; scanned PDFs, images, PPTX and XLSX through silica import with MinerU; audio and video with ffmpeg plus SILICA_STT_BASE_URL; CSV readable by line, excluded from search. In a source tree the code lane adds source files and their json, yaml, toml, cfg and ini. s

Latest releases

v0.9.0 · 2026-09-17

[0.9.0] - 2026-09-17 · A folder is served only once silica init adopted it; the prompt hook goes

v0.8.3 · 2026-09-14

[0.8.3] - 2026-09-14 · Tree-sitter stays below 0.26, which corrupts the heap walking its own trees · Claude Code loads hooks/hooks.json itself, so the manifest stops naming it · The symbol title is a field worth…

v0.8.2 · 2026-09-11

[0.8.2] - 2026-09-11 · A piped stdout replies in UTF-8 whatever the console code page · The failure names the model, not an endpoint that was never used · Build & CI · The wheel, the CLI and the stdio server run on…

04 · Who maintains Silica Core

Silica Core is maintained by kiycoh. It's the only MCP server we track from this author; the repo dates to May 2026.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/kiycoh/silica-core
website: https://github.com/kiycoh/silica-core#readme
category: productivity - ranked #21 of 160 actively-maintained productivity servers as of 2026-09-18.
release cadence: 10+ releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-09-17)
registry: io.github.kiycoh/silica-core (active, first published 2026-09-09 · 6 versions)
packages: pypi:silica-core

06 · Silica Core FAQ

Is Silica Core still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-09-18, its last commit was 2026-09-17 and it shipped 10+ releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

What can Silica Core do?

An agent gets 5 documented tools, including silica_files, silica_search, silica_read, silica_code_pack, silica_write_note.

How do I install Silica Core?

Run `uvx silica-core`. The README documents one environment variable (SILICA_EMBEDDING_MODEL) to set first. Set SILICA_EMBEDDING_MODEL before connecting. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Silica Core run locally?

Yes - it's a stdio server: it runs on your machine (via uvx) with your user's permissions. Your data stays local unless the server itself calls external APIs.

07 · Alternatives to Silica Core

Alternatives to Silica Core

Maintained productivity servers if Silica Core isn't the fit.

Pairs well with

Servers that cover what Silica Core doesn't - only shown when the pairing reason fits the companion.

More productivity MCP servers · Kolonie AI · Tokencast · Ownly · Standardnotes · Obsidian Vault MCP

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