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Version: Stable (v5.x)

Use DocSearch MCP

Ask focused questions about public documentation. Include the official product name, topic, and version when the version affects the answer.

How do I configure middleware matchers in Next.js?
Show me the Stripe webhook signature verification documentation.
What is the setup for Algolia InstantSearch React?

If your client doesn't select MCP tools on its own, name the server in your request:

Use DocSearch MCP to look up React Server Components data fetching.

Ask the client to include source URLs when you need to inspect the supporting documentation.

Use the Claude Code command​

The Claude Code plugin provides this command:

/algolia-docsearch:docs <library-or-product> [topic]

For example:

/algolia-docsearch:docs Next.js middleware matcher
/algolia-docsearch:docs Stripe webhook signature verification
/algolia-docsearch:docs Algolia InstantSearch React configure search client

Search from the terminal​

@docsearch/cli can call the hosted MCP tools without a separate MCP client. Use docs for most questions:

docsearch docs Next.js "how do middleware matchers work"

Limit the number of results or documentation sets when needed:

docsearch docs Next.js "cache revalidation" --max-results 3 --max-docsets 2

For explicit documentation-set selection, resolve a product and then query its returned ID:

docsearch resolve "Algolia InstantSearch React"
docsearch query repo/algolia/instantsearch "configure the React search client"

Limit resolver candidates with --top-n:

docsearch resolve Next.js --top-n 3

Add --json to print the raw MCP result as JSON:

docsearch docs Next.js "cache revalidation" --json

Machine-readable results go to standard output. Progress and errors go to standard error.

Choose a tool workflow​

DocSearch MCP provides a one-shot search and a two-step search. Use natural-language questions rather than lists of keywords.

Search in one call​

Use algolia_docsearch_search_docs for most questions. Keep the product name in library and the question in query:

{
  "library": "Next.js",
  "query": "how do middleware matchers work"
}

The tool resolves the best documentation set and returns ranked content. If library doesn't identify a clear match, it returns candidate sets instead of searching the wrong one.

Resolve and query documentation sets​

Use the two-step workflow when the product is ambiguous, you want to inspect the candidates, or the question covers multiple products.

  1. Call algolia_docsearch_resolve_docset with the product or platform name:

    {
      "query": "Next.js app router"
    }

  2. Select the best docset_id from the response.

  3. Call algolia_docsearch_query_docs with the selected ID and a focused question:

    {
      "query": "middleware matcher configuration",
      "docsetIds": ["nextjs"]
    }

Pass more than one docsetIds value when the question covers multiple products. Don't guess IDs. Use only IDs returned by algolia_docsearch_resolve_docset or algolia_docsearch_search_docs.

Troubleshooting​

The client doesn't call DocSearch MCP​

Confirm that the server is enabled and named algolia-docsearch. If you installed a plugin, confirm that the plugin is enabled. Then ask the client to use DocSearch MCP explicitly.

The client can't connect​

Confirm that the client supports remote HTTP MCP servers and uses this exact HTTPS URL:

https://mcp.algolia.com/1/docsearch/mcp

The public endpoint doesn't require authentication. Remove application IDs, API keys, headers, or authentication settings that the client doesn't require.

CLI setup doesn't detect an agent​

Pass the agent flag directly, or use --all with the setup command from the installation guide.

docsearch setup --project --cursor --yes
docsearch setup --global --all --yes

Supported flags are --cursor, --claude, --codex, --opencode, and --gemini.

CLI setup reports an invalid configuration​

Fix the reported JSON, JSONC, or TOML error before running setup again. The CLI stops instead of replacing an invalid configuration. It also rejects duplicate [mcp_servers.algolia-docsearch] sections in Codex configuration.

The result covers the wrong product​

Use the official product or vendor name. For example, use Algolia InstantSearch instead of search. If the name remains ambiguous, resolve the documentation set first and query the selected ID.

The result is too broad or empty​

Add the product version and narrow the question to one task. Run separate searches for unrelated topics. If a narrower search still returns no useful content, the requested documentation might not be in the public DocSearch corpus.

Private documentation isn't returned​

DocSearch MCP searches public developer documentation only. It doesn't search private company docs, internal repositories, or unpublished APIs.