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Cairn MCP Server

by luckyjackluo Your server? Claim it
local only

Cairn runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 104 installs a week from pypi. Last commit 29 Jul 2026.

Local-first file-organization tools for your AI agent: tag, query, and digest a folder. No cloud.

Installs per day peak 29 · avg 16 · -9% w/w
a month agotoday
104
Installs / week
pypi · cairn-mcp-server
2
Stars
5 open issues
29 Jul 2026
Last commit
from GitHub
MIT
License
Python

What the code does

We read the source, 5 d ago · rules 995398eba69f

In the project's build, not in the package

Found in continuous integration, deployment or infrastructure files, or in a neighbouring package of the same monorepo. None of this is installed when you add the server: it describes how the project is built and released. We list it because a leaked key in a build pipeline is still a real problem, but it is not something this server does on your machine.

Claims local-only, but the code calls out core/cairn_core/reco.py:340
    for p in root.rglob("*.md"):
Executes code built at runtime core/cairn_core/convert.py:58
        return __import__(module)
Reads files and sends them to the network core/cairn_core/reco.py:340
    for p in root.rglob("*.md"):

Is this your server and something here is wrong? Tell us — corrections are free and do not require a plan.

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check Cairn every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.

Three servers free · no card

Connect this server

This server runs on your own machine — install it with the package manager and the client starts it for you. Package name taken from the official registry entry.

run in your terminal
claude mcp add cairn -- uvx cairn-mcp-server
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cairn": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "cairn-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}
~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.cairn]
command = "uvx"
args = ["cairn-mcp-server"]
.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cairn": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "cairn-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}
.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "cairn": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "cairn-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Optional settings from the registry entry, left out of the block above: CAIRN_WORKSPACE (Path to the folder Cairn operates on. If unset, defaults to the current working directory. You can also pass --workspace on the command line instead).

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Cairn — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

Why is there no uptime for Cairn?
Cairn runs on your own machine over stdio — there is no network address to reach, so uptime cannot be measured for it by anyone. What can be measured is adoption: the pypi package cairn-mcp-server was installed 104 times last week.
How do I connect Cairn?
Copy the ready config from this page. We generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each in the form that client actually reads. It runs locally, so the command pulls cairn-mcp-server straight from pypi; nothing to host, nothing to sign up for.
How many people use Cairn?
The pypi package cairn-mcp-server was installed 104 times in the last week. Week over week that is -9%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.
Is Cairn open source?
Yes — it is published under the MIT licence, written in Python, 2 stars on GitHub and 5 open issues. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.