OpenZIM MCP Server

openzim-mcp is an MCP server for reading and searching ZIM archives.

This fork keeps the same package name but is intentionally opinionated for a single-user deployment:

• bare-metal, not Docker-first
• systemd-managed HTTP service
• simple mode as the default operating model
• one persistent Wikipedia archive at a known path
• reduced prompt surface: /research only

Current fork version: 2.0.1

Maintainer: sibyl

What This Fork Changes

Compared with upstream, this fork is optimized for a narrow and stable setup.

• simple mode still exposes zim_query
• simple mode exposes only the /research MCP prompt
• summarize and explore prompts are not registered
• when a client mistakenly passes an entry path into zim_file_path, simple

mode treats that as a slot error and falls back to the single loaded archive

That last point matters for small models and weak MCP clients. A payload like this:

{
  "compact": true,
  "query": "summary of A/Marcellina_(gnostic)",
  "zim_file_path": "A/Marcellina_(gnostic)"
}

now resolves against the real archive instead of treating A/Marcellina_(gnostic) as a filesystem path.

Intended Deployment

This fork is written around a single persistent archive:

/srv/zim/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2022-05.zim

and a local HTTP service bound to loopback, typically behind a reverse proxy.

Example service command:

uv run openzim-mcp --mode simple --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3338 /srv/zim

Features Kept In This Fork

• zim_query natural-language interface
• advanced mode codepath and tooling
• HTTP transport
• search, article retrieval, structure, links, title lookup
• compact simple-mode rendering
• single registered MCP prompt: /research

Features Intentionally De-Emphasized

• Docker-first deployment guidance
• broad multi-client prompt workflows
• prompt flows that require the caller to supply zim_file_path

The code still contains far more capability than this README emphasizes. The difference is intentional: this document is for operating this fork, not for advertising every upstream feature.

Installation

Requirements:

• Python 3.12+
• uv
• a readable directory containing your .zim files

Clone the repo:

git clone <your-fork-url>
cd openzim-mcp

Install dependencies:

uv sync

Run locally:

uv run openzim-mcp --mode simple /srv/zim

Run over HTTP:

uv run openzim-mcp --mode simple --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3338 /srv/zim

Bare-Metal systemd Deployment

This fork is expected to run directly on a host, not in a container.

Example unit:

[Unit]
Description=OpenZIM MCP Server
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
User=openzim-mcp
Group=openzim-mcp
WorkingDirectory=/opt/openzim-mcp/app
EnvironmentFile=/etc/openzim-mcp/openzim-mcp.env

ExecStart=/var/lib/openzim-mcp/.local/bin/uv run openzim-mcp --mode simple --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3338 /srv/zim

Restart=always
RestartSec=5

NoNewPrivileges=true
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
ReadOnlyPaths=/srv/zim /opt/openzim-mcp
ReadWritePaths=/var/lib/openzim-mcp
RestrictSUIDSGID=true
LockPersonality=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable it:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now openzim-mcp
sudo systemctl status openzim-mcp

Updating The Deployment

For this setup, do not copy local virtual environments into the server tree.

Deploy source only:

• copy or pull the repo into /opt/openzim-mcp/app
• keep .venv off the server copy
• rebuild the environment on the target host with uv sync

Typical update flow:

sudo systemctl stop openzim-mcp
cd /opt/openzim-mcp/app
git pull
sudo -u openzim-mcp /var/lib/openzim-mcp/.local/bin/uv sync
sudo systemctl start openzim-mcp

If you are deploying by copying files rather than pulling on-host, replace the whole app tree rather than pasting selected files over an existing checkout.

MCP Surface In Simple Mode

Simple mode in this fork is intentionally small.

Tools:

• zim_query

Prompts:

• /research
• /article
• /compare
• /timeline
• /map

That is the interface you should expect clients to see.

All prompts are workflow macros over zim_query; they do not reference the advanced-mode tools. They assume a single offline Wikipedia archive and tell clients to omit zim_file_path so the server can auto-select the loaded archive.

Example Queries

These are the kinds of simple-mode requests this fork is tuned for:

• tell me about Marcellina
• summary of A/Marcellina_(gnostic)
• show structure of Photosynthesis
• links in Ada Lovelace
• find article titled Hypatia
• search for gnosticism

Versioning

This fork now uses a normal release version:

• 2.0.1

That replaces the upstream alpha train version that was present in this tree.

Development Notes

Useful commands:

uv run pytest tests/test_server.py tests/test_simple_tools.py tests/test_prompts.py -q
uv run pytest -q

The fork-specific behavior currently pinned by tests includes:

• simple mode prompt registration
• entry-like zim_file_path fallback in single-archive mode
• reduced prompt surface
• Wikipedia-oriented simple-mode prompts over zim_query

License

This repository remains under the existing project license unless you change it separately.