Multi-modal knowledge library with vector and full-text search for text, code, images, and PDFs
Project description
Librarian
A personal knowledge library for AI agents, built on Arcade for the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
Overview
Librarian provides AI agents with persistent storage for text, documents, and knowledge. Agents can store information and retrieve it later through semantic and keyword search, maintaining context across conversations.
graph LR
A[Agent Stores Info] --> B[Parser]
B --> C[Chunker]
C --> D[Embedder]
D --> E[(SQLite + vec)]
F[Agent Queries] --> G[Hybrid Search]
E --> G
G --> H[Relevant Context]
Features
- Persistent knowledge storage for AI agents
- SQLite storage with
sqlite-vecfor vector search - Full-text search using FTS5 with BM25 ranking
- Hybrid search combining semantic and keyword matching
- Max Marginal Relevance (MMR) for diverse results
- Configurable embedding models (local or OpenAI-compatible API)
- Header-aware text chunking with overlap
- Time-bounded search filters
- CLI and MCP server interfaces
Multi-Modal Support
Librarian supports indexing and searching across multiple file types:
| Asset Type | File Extensions | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Text | .md, .txt |
Frontmatter extraction, header-aware chunking |
| Code | .py, .js, .ts, .go, .rs, .java, .cpp, and more |
Symbol extraction (classes, functions, methods) |
.pdf |
Page-based text extraction | |
| Image | .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .webp |
Metadata and EXIF extraction, optional OCR |
Installation
git clone https://github.com/ArcadeAI/librarian.git
cd librarian
./setup.sh
Or install manually:
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
Optional multi-modal dependencies:
uv pip install -e ".[pdf]" # PDF support (pypdf)
uv pip install -e ".[vision]" # Image support (Pillow)
uv pip install -e ".[all]" # All optional features
CLI Usage
# Add files to the library
libr add ~/notes
# Search the library
libr search "machine learning concepts"
# List sources
libr list
# View library statistics
libr index
# Rebuild the index
libr index build
MCP Server
Start the server for AI assistant integration:
# stdio transport (Claude Desktop, CLI)
libr serve stdio
# HTTP transport (Cursor, VS Code)
libr serve http --port 8000
See the Arcade MCP documentation for integration details.
Available Tools
Core Tools (always enabled):
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
Librarian_SearchLibrary |
Unified search with mode selection (hybrid/semantic/keyword), asset type filtering, and timeframe support |
Librarian_AddToLibrary |
Store new content in the library |
Librarian_UpdateLibraryDoc |
Update existing content |
Librarian_ReadFromLibrary |
Read full document content |
Librarian_RemoveFromLibrary |
Remove content from the library |
Librarian_ListLibraryContents |
List all stored content |
Librarian_IndexDirectoryToLibrary |
Bulk import files from a directory |
Optional Tools (enable with LIBRARIAN_ENABLE_OPTIONAL_TOOLS=true):
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
Librarian_GetLibrarySources |
List sources with document/chunk counts |
Librarian_GetLibraryStats |
Overall library statistics |
Librarian_GetLibraryStructure |
Filesystem structure of library sources |
Librarian_GetLibrarySections |
Simplified view of available storage locations |
Librarian_SuggestLibraryLocation |
AI-powered suggestions for where to store content |
Configuration
Set via environment variables:
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
DOCUMENTS_PATH |
./documents |
Root directory for files |
DATABASE_PATH |
~/.librarian/index.db |
SQLite database location |
EMBEDDING_PROVIDER |
openai |
local or openai |
EMBEDDING_MODEL |
all-MiniLM-L6-v2 |
Local model name |
OPENAI_API_BASE |
http://localhost:7171/v1 |
OpenAI-compatible API URL |
OPENAI_EMBEDDING_MODEL |
qwen3-embedding-06b |
API model name |
CHUNK_SIZE |
512 |
Max characters per chunk |
CHUNK_OVERLAP |
50 |
Overlap between chunks |
SEARCH_LIMIT |
10 |
Default results limit |
MMR_LAMBDA |
0.5 |
MMR diversity (0=diverse, 1=relevant) |
HYBRID_ALPHA |
0.7 |
Vector vs keyword weight (1=vector only) |
Project Structure
librarian/
├── cli.py # Command-line interface
├── server.py # MCP server and tool definitions
├── config.py # Configuration management
├── indexing.py # Document indexing service
├── types.py # Shared type definitions
├── storage/
│ ├── database.py # SQLite operations
│ ├── vector_store.py # sqlite-vec search
│ └── fts_store.py # FTS5 search
├── processing/
│ ├── embed/ # Embedding providers
│ ├── parsers/ # Document parsers (md, code, pdf, image)
│ └── transform/ # Text chunking
├── retrieval/
│ └── search.py # Hybrid search + MMR
└── utils/
└── timeframe.py # Time filter utilities
Development
make install # Install dependencies
make test # Run tests
make lint # Run linter
make format # Format code
make typecheck # Type checking
make check # All checks
make evals # Run evaluations
Resources
- Arcade.dev - Build AI-native applications
- Arcade Documentation - Integration guides and API reference
License
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.
Contact
- Email: contact@arcade.dev
- Website: arcade.dev
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