Installation

Using pipx (Recommended for Claude Desktop)

The best way to install for Claude Desktop usage is with pipx, which installs the command globally:

# Install pipx if you don't have it
pip install pipx
pipx ensurepath

# Install the Wikipedia MCP server
pipx install wikipedia-mcp

This ensures the wikipedia-mcp command is available in Claude Desktop's PATH.

Installing via Smithery

To install wikipedia-mcp for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @Rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp --client claude

From PyPI (Alternative)

You can also install directly from PyPI:

pip install wikipedia-mcp

Note: If you use this method and encounter connection issues with Claude Desktop, you may need to use the full path to the command in your configuration. See the Configuration section for details.

Using a virtual environment

# Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

# Activate the virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Install the package
pip install git+https://github.com/rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp.git

From source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp.git
cd wikipedia-mcp

# Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv wikipedia-mcp-env
source wikipedia-mcp-env/bin/activate

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

Usage

Running the server

# If installed with pipx
wikipedia-mcp

# If installed in a virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate
wikipedia-mcp

# Specify transport protocol (default: stdio)
wikipedia-mcp --transport stdio  # For Claude Desktop
wikipedia-mcp --transport http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 --path /mcp
wikipedia-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 --path /mcp
wikipedia-mcp --transport sse    # Legacy compatibility transport

# Specify language (default: en for English)
wikipedia-mcp --language ja  # Example for Japanese
wikipedia-mcp --language zh-hans  # Example for Simplified Chinese
wikipedia-mcp --language zh-tw    # Example for Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)
wikipedia-mcp --language sr-latn  # Example for Serbian Latin script

# Specify country/locale (alternative to language codes)
wikipedia-mcp --country US        # English (United States)
wikipedia-mcp --country China     # Chinese Simplified
wikipedia-mcp --country Taiwan    # Chinese Traditional (Taiwan)  
wikipedia-mcp --country Japan     # Japanese
wikipedia-mcp --country Germany   # German
wikipedia-mcp --country france    # French (case insensitive)

# List all supported countries
wikipedia-mcp --list-countries

# Optional: Specify host/port/path for network transport (use 0.0.0.0 for containers)
wikipedia-mcp --transport http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 --path /mcp

# Optional: Enable caching
wikipedia-mcp --enable-cache

# Optional: Use Personal Access Token to avoid rate limiting (403 errors)
wikipedia-mcp --access-token your_wikipedia_token_here

# Or set via environment variable
export WIKIPEDIA_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_wikipedia_token_here
wikipedia-mcp

# Optional: Secure incoming MCP network requests with static bearer token
wikipedia-mcp --transport http --auth-mode static --auth-token your_mcp_token --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

# Optional: Secure incoming MCP network requests with JWT validation
wikipedia-mcp --transport http --auth-mode jwt --auth-jwks-uri https://issuer/.well-known/jwks.json --auth-issuer https://issuer

# Security note: prefer http/streamable-http + auth-mode for exposed network transport.

# Combine options
wikipedia-mcp --country Taiwan --enable-cache --access-token your_wikipedia_token --transport http --path /mcp --port 8080

### Docker/Kubernetes

When running inside containers, bind the HTTP MCP server to all interfaces and map
the container port to the host or service:

```bash
# Build and run with Docker
docker build -t wikipedia-mcp .
docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 wikipedia-mcp --transport http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 --path /mcp

Kubernetes example (minimal):

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: wikipedia-mcp
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: wikipedia-mcp
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: wikipedia-mcp
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: server
          image: your-repo/wikipedia-mcp:latest
          args: ["--transport", "http", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8080", "--path", "/mcp"]
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8080
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: wikipedia-mcp
spec:
  selector:
    app: wikipedia-mcp
  ports:
    - name: http
      port: 8080
      targetPort: 8080

### Configuration for Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

**Option 1: Using command name (requires `wikipedia-mcp` to be in PATH)**
```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "wikipedia-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Option 2: Using full path (recommended if you get connection errors)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "/full/path/to/wikipedia-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Option 3: With country/language specification

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia-us": {
      "command": "wikipedia-mcp",
      "args": ["--country", "US"]
    },
    "wikipedia-taiwan": {
      "command": "wikipedia-mcp", 
      "args": ["--country", "TW"]
    },
    "wikipedia-japan": {
      "command": "wikipedia-mcp",
      "args": ["--country", "Japan"]
    }
  }
}

To find the full path, run: which wikipedia-mcp

Configuration file locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Note: If you encounter connection errors, see the Troubleshooting section for solutions.

Documentation Index

• CLI usage and options: see docs/CLI.md
• API and MCP tools/resources: see docs/API.md
• Architecture overview: see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
• User guide and troubleshooting: see docs/USER_GUIDE.md
• Development guide: see docs/DEVELOPMENT.md
• Testing guide: see docs/TESTING.md

Available MCP Tools

The Wikipedia MCP server provides the following tools for LLMs to interact with Wikipedia:

Each tool is also exposed with a wikipedia_-prefixed alias (for example, wikipedia_get_article) for improved cross-server discoverability.

search_wikipedia

Search Wikipedia for articles matching a query.

Parameters:

• query (string): The search term
• limit (integer, optional): Maximum number of results to return (default: 10)

Returns:

• A list of search results with titles, snippets, and metadata

get_article

Get the full content of a Wikipedia article.

Parameters:

• title (string): The title of the Wikipedia article

Returns:

• Article content including text, summary, sections, links, and categories

get_summary

Get a concise summary of a Wikipedia article.

Parameters:

• `titl