Compass
Compass is a context engine that builds a knowledge graph of your organization's metadata, capturing entities, relationships, and lineage across systems and time, making it discoverable and queryable for both humans and AI agents.
What is Compass?
Compass is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to compass is a context engine that builds a knowledge graph of your organization's metadata, capturing entities, relationships, and lineage across systems and time, making it discoverable and queryable ...
Compass is a context engine that builds a knowledge graph of your organization's metadata, capturing entities, relationships, and lineage across systems and time, making it discoverable and queryable for both humans and AI agents.
This server falls under the Knowledge & Memory and Analytics categories on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- Compass is a context engine that builds a knowledge graph of
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx compassConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Compass
Compass is an open-source context engine by Raystack that builds a knowledge graph of your organization's metadata — capturing entities, relationships, and data lineage across systems over time. It exposes an MCP server endpoint so AI agents can search the graph, explore entity context with bidirectional traversal, and assess the blast radius of upstream changes. Teams use it to give AI assistants accurate, queryable knowledge about their data infrastructure rather than relying on stale documentation.
Prerequisites
- Go 1.19+ (if building from source) or Docker for running the server
- PostgreSQL with pgvector extension enabled (required for hybrid search)
- A running Compass server instance (via docker compose or binary) accessible at a known URL
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop or Claude Code
Install Compass
Install via Homebrew on macOS, or pull the Docker image. Alternatively clone the repo and build with make.
# macOS
brew install raystack/tap/compass
# Docker
docker pull raystack/compass:latestInitialize configuration and start PostgreSQL
Run compass config init to generate the config file, then start a PostgreSQL instance (with pgvector) using the provided docker-compose.yml before proceeding.
compass config init
docker compose up postgres -dRun database migrations and start the server
Migrate the schema and then start the Compass server. By default it listens on port 8080 and exposes an MCP endpoint at /mcp.
compass server migrate
compass server startConfigure your MCP client
Add a server entry to your .mcp.json or Claude Desktop config pointing to the running Compass MCP endpoint using SSE transport.
Ingest metadata and verify search
Push entity metadata to Compass via its REST API or CLI ingestion tools, then verify the MCP server responds to search queries.
compass entity search "orders" --mode hybridCompass Examples
Client configuration
Add this to your .mcp.json to connect to a locally running Compass instance via SSE transport.
{
"mcpServers": {
"compass": {
"type": "sse",
"url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp"
}
}
}Prompts to try
Once your Compass server has metadata ingested and the MCP client is connected, try these prompts.
- "Search for all entities related to the orders dataset."
- "Show me the full context graph for urn:bigquery:orders with depth 2."
- "What is the blast radius if the Kafka events topic goes down?"
- "List all entities that have a lineage dependency on our users table."
- "Find datasets tagged as PII in our data warehouse."Troubleshooting Compass
MCP connection fails with 'connection refused' on port 8080
Confirm compass server start completed without errors and PostgreSQL is running. Check logs with compass server start --verbose and ensure port 8080 is not blocked by a firewall.
Hybrid search returns no results after ingesting entities
Verify the pgvector extension is installed in PostgreSQL (CREATE EXTENSION vector;) and that compass server migrate ran successfully to create the vector columns.
SSE transport disconnects frequently
Some reverse proxies buffer SSE streams. If running behind nginx or a load balancer, set proxy_buffering off and increase proxy_read_timeout to at least 300s.
Frequently Asked Questions about Compass
What is Compass?
Compass is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that compass is a context engine that builds a knowledge graph of your organization's metadata, capturing entities, relationships, and lineage across systems and time, making it discoverable and queryable for both humans and ai agents. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Compass?
Follow the installation instructions on the Compass GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Compass?
Compass works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Compass free to use?
Yes, Compass is open source and available under the Apache-2.0 license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
Compass Alternatives — Similar Knowledge & Memory Servers
Looking for alternatives to Compass? Here are other popular knowledge & memory servers you can use with Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
MemPalace
★ 52.6kA local AI memory system that stores all conversations verbatim and organizes them into navigable structures. It provides 19 MCP tools for AI assistants to search and retrieve past decisions, debugging sessions, and architecture debates automatically
Kratos
★ 25.7k🏛️ Memory System for AI Coding Tools - Never explain your codebase again. MCP server with perfect project isolation, 95.8% context accuracy, and the Four Pillars Framework.
Context Mode
★ 15.4kAn MCP server that preserves LLM context by intercepting large data outputs and returning only concise summaries or relevant sections. It enables efficient sandboxed code execution, file processing, and documentation indexing across multiple programm
Memu
★ 13.7kMemory for 24/7 proactive agents like OpenClaw.
MemOS
★ 9.3kMemOS (Memory Operating System) is a memory management operating system designed for AI applications. Its goal is: to enable your AI system to have long-term memory like a human, not only remembering what users have said but also actively invoking, u
Everos
★ 5.4kBuild, evaluate, and integrate long-term memory for self-evolving agents.
Browse More Knowledge & Memory MCP Servers
Explore all knowledge & memory servers available in the MCPgee directory. Each server includes setup guides for Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
Set Up Compass in Your Editor
Choose your AI client for step-by-step setup instructions.
Quick Config Preview
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json
Ready to use Compass?
Browse our complete directory of 33,000+ MCP servers, read setup guides for your editor, and start building with the Model Context Protocol.