Hister
Your own search engine
What is Hister?
Hister is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to your own search engine
Your own search engine
This server falls under the Search & Data Extraction category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- Your own search engine
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx histerConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Hister
Hister is a privacy-focused, self-hosted personal search engine that indexes the full text of every web page you visit and provides a powerful query language to search through your browsing history locally. It supports optional AI-powered semantic search and exposes an MCP endpoint at /mcp, enabling AI assistants to search your personal knowledge base — including browser history and crawled or locally-indexed documents — directly within conversations. Privacy-conscious developers and researchers use it to build a personal second brain that never sends data to external search engines.
Prerequisites
- A running Hister instance (requires latest Go and npm to build from source, or use a pre-built release binary)
- A Hister access token (generated via the /profile page or CLI after signup)
- An MCP client that supports HTTP/SSE transport such as Claude Desktop or Cursor
- A browser extension (Chrome or Firefox) to automatically index visited pages as you browse
Build and start Hister
Clone the repository, build the Go binary and web frontend, then start the server. Hister will run on port 4433 by default.
git clone https://github.com/asciimoo/hister.git
cd hister
./manage.sh build
./histerCreate an account and get your access token
Open http://localhost:4433 in your browser, register an account, then navigate to /profile to generate a personal access token for MCP authentication.
# Open in browser:
http://localhost:4433Install the browser extension
Install the Hister browser extension for Chrome or Firefox. Configure it to point to your Hister instance URL and authenticate with your account. The extension will automatically index pages as you browse.
Configure your MCP client
Add Hister to your MCP client configuration using the HTTP transport URL. All requests require an Authorization Bearer token and an Origin header for CSRF protection.
{
"mcpServers": {
"hister": {
"url": "http://127.0.0.1:4433/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer <your-access-token>",
"Origin": "hister://"
}
}
}
}Verify the connection
Ask your AI assistant to search for a topic you recently browsed. Hister will return matching pages from your personal index.
Hister Examples
Client configuration
MCP client configuration for a locally running Hister instance with authentication headers.
{
"mcpServers": {
"hister": {
"url": "http://127.0.0.1:4433/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer your-access-token-here",
"Origin": "hister://"
}
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example prompts once Hister is running and your browser history is indexed.
- "Search my browsing history for articles about Kubernetes networking and summarize the key points."
- "Find pages I visited about React performance optimization and list the most relevant ones."
- "Search for 'postgres index tuning' in my personal index and return the full text of the top result."
- "Did I visit any pages about OWASP security guidelines last month? Show me up to 10 results."
- "Use semantic search to find pages related to distributed tracing even if they don't use that exact phrase."Troubleshooting Hister
MCP client receives 403 Forbidden
All MCP requests require both the 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' header and 'Origin: hister://' header. Verify both are present in your MCP client configuration. If the token has expired, generate a new one from the /profile page.
Search returns no results even though pages have been visited
Confirm the browser extension is installed and configured to point to your Hister instance. Open the Hister web UI at http://localhost:4433 and try the same query there to rule out an indexing issue. New pages can take a moment to be fully indexed after visiting.
Hister binary fails to build
Ensure you have the latest Go version and npm installed. Run 'go version' and 'npm --version' to verify. On Linux you may need to install build tools with 'apt-get install build-essential'. The 'air' tool is needed for hot-reload development but not for a standard build.
Frequently Asked Questions about Hister
What is Hister?
Hister is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that your own search engine It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Hister?
Follow the installation instructions on the Hister GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Hister?
Hister works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Hister free to use?
Yes, Hister is open source and available under the AGPL-3.0 license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
Hister Alternatives — Similar Search & Data Extraction Servers
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★ 20.1kGive your AI agent eyes to see the entire internet. Read & search Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, GitHub, Bilibili, XiaoHongShu — one CLI, zero API fees.
Xiaohongshu
★ 13.7kMCP for xiaohongshu.com
Browse More Search & Data Extraction MCP Servers
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Set Up Hister in Your Editor
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Quick Config Preview
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json or .cursor/mcp.json
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