MCP Setup

Prerequisites

Make sure Essence is running locally:

cd essence/backend
cargo run --release
# Server running at http://localhost:8080

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "essence": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see Essence tools available in the tool picker.

Claude Code

Add to your project's .claude/settings.json or global ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "essence": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code will automatically discover the scrape, crawl, map, and search tools.

Cursor

Open Cursor settings and navigate to the MCP section. Add a new server:

• Name: essence
• Type: HTTP
• URL: http://localhost:8080/mcp

Or add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "essence": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to your Windsurf MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "essence": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Usage Examples

Once connected, your AI agent can use Essence tools directly. Examples of what you can ask:

• "Scrape https://example.com and summarize it"
• "Crawl the docs at https://docs.example.com and find all API endpoints"
• "Search for 'rust async patterns' and give me a summary of the top results"
• "Map all URLs on https://example.com"

Remote Deployment

If Essence is running on a remote server, replace localhost:8080 with your server's address:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "essence": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://your-server.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Ensure the MCP endpoint is accessible from your machine and properly secured (e.g., behind a VPN or reverse proxy with authentication).