Infomesh

<p align="center">

</p>

<h1 align="center">InfoMesh</h1>
<p align="center">
<strong>Fully Decentralized P2P Search Engine for LLMs</strong><br>
<em>No credit card. No API key. No usage cap. Forever free.</em>
</p>

<p align="center">
<a href="https://github.com/dotnetpower/infomesh/actions"></a>
<a href="https://pypi.org/project/infomesh/"></a>
<a href="LICENSE"></a>
<a href="https://www.python.org/"></a>
<a href="https://github.com/dotnetpower/infomesh/stargazers"></a>
</p>

<p align="center">
<a href="https://github.com/dotnetpower/infomesh/issues"></a>
<a href="https://github.com/dotnetpower/infomesh/pulls"></a>
<a href="https://github.com/dotnetpower/infomesh/commits/main"></a>
<a href="https://github.com/dotnetpower/infomesh"></a>
<a href="https://modelcontextprotocol.io/"></a>
<a href="CHANGELOG.md"></a>
</p>

<p align="center">
<a href="#-quick-start">Quick Start</a> •
<a href="#-why-infomesh">Why InfoMesh</a> •
<a href="#-features">Features</a> •
<a href="#-whats-new-in-v020">What's New</a> •
<a href="#-architecture">Architecture</a> •
<a href="#-security--trust">Security</a> •
<a href="#-earning-credits">Credits</a> •
<a href="#-contributing">Contributing</a> •
<a href="#-documentation">Docs</a>
</p>

---

> [!TIP]
> P2P Bootstrap Nodes Active
> InfoMesh ships with multiple bootstrap nodes across Azure regions — your node connects automatically on first start. To add more peers manually:
>

> infomesh peer add /ip4/<IP>/tcp/4001/p2p/<PEER_ID>

> infomesh peer test

> 

---

💡 Why InfoMesh?

The Problem

Every AI assistant needs real-time web access — but that access is gated behind expensive, proprietary search APIs:

| Type | Typical Cost | Limitation |
|------|-------------|------------|
| LLM-bundled web search | Hidden in token cost | Locked to one vendor's API, no standalone access |
| Custom search API | ~$3–5 / 1,000 queries | API key + billing account required, rate-limited |
| AI search SaaS | ~$0.01–0.05 / query | SaaS dependency, monthly usage caps |
| Search scraping proxy | ~$50+/month | Fragile, breaks on upstream changes |
| InfoMesh | $0 — Forever Free | None. You own the node, you own the index |

This creates a paywall barrier for independent AI developers, open-source assistants, and researchers. Small projects and local LLMs simply cannot afford real-time web search.

The Solution

I started building AI agents and quickly hit a wall: there was no free web search API.
Every provider wanted a credit card, a billing account, or a monthly subscription — just to let an AI agent look something up on the web. That felt wrong.

So I built InfoMesh — a decentralized search engine where the community is the infrastructure:

- No central server — every participant is both a crawler and a search node.
- No per-query cost — contribute crawling, earn search credits. The more you give, the more you can search.
- No vendor lock-in — standard MCP protocol integration, works offline with your local index.
- No data harvesting — search queries never leave your node. There is no central entity to collect them.

InfoMesh does not compete with existing commercial search providers. Those companies serve human search at massive scale with ads-based monetization. InfoMesh provides minimal, sufficient search capabilities for AI assistants — for free, via MCP — democratizing real-time web access without per-query billing.

> _I just wanted my AI agent to search the web without reaching for my wallet. If you've felt the same way, InfoMesh is for you._

🆓 Free. Every Interface. No Exceptions.

| How you use it | Cost | Example |
|---------------|------|--------|
| MCP (AI assistants) | Free | Claude, VS Code Copilot, any MCP client calls search() — zero API fees |
| CLI (terminal) | Free | uv run infomesh search "python asyncio" — instant results from your index |
| Python package (code) | Free | from infomesh.index.local_store import LocalStore — embed search in your app |
| Local API (HTTP) | Free | curl localhost:8080/search?q=... — REST endpoint for any language |

No API keys. No billing accounts. No usage caps. No rate limits per dollar.
You run a node, you contribute to the network, and search is free — forever.

---

InfoMesh vs Other Web Search MCP Servers

Looking for a free web search MCP server? Here's how InfoMesh compares to common alternatives:

| Feature | InfoMesh | API-based MCP servers | Scraper-based MCP servers | Meta-search engines |
|---------|-------------|----------------------|--------------------------|---------------------|
| Free tier | ♾️ Unlimited (credit-based) | Limited (1,000–2,000/mo typical) | Unlimited (no API) | Unlimited |
| API key | ❌ Not required | ✅ Required (signup needed) | ❌ Not required | ❌ Not required |
| Decentralized | ✅ Fully P2P | ❌ Centralized | ❌ Centralized | ❌ Single instance |
| Offline search | ✅ Local index works offline | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Privacy | ✅ Queries never leave node | ⚠️ Logged by provider | Varies | ✅ Self-hosted |
| Self-hosted | ✅ You own everything | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ Docker required |
| Crawl your own URLs | ✅ crawl_url() tool | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Full page fetch | ✅ fetch_page() tool | Varies | ❌ | ❌ |
| Install | pip install infomesh | Varies | Varies | Docker Compose |
| Open source | ✅ MIT | Varies | Varies | Varies |

> InfoMesh is the only web search MCP server that is fully decentralized, works offline, requires no API key, and lets you crawl and index your own content — all for free.

---

🔐 Safe by Design — The Most Secure Search Engine You Can Run

Most search engines ask you to trust them. InfoMesh asks you to trust math.

There is no central server that collects your queries. There is no company that stores your search history. There is no database of user behavior waiting to be breached. Your data never leaves your machine unless you choose to share it.

> Contribute to the network → earn credits → search for free, forever, with no limits.

That's the entire deal. No catch.

Why InfoMesh Is Enterprise-Grade Secure

…