Unread MCP Server

A read-only Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for searching your Unread RSS reader database. This server provides keyword-based fulltext search capabilities for articles stored in the Unread app.

Features

- Keyword-based fulltext search - NOT semantic/vector search
- Search across article titles, content, authors, and feed names
- Filter by article status (starred, read, unread)
- Search within specific feeds
- Database statistics
- Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
- Exact phrase search with quotes

Installation

1. Ensure you have the Unread app installed and have articles in your database
2. Clone or copy this directory to ~/Developer/unread-mcp/
3. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x ~/Developer/unread-mcp/unread-mcp.sh

   

Configuration

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unread-search": {
      "command": "/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Developer/unread-mcp/unread-mcp.sh"
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_USERNAME with your actual username.

Usage

Once configured, you can use the following tools in Claude:

search-articles

Search through all articles using keywords: - Simple keywords: bicycle, javascript - Boolean operators: AI OR artificial intelligence, python NOT django - Exact phrases: "climate change" - Use * or empty query to get most recently read articles - Filter by status: starred, read, unread - Returns brief preview (~300 chars) and article ID

get-article

Retrieve the full text content of a specific article: - Use the article ID from search results - Returns complete article content with metadata

get-stats

Get database statistics including total articles, unread count, starred count

list-feeds

List all RSS feeds with article counts

search-by-feed

Search articles within a specific feed - Returns brief preview and article ID

Examples

- "Search my starred articles for AI or artificial intelligence"
- "Find unread articles about cycling"
- "Show me articles about javascript but not react"
- "Search for 'climate change' in my articles"
- "List my top feeds"
- "Search The Radavist feed for bike articles"

Important Notes

- This is a read-only server - it cannot modify your database
- Search is keyword-based, not semantic - use specific terms
- The database path is hardcoded to the default Unread location
- Requires sqlite3 and jq to be installed (standard on macOS)

Troubleshooting

Check the requests.log file in the same directory as the script for debugging information.

Dependencies

- bash
- sqlite3
- jq
- Unread app with articles in the database