RAG Vault

Your documents. Your machine. Your control.

RAG Vault lets your AI coding assistant search your private documents, things like API specs, research papers, and internal docs. Everything runs locally and your data stays on your machine unless you choose to pull in content from a remote URL.

One command to run, minimal setup, privacy by default.

Why RAG Vault?

Security

RAG Vault comes with security built in:

• API Authentication: Optional API key via RAG_API_KEY
• Rate Limiting: You can throttle requests
• CORS Control: Restrict allowed origins
• Security Headers: Helmet.js protection

See SECURITY.md for complete documentation.

First-Time Setup Checklist

Before adding MCP config:

1. Install Node.js 20 or newer.
2. Pick a documents directory and set BASE_DIR to that path.
3. Make sure your AI tool process can read BASE_DIR.
4. Restart your AI tool after editing config.

Get Started Quickly

For Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "local-rag": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault"],
      "env": {
        "BASE_DIR": "/path/to/your/documents"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/your/documents with your real absolute path.

For Claude Code

Add to .mcp.json in your project directory:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "local-rag": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault"],
      "env": {
        "BASE_DIR": "./documents",
        "DB_PATH": "./documents/.rag-db",
        "CACHE_DIR": "./.cache",
        "RAG_EMBEDDING_DEVICE": "cpu",
        "RAG_HYBRID_WEIGHT": "0.6",
        "RAG_GROUPING": "related"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or add inline via CLI:

claude mcp add local-rag --scope user --env BASE_DIR=/path/to/your/documents -- npx -y github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault

For Codex

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.local-rag]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault"]

[mcp_servers.local-rag.env]
BASE_DIR = "/path/to/your/documents"

Install Skills (Optional)

If you want your AI to write better queries and make more sense of results, install the RAG Vault skills:

# Claude Code (project-level - recommended for team projects)
npx github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault skills install --claude-code

# Claude Code (user-level - available in all projects)
npx github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault skills install --claude-code --global

# Codex (user-level)
npx github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault skills install --codex

# Custom location
npx github:RobThePCGuy/rag-vault skills install --path /your/custom/path

Skills teach Claude best practices for:

• Query formulation and expansion strategies
• Score interpretation. In boost mode, under 0.3 is a good match and over 0.5 is worth skipping. RRF mode scores by rank instead.
• When to use ingest_file vs ingest_data
• HTML ingestion and URL handling

Restart your AI tool, and start talking:

You: "Ingest api-spec.pdf"
AI:  Succes

... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/RobThePCGuy/rag-vault#readme)