Open Source and Local

Open-source MCP setup and local/community patterns for RA-H

Supported Core Path

If you want the cleanest supported path:

  • use RA-H OS
  • keep the graph in local SQLite
  • use the standard standalone MCP server
  • follow the repo docs first

In this path, SQLite stores the graph and the app owns indexing. The standalone MCP server can write nodes and edges, but the app pipeline is what turns source text into chunks, full-text indexes, vec_nodes, and vec_chunks.

MCP Setup

Use a pinned package version in your client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ra-h": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--yes", "ra-h-mcp-server@2.1.2"]
    }
  }
}

Then:

  • fully restart the client
  • verify the tools are visible
  • run the app once so the DB exists

Reasonable Community Patterns

Reasonable, but not the default install story:

  • local-model clients layered on top of RA-H MCP
  • AnythingLLM as an alternate local chat/agent surface
  • Qdrant as a community add-on when sqlite-vec is weak for the target environment

Honest Tradeoffs

  • more local privacy can be better
  • offline control can be better
  • smaller local models can perform materially worse at tool use
  • vector search depends on a working vector backend such as sqlite-vec
  • a node can exist before its chunk and vector rows have been created
  • once you leave the supported baseline path, more of the maintenance burden is yours

References