Wikipedia MCP Server

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A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that retrieves information from Wikipedia to provide context to Large Language Models (LLMs). This tool helps AI assistants access factual information from Wikipedia to ground their responses in reliable sources.

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Overview

The Wikipedia MCP server provides real-time access to Wikipedia information through a standardized Model Context Protocol interface. This allows LLMs to retrieve accurate and up-to-date information directly from Wikipedia to enhance their responses.

Features

Search Wikipedia: Find articles matching specific queries
Retrieve Article Content: Get full article text with all information
Article Summaries: Get concise summaries of articles
Section Extraction: Retrieve specific sections from articles
Link Discovery: Find links within articles to related topics
Related Topics: Discover topics related to a specific article
Multi-language Support: Access Wikipedia in different languages

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install wikipedia-mcp for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @Rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp --client claude

Using pipx (Recommended)

# Install pipx if you don't have it
sudo apt install pipx
pipx ensurepath

# Install the Wikipedia MCP server
pipx install git+https://github.com/rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp.git

Using a virtual environment

# Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

# Activate the virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Install the package
pip install git+https://github.com/rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp.git

From source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp.git
cd wikipedia-mcp

# Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv wikipedia-mcp-env
source wikipedia-mcp-env/bin/activate

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

Usage

Running the server

# If installed with pipx
wikipedia-mcp

# If installed in a virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate
wikipedia-mcp

# Specify transport protocol (default: stdio)
wikipedia-mcp --transport stdio  # For Claude Desktop
wikipedia-mcp --transport sse    # For HTTP streaming

Configuration for Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia": {
      "command": "wikipedia-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Location of the configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Available MCP Tools

The Wikipedia MCP server provides the following tools for LLMs to interact with Wikipedia:

`search_wikipedia`

Search Wikipedia for articles matching a query.

Parameters:

query (string): The search term
limit (integer, optional): Maximum number of results to return (default: 10)

Returns:

A list of search results with titles, snippets, and metadata

`get_article`

Get the full content of a Wikipedia article.

Parameters:

title (string): The title of the Wikipedia article

Returns:

Article content including text, summary, sections, links, and categories

`get_summary`

Get a concise summary of a Wikipedia article.

Parameters:

title (string): The title of the Wikipedia article

Returns:

A text summary of the article

`get_sections`

Get the sections of a Wikipedia article.

Parameters:

title (string): The title of the Wikipedia article

Returns:

A structured list of article sections with their content

`get_links`

Get the links contained within a Wikipedia article.

Parameters:

title (string): The title of the Wikipedia article

Returns:

A list of links to other Wikipedia articles

`get_related_topics`

Get topics related to a Wikipedia article based on links and categories.

Parameters:

title (string): The title of the Wikipedia article
limit (integer, optional): Maximum number of related topics (default: 10)

Returns:

A list of related topics with relevance information

Example Prompts

Once the server is running and configured with Claude Desktop, you can use prompts like:

"Tell me about quantum computing using the Wikipedia information."
"Summarize the history of artificial intelligence based on Wikipedia."
"What does Wikipedia say about climate change?"
"Find Wikipedia articles related to machine learning."
"Get me the introduction section of the article on neural networks from Wikipedia."

MCP Resources

The server also provides MCP resources (similar to HTTP endpoints but for MCP):

search/{query}: Search Wikipedia for articles matching the query
article/{title}: Get the full content of a Wikipedia article
summary/{title}: Get a summary of a Wikipedia article
sections/{title}: Get the sections of a Wikipedia article
links/{title}: Get the links in a Wikipedia article

Development

Local Development Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rudra-ravi/wikipedia-mcp.git
cd wikipedia-mcp

# Create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Install the package in development mode
pip install -e .

# Install development dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the server
wikipedia-mcp

Project Structure

wikipedia_mcp/: Main package
- __main__.py: Entry point for the package
- server.py: MCP server implementation
- wikipedia_client.py: Wikipedia API client
- api/: API implementation
- core/: Core functionality
- utils/: Utility functions

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Connection Error: Ensure the command in claude_desktop_config.json is correct
Article Not Found: Check the exact spelling of article titles
Rate Limiting: Wikipedia API has rate limits; consider adding delays between requests
Large Articles: Some Wikipedia articles are very large and may exceed token limits

Understanding the Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is not a traditional HTTP API but a specialized protocol for communication between LLMs and external tools. Key characteristics:

Uses stdio (standard input/output) or SSE (Server-Sent Events) for communication
Designed specifically for AI model interaction
Provides standardized formats for tools, resources, and prompts
Integrates directly with Claude and other MCP-compatible AI systems

Claude Desktop acts as the MCP client, while this server provides the tools and resources that Claude can use to access Wikipedia information.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Connect with the Author

🌐 Portfolio: ravikumar-dev.me
📝 Blog: Medium
💼 LinkedIn: in/ravi-kumar-e
🐦 Twitter: @Ravikumar_d3v