JAIL Search

io.github.mefenglPublished by GitHub account mefenglv1.4.0Updated Oct 28, 2026

Search a billion+ documents — papers, books, code, legal cases, forums, Wikipedia, and more.

VerifiedStreamable HTTPWeb executableWeb Search & Scraping Knowledge & Memory

Server details

Identifier: io.github.mefengl/jail-mcp
Transport: Streamable HTTP
Runtime: Web executable
Trust: Verified
Published: Sep 16, 2026

Security note

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Overview

AI-generated overview

JAIL Search lets an assistant search a billion-plus documents across papers, books, code, legal cases, forums, Wikipedia and more, then fetch document details.

What you can do: Search across all content types, filtering by type and paginating with a cursor
Retrieve full metadata for a single document by its ID
Coverage spans academic sources, books, Wikipedia in many languages, forums, legal texts, news, packages, economics, knowledge graphs, video, music, health, geo, social, crypto, predictions and audio
When to use it: Useful when an assistant needs broad, cross-domain research or source discovery — literature, case law, package docs, forum discussions or encyclopedic background — from one search endpoint instead of many separate sources.
Requirements: A remote endpoint at api.jail.li, or the npm package jail-mcp (npx) or PyPI package jail-mcp (uvx) for local stdio transport. Network access is required. An optional JAIL Pro API key (JAIL_API_KEY, or appended to the URL as a query parameter) raises limits; a trial works without one.

Before you install

The README states the backend is currently offline, so the server may not work. The API key is passed in the URL query string in most client configurations, which can expose it in config files, shell history and logs; prefer the environment variable where possible. Queries and document requests go to a third-party service.

Installation

In SourceWeft

Open JAIL Search in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Web executable via Streamable HTTP. Remote servers run from the web runtime once configured in a workspace.

Use with an agent

Paste this prompt into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or another agent — or into SourceWeft chat. The agent reads this server's install guide, shows you its publisher, endpoint and sign-in, and adds it to your client once you agree. Keys never go into a command.

Read https://sourceweft.com/mcp/io.github.mefengl%2Fjail-mcp/install.md and connect the MCP server it describes to my client. Before changing any config, show me its publisher, endpoint and sign-in method and wait for my OK. Never put an API key in a command or in a file I would commit; ask me where it should come from.

Read the install guide the agent follows

Other MCP clients

Add this to your client's mcpServers config.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jail-search": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp"
    }
  }
}

README

JAIL Search — MCP Server

Status: backend offline.

[Install in Cursor] [Install in VS Code]

Search a billion+ documents — papers, books, code, legal cases, forums, Wikipedia, and more.

jail.li

Installation

Connect to the hosted MCP server:

Get API key for higher limits — append ?jailApiKey= to the URL.

Claude Code

With API key:

Codex

With API key: codex mcp add jail --url "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

With API key: "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

With API key: "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

json

{  "mcpServers": {    "jail": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://api.jail.li/mcp"]    }  }}

{  "mcpServers": {    "jail": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://api.jail.li/mcp"]    }  }}

With API key: "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."]

OpenCode

Add to your opencode.json:

json

{  "mcp": {    "jail": {      "type": "remote",      "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp",      "enabled": true    }  }}

{  "mcp": {    "jail": {      "type": "remote",      "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp",      "enabled": true    }  }}

With API key: "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."

Copilot CLI

Edit ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json:

json

{  "mcpServers": {    "jail": {      "type": "http",      "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp"    }  }}

{  "mcpServers": {    "jail": {      "type": "http",      "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp"    }  }}

With API key: "url": "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."

Windsurf

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

With API key: "serverUrl": "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."

Hermes

Add to ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

With API key: url: "https://api.jail.li/mcp?jailApiKey=sk_live_..."

Or install the skill: hermes skill install jail-search

Via npm Package

Use the npm/pypi package for stdio transport

json

{  "mcpServers": {    "jail": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "jail-mcp@latest"]    }  }}

{  "mcpServers": {    "jail": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "jail-mcp@latest"]    }  }}

Or with Python: "command": "uvx", "args": ["jail-mcp"]

For API key with stdio: "env": { "JAIL_API_KEY": "sk_live_..." }

Tools

Content Types

Type	Sources
academic	OpenAlex, arXiv, Semantic Scholar, DBLP
books	Books, digital libraries, classical literature
wiki	Wikipedia — en, zh, de, fr, es, ru, ja, ko + 10 more
forums	Hacker News, StackExchange, Lobsters, LessWrong, 60+ more
legal	Harvard Case Law, CourtListener, EUR-Lex, UK Legislation
news	News articles and journalism
packages	npm, PyPI, Crates.io, Libraries.io
economics	World Bank, IMF, FRED, ECB, BLS, Tax Foundation
knowledge	Wikidata, structured knowledge
video	IMDb, YouTube
music	Discogs, MusicBrainz
health	Clinical trials, food safety
geo	World place names, geographic data
tech	Dev.to, product community forums
social	Reddit, Mastodon, Lemmy, fediverse
fandom	Fan wiki articles, community knowledge
crypto	DeFi protocols, token data, on-chain analytics
predictions	Prediction markets, forecasting
audio	Podcasts and audio content

License

MIT

Source: README.md at commit 79adaf5

Tools

SourceWeft has not read this server's tools yet.

Version history

v1.4.0LatestSep 16, 2026

Score

85% of the applicable checks met

How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.

Reached in the last 30 daysRequired25 pts
Auth declaredRequired10 pts
Tools listedRequired15 pts
Answer tools/list without a credential, or ship a package that starts in a sandbox without one.
DescriptionRequired15 pts
Logo10 pts
Documentation15 pts
License10 pts

Tool	What it does
`search`	Search across all content types. Filter by type, paginate with cursor.
`detail`	Get full metadata for a document by ID.