DotNetSearch

DotNetSearch — MCP Search & PDF Server

MCP Server Identifier: mcp-name: io.github.puneethdc99/dotnetsearch

*(Proof of package ownership for GitHub MCP Registry inclusion)*

DotNetSearch is a self-contained MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that empowers GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor, and other AI agents with high-performance codebase search, NuGet package decompilation, whitespace token reduction, and deep PDF document reading and analysis:

Key Tools Overview

Instead of reading full files (~2500 tokens each), the agent gets back only the matching lines (~110 tokens) — saving up to 98% of context window per query. For files that must be read in full, use compress_code first to strip whitespace overhead and save an additional 10–20% of tokens. For PDF documentation, technical manuals, and specifications, dedicated tools extract targeted text, images, and tables without overwhelming the model context window.

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Step 1 — Installation

Option A: Install via .NET CLI (NuGet Tool)

If you have the .NET SDK installed (recommended for .NET developers):

dotnet tool install -g PuneethDC.DotNetSearch

Once installed, the command dotnetsearch is available globally from any terminal.

To update to the latest version in the future:

dotnet tool update -g PuneethDC.DotNetSearch

Option B: Download Standalone Executable (No .NET required)

Go to the latest release and download the self-contained executable for your platform:

No .NET installation required. The runtime is bundled inside the executable.

Save it somewhere permanent, e.g.:

• Windows: C:\Tools\DotNetSearch.exe
• Linux/macOS: /usr/local/bin/DotNetSearch

On Linux/macOS, make it executable:

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/DotNetSearch

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Step 2 — Add to your MCP config

Open (or create) your global MCP config file:

If installed via NuGet (.NET Tool):

Works identically across Windows, Linux, and macOS without path differences:

{

"servers": { "DotNetSearch": { "type": "stdio", "command": "dotnetsearch" } } }

If using Standalone Executable:

Windows:

{

"servers": { "DotNetSearch": { "type": "stdio", "command": "C:\\Tools\\DotNetSearch.exe" } } }

Linux / macOS:

{

"servers": { "DotNetSearch": { "type": "stdio", "command": "/usr/local/bin/DotNetSearch" } } }

Alternative: Run on-demand with dnx (Zero-Install):

{

"servers": { "DotNetSearch": { "type": "stdio", "command": "dnx", "args": ["PuneethDC.DotNetSearch"] } } }

If you already have other servers in the file, just add the "DotNetSearch" block inside the existing "servers" object.

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Step 3 — Verify it is active

Visual Studio / VS Code:

1. Open GitHub Copilot Chat
2. Switch to Agent Mode
3. Click the wrench / Select Tools icon
4. Confirm the DotNetSearch tools appear in the list and are enabled:

• Code & Navigation: search, search_related, decompile_type, compress_code, read_file
• PDF Document Inspection: read_pdf_text, get_pdf_info, render_pdf_page_as_image, extract_pdf_images, get_pdf_bookmarks, get_pdf_form_fields, extract_pdf_attachments, get_pdf_hyperlinks

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Step 4 — Update your Copilot instructions

To make Copilot automatically prefer DotNetSearch over built-in file reading, add the instructions below to your Copilot instructions file. There are two places you can put this — repo-level (affects only that repo) or global (affects all repos).

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Option A — Repo-level instructions (recommended)

File location:

<your-repo-root>\.github\copilot-instructions.md

This file is read by GitHub Copilot for every conversation in that repository. It is the recommended place if you want DotNetSearch to be preferred only for a specific project.

How to find or create it:

• Navigate to your repository root folder
• Look for a .github subfolder — if it doesn't exist, create it
• Inside .github, look for copilot-instructions.md — if it doesn't exist, create the file

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Option B — Global instructions (applies to all repos)

File location:

How to find or create it:

• Open the path above in File Explorer (paste into the address bar)
• If the folder doesn't exist, create it
• If copilot-instructions.md doesn't exist in the folder, create the file

Note: If you add instructions to both files, Copilot merges them — both will be active at the same time.

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Instructions to add

Paste the following into whichever file you chose above:

## Search Preference

When searching for code, symbols, or text in this repository, always prefer the DotNetSearch MCP tool (search and search_related) over reading full files or using built-in workspace search. DotNetSearch returns only matching lines and is significantly more token-efficient (~98% fewer tokens per query). Do not call DotNetSearch tools in parallel — run one search at a time.

PDF Document Reading

When reading, analyzing, or searching PDF documents:

• Always prefer read_pdf_text and get_pdf_info over raw file operations.
• First call get_pdf_info to inspect total pages and document metadata.
• Call read_pdf_text with specific page ranges (startPage, endPage) to avoid token overflow.
• If the PDF contains visual charts, flowcharts, architectural diagrams, or scanned pages, use render_pdf_page_as_image to rasterize the page.
• For interactive PDF forms, use get_pdf_form_fields to extract user inputs.

NuGet Type Inspection

When the user asks about a third-party or NuGet type and the source code is not available in the workspace, use the DotNetSearch MCP tool decompile_type to decompile the type from the project's referenced assemblies. Pass the short or fully qualified type name and the absolute path to the .csproj file. The project must have been built at least once before calling this tool.

Code Compression

When reading source files to minimize context window usage, use the DotNetSearch MCP tool compress_code — BUT ONLY for the following fully-safe languages where indentation is cosmetic and braces/keywords define scope:

C#, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, C, C++, Kotlin, Swift, Rust, Scala, PHP, Ruby, CSS, SCSS, Less, JSON, XML

NEVER call compress_code on any other language. In particular, NEVER use it on Python, YAML, CoffeeScript, Pug/Jade, HAML, or Makefile — these are indentation-sensitive and compression WILL silently corrupt the file structure.

Before calling compress_code, check the file extension:

• Allowed: .cs .java .js .ts .jsx .tsx .kt .swift .rs .scala .php .rb .css .scss .less .json .xml .c .cpp .h
• Blocked: .py .yaml .yml .coffee .pug .jade .haml (and Makefiles with no extension)

Pass the absolute file path. For JavaScript/TypeScript projects using 2-space indentation, set sourceIndentSize=2.

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Step 5 — You're done

No special commands or workflow changes are needed. Just continue your normal coding tasks in Copilot Agent Mode — DotNetSearch will be used automatically whenever Copilot needs to search your codebase or inspect PDF documents.

Over time you will notice a reduction in token usage per conversation. This is because DotNetSearch returns only the matching lines (typically ~110 tokens) instead of full file contents (~2500 tokens), saving up to 98% of context window per search operation.

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Tool reference

search

Searches a local directory for files whose content matches a keyword or natural-language query. Uses BM25 ranking with CamelCase and snake_case token expansion.

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search_related

Finds code chunks structurally similar to a specific location in a file. Use after search to explore related implementations, callers, or patterns.

| line | int | required | Line number (1-indexed) from a pr