Airweave Search vs ApeRAG
A side-by-side look at the Airweave Search and ApeRAG MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Airweave Search for search & data extraction work as a local process; choose ApeRAG for search & data extraction over a hosted endpoint. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Airweave Search when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
Choose ApeRAG when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You prefer a remote HTTP/SSE transport.
- Its auth model fits you: API key required.
- You have the keys it needs:
APERAG_API_KEY.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search & Data Extraction | Search & Data Extraction |
| Quality signal | 30/100 · Emerging | 55/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Remote HTTP/SSE |
| Auth | Not declared | API key required |
| Pricing | Not declared | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | APERAG_API_KEY |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 6,556 | 1,322 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | Not listed |
| Full listing | View Airweave Search | View ApeRAG |
Tools & capabilities
Airweave Search tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
ApeRAG tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Airweave Search
{
"mcpServers": {
"airweave-search": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"airweave-sdk"
]
}
}
}
ApeRAG
{
"mcpServers": {
"apecloud-aperag": {
"url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp/"
}
}
}