Sefaria

What Sefaria MCP server does

Sefaria MCP server gives MCP-compatible clients access to Sefaria text data through three focused tools. Agents can retrieve passages in Hebrew, English, or both; check whether a title or reference is recognized; and inspect the commentary and cross-reference relationships associated with a passage.

The text collection covered by the tools includes Torah and Tanakh, Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash, Halacha, Kabbalah, and commentaries. References can be supplied in forms such as Genesis.1.1, while title lookup supports names such as Genesis, Rashi, and Berakhot.

How it works

The hosted connection uses the Pipeworx gateway at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sefaria/mcp. A client can connect to that URL as an MCP server and call the Sefaria tools remotely. The gateway also exposes shared Pipeworx meta-tools on the hosted pack endpoint, so the tool list is larger than the three Sefaria-specific tools. Those meta-tools can route questions to other sources in the Pipeworx catalog.

A full gateway endpoint is also available at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp. Both endpoints use the same gateway; the pack endpoint lists the Sefaria tools directly, while the full endpoint lists tools from the wider catalog directly.

For clients that use local processes, the @pipeworx/mcp-sefaria npm package provides a stdio bridge. It forwards calls to the hosted endpoint and therefore requires network access. Tool calls can also be made over HTTP, including with a POST request to endpoints such as https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/get_text.

Setup and configuration

Add the hosted endpoint to an MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sefaria": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sefaria/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The local npm option uses npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sefaria": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-sefaria"]
    }
  }
}

Anonymous use is available without an account and is limited to 50 calls per day. A free Pipeworx account increases the allowance to 200 calls per day. Set PIPEWORX_API_KEY in the client environment to use an account key. Set PIPEWORX_META_TOOLS=1 for the local bridge if the shared gateway tools should also appear in its tool list.

Tools and capabilities

• get_text retrieves a passage by Sefaria reference, in Hebrew, English, or both.
• lookup_ref checks a reference or title and returns matching completions.
• get_commentaries returns commentaries and cross-references from Sefaria's link graph.
• ask_pipeworx can route a natural-language question through the wider gateway when the shared meta-tools are enabled or when using the hosted connection.

Limitations and notes

The local bridge is not an offline implementation; it forwards requests to the Pipeworx gateway and needs internet access. Calls without a key are rate-limited to 50 per day, while authenticated free accounts receive 200 per day. The integration is independent and unofficial, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by Sefaria. When using an HTTPS proxy with the local bridge, Node's fetch requires the relevant proxy support to be enabled; newer Node versions can use NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1.