汉字检索MCP服务器

Kanji Alive MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets you search and explore 1,235 Japanese kanji through any MCP-compatible AI assistant — Claude, ChatGPT, or others.

[!IMPORTANT] The hosted server is offline. The public endpoint at kanjialive-mcp-server-production.up.railway.app has been taken down and this repository is no longer actively maintained. To use the server, run it locally (see Local Server below). Dependencies were last updated for security fixes in October 2026.

Example Questions

Once the server is connected, you can ask your AI assistant to draw on its knowledge of Kanji alive to answer questions like:

• "Look up the kanji 親"
• "Search for kanji with the onyomi reading シン"
• "Get detailed information about the kanji 見, including stroke order and examples"
• "Find all kanji with 5 strokes that are taught in grade 1"
• "Show me kanji that use the 'fire' radical"
• "Show me kanji with the radical in the hen (left) position"
• "What kanji are in the AP Exam study list, chapter 3?"
• "Tell me about the 214 traditional kanji radicals"

You can use either romaji or Japanese script in your queries — "shin" and "シン" both work, as do "oya" and "おや".

Local Server (Python, stdio)

The server runs locally as a Python implementation that communicates over stdio.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher
• uv package manager
• A RapidAPI key (free tier available)

1. Get a RapidAPI Key

1. Visit Kanji Alive API on RapidAPI
2. Sign up for a free account
3. Subscribe to the free tier
4. Copy your API key

2. Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/kanjialive/kanjialive-mcp-server.git
cd kanjialive-mcp-server/ka-mcp-local
uv sync

3. Configure Your MCP Client

Add the server to your MCP client's configuration file:

Claude Desktop config location:

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Kanji Alive": {
      "command": "/path/to/kanjialive-mcp-server/ka-mcp-local/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/kanjialive-mcp-server/ka-mcp-local/kanjialive_mcp.py"],
      "env": {
        "RAPIDAPI_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/kanjialive-mcp-server with the actual path where you cloned the repository.

4. Restart Your Client

Restart your MCP client for changes to take effect.

Development

Project Structure

ka-mcp-local/               # Python stdio server
  ├── kanjialive_mcp.py      # Single-file MCP server
  ├── data/japanese-radicals.json
  └── pyproject.toml

ka-mcp-hosted/               # TypeScript HTTP server (see its own README)
  ├── src/
  ├── src/data/japanese-radicals.json
  └── package.json

extras/                      # Development resources
  └── tests/                 # Pytest test suite (102 tests)

Running Tests

# From repository root
uv sync --all-extras

# Run all tests
PYTHONPATH=ka-mcp-local uv run pytest extras/tests/ -v

# Run a specific test file
PYTHONPATH=ka-mcp-local uv run pytest extras/tests/test_validators.py -v

Hosted Server Development

See ka-mcp-hosted/README.md for build, test, and deployment instructions for the TypeScript server.

Advanced Search API Parameters

For developers working on the server or integrating directly, the advanced search tool accepts these filter parameters (all optional, at least one required):

API Documentation

• Kanji Alive API Documentation
• RapidAPI Endpoint

Credit

Arno Bosse and Claude Code (Anthropic).

License

This server implementation is provided as-is under a MIT license. The data and media shared via the Kanji Alive API is licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0.