AUTOMATIONSWITCH
VendorAI / ML

Pinecone Developer MCP

by Pinecone

Official Pinecone MCP for developer workflows. Lets coding assistants search Pinecone documentation, list and configure indexes, generate code informed by index data, and upsert/query records during dev iteration. Apache-2.0, npm-distributed as @pinecone-database/mcp.

65·9 tools·Released APR 2025·Apache-2.0
npx -y @pinecone-database/mcp
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Official Pinecone MCP for developer workflows. Star count is low (65) because Pinecone shipped this as a developer-experience tool, focused on internal workflows over community engagement. The editorial weight comes from official vendor signal: this is the canonical Pinecone agent-integration path, documented in the Pinecone docs at docs.pinecone.io/guides/operations/mcp-server. Slow development cadence (0 commits in the last 30 days, two releases total) reflects a stable API surface in maintenance mode. Designed for coding assistants working with Pinecone projects: search Pinecone documentation, list and configure indexes, generate code informed by index data, and upsert/query records during dev iteration. Limitation: only indexes with integrated inference are supported; standalone vector search and serverless indexes outside the integrated-inference family are out of scope. Pinecone also offers a separate pinecone-io/assistant-mcp for knowledge-base RAG workflows; this is the developer/admin counterpart.

Reviewed by M. Nouriel · APR 2026

INSTALL THIS SERVER

Requires authenticationPINECONE_API_KEY env var, scoped at the Pinecone project level. Without the key, only documentation search functions; index management and data queries require the key.
{ "mcpServers": { "pinecone": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pinecone-database/mcp" ], "env": { "PINECONE_API_KEY": "<your-pinecone-api-key>" } } } }
PrereqRequires Node.js 18+ and a Pinecone API key from app.pinecone.io. With no key the server functions for documentation search alone; index management and data queries require the key. For Gemini CLI extension install: `gemini extensions install https://github.com/pinecone-io/pinecone-mcp`. Path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS).
{ "mcpServers": { "pinecone": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pinecone-database/mcp" ], "env": { "PINECONE_API_KEY": "<your-pinecone-api-key>" } } } }
{ "mcpServers": { "pinecone": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pinecone-database/mcp" ], "env": { "PINECONE_API_KEY": "<your-pinecone-api-key>" } } } }
{ "mcpServers": { "pinecone": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pinecone-database/mcp" ], "env": { "PINECONE_API_KEY": "<your-pinecone-api-key>" } } } }
{ "mcpServers": { "pinecone": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pinecone-database/mcp" ], "env": { "PINECONE_API_KEY": "<your-pinecone-api-key>" } } } }

9 TOOLS AVAILABLE

search-docs
Search the official Pinecone documentation
Read
list-indexes
List all Pinecone indexes
Read
describe-index
Describe the configuration of an index
Read
describe-index-stats
Statistics about index data including record counts and namespaces
Read
create-index-for-model
Create a new index using an integrated inference embedding model
Admin
upsert-records
Insert or update records in an index with integrated inference
Write

OUR ASSESSMENT

Strengths
  • Official pinecone-io GitHub org.
  • Apache-2.0 license.
  • npm distribution as @pinecone-database/mcp.
  • Documentation search built in (search-docs tool grounds answers in Pinecone docs).
  • Cascading search across multiple indexes with deduplication and reranking.
  • Documented in the Pinecone official docs.
  • Gemini CLI extension format supported.
Weaknesses
  • 65 stars and slow development cadence; treat as a developer tool with stable API surface.
  • Only indexes with integrated inference supported. Standalone vector search and serverless indexes outside the integrated-inference family are excluded.
  • Two releases shipped since launch (v0.2.0, v0.2.1).
Security Notes

PINECONE_API_KEY env var holds the credential, scoped at the Pinecone project level. With no API key the server functions for documentation search alone; index management and data queries require the key. For shared dev environments, scope the API key to a non-production Pinecone project to avoid accidental writes against real data.

Best For

Developers building agents on top of Pinecone, teams wanting Pinecone documentation searchable from inside their coding assistant, and iterative index configuration and upsert/query testing during development.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Language
typescript
Transport
stdio
Clients
Claude DesktopClaude CodeCursorVS CodeWindsurf
License
Apache-2.0
GitHub
npm
@pinecone-database/mcp
Last Release
v0.2.1FEB 5, 2026
First Released
APR 9, 2025

ADOPTION METRICS

// GitHub Stars
65

// Reading this65 stars; the editorial weight is the official pinecone-io org placement plus documentation in the Pinecone official docs.

// Popularity Rank
#21
Globally · #4 in AI / ML

// Reading thisFourth-ranked in ai-ml. Tier 2 with honest framing: pair with Qdrant for evaluation; pick this when the team is already on Pinecone.

SOURCES & VERIFICATION

We don't take any single directory's word for it. Before scoring, we cross-reference 5 public MCP sources, install the server ourselves against the clients we cover, and record when we last re-verified.

01
Discovered
Manual submission
First indexed APR 29, 2026
02
Cross-referenced
5 directories
PulseMCP, MCP.so, Glama, Smithery, Official MCP Registry
03
Verified against
Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI
Installed and tested across clients
04
Last re-checked
APR 29, 2026
Weekly re-verification
// How other directories see it

The same server, 5 different lenses. We reconcile these signals into our editorial score, which is why our number sometimes diverges from a directory-aggregate star count.

SourceTheir ratingTheir star countTheir downloadsLast synced
AutomationSwitch This page3.8editorial65APR 29, 2026
PulseMCP— unratedunavailableunavailableAPR 29, 2026
MCP.so— unratedunavailableunavailableAPR 29, 2026
Glama— unratedunavailableunavailableAPR 29, 2026
Smithery— unratedunavailableunavailableAPR 29, 2026
Official MCP Registry— unratedunavailableunavailableAPR 29, 2026

// Counts are directory-reported; we don't adjust them. Discrepancies usually come from different snapshot times or star-caching.

// Get in touch

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