need is an MCP server that gives AI agents access to a searchable index of 10,000+ CLI tools. The agent searches in plain English, installs the best match (restricted to brew/npm/pip/cargo/apt so no arbitrary shell), and reports whether it worked. Those reports improve rankings for every future search.

One command sets it up: npx @agentneeds/need setup - works with Claude Code and Cursor.

Search is embeddings + pgvector with a keyword boost and full-text fallback. With no community signals yet, ranking is pure semantic similarity. As people use it, the signal-weighted ranking kicks in.

Also works as a plain CLI if you just want to find tools yourself: need "compress video without losing quality"

Try some queries and tell me what's ranked wrong that's genuinely the most useful feedback right now.