Using Pali Canon in Codex

Codex is OpenAI’s coding assistant. It runs in a terminal (the Codex CLI) and as a desktop app. Pali Canon works in both. There are two ways to set it up:

As a plugin (recommended). You get the Pali Canon tools and the four study skills: $study, $compare, $pali-word and $method.
As a plugin (recommended). You get the Pali Canon tools and the four study skills: $study, $compare, $pali-word and $memorise.
As a plain MCP server. You get the tools only. This is the quickest route if you already manage MCP servers by hand.

Both need Node.js 20 or newer on your computer. Nothing else is required: the whole Pāli Canon is bundled, so reading texts works offline. English translations and the dictionary are fetched live from their publishers.

Status. This setup has been checked against Codex’s documentation and source code, but it has not yet been tried in a real Codex install. If something does not work, please open an issue.

Option 1: install the plugin

Add this repository as a plugin marketplace. In a terminal:
```
codex plugin marketplace add DaniilKi/pali-canon-claude
```
If you have downloaded the repository, you can point at the folder instead: codex plugin marketplace add ./pali-canon-claude.
Start Codex (codex) and type /plugins. Choose the Pali Canon marketplace, select Pali Canon and install it. In the Codex app, open the plugins page and do the same.
Start a new session. Codex loads plugins at the start of a session.

Try it:

$study MN 10
$compare Dhp 183
$pali-word sati
$method Kv 1

The plugin runs the copy of the server that ships inside it (node ./server/index.cjs), so you do not need to download anything else and nothing needs editing.

How the plugin finds that file: Codex does not automatically start a plugin’s server inside the plugin’s folder. The plugin’s server settings (.mcp.codex.json) therefore say "cwd": ".", which Codex turns into the plugin’s own folder (Codex source). This has been read from the source, not yet tried in Codex.

Option 2: add the MCP server only

Download or clone this repository, then point Codex at the server inside it. One command:

codex mcp add pali-canon -- node /absolute/path/pali-canon-claude/server/index.cjs

Or add this block to your Codex settings file, ~/.codex/config.toml (on Windows: C:\Users\<you>\.codex\config.toml):

[mcp_servers.pali-canon]
command = "node"
args = ["C:/absolute/path/pali-canon-claude/server/index.cjs"]
startup_timeout_sec = 60

Use forward slashes in Windows paths inside config.toml, or double every backslash.

Coming later: install with npx. Once the server is published on npm (#4), you will be able to skip the download. These commands do not work yet. Do not use them until #4 is done and this page says so:

codex mcp add pali-canon -- npx -y pali-canon-mcp

[mcp_servers.pali-canon]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "pali-canon-mcp"]

Hosted (remote URL) version. A hosted server is on the roadmap but does not exist yet. When it does, it will be added with codex mcp add pali-canon --url <address> and this page will give the address. Until then, use one of the local options above.

Check that it works

Run codex mcp list. You should see pali-canon.
In a session, type /mcp. Pali Canon should list 32 tools, such as resolve_reference and get_text.
Ask: “Use the Pali Canon tools to show me the first paragraph of MN 10 with its citation.” The answer should quote the Pāli and name the source (VRI Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana).

Troubleshooting

“command not found: node” or the server does not start. Install Node.js 20 or newer, then open a new terminal. On Windows, restart the Codex app after installing Node.js.
Tools time out on long texts. Codex waits 300 seconds for a tool by default (Codex source), which is normally plenty. If you have set a lower tool_timeout_sec in config.toml (Codex configuration reference), raise it or remove it.
The skills do not appear. The skills come with the plugin (Option 1), not with Option 2. Start a new session after installing.
English translations fail but Pāli works. The translation publishers’ websites may be down. The server tries mirrors of Access to Insight automatically; Pāli text never needs the network.

All tools are read-only. They never write files, run commands or contact websites outside a fixed list of publishers. See docs/sources.md for every source and its licence.