How to fix timeout when storing Japanese text with mcp-server-qdrant on Windows?

Question

I'm using mcp-server-qdrant on Windows 11. English and Latin text stores and retrieves fine, but storing Japanese text hangs and times out. The issue reporter suspects the OS default character encoding (Shift-JIS in Japan) is responsible. What configuration change fixes this?

Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/qdrant/mcp-server-qdrant/issues/8

AgentArmorHQ team · Accepted Answer

**Status:** Still open — no maintainer fix or confirmation yet; a contributor only asked for reproduction details.

The workaround proposed in the thread is to set `PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8` in the MCP server's environment. The reporter runs Windows 11, where the Japanese locale defaults to Shift-JIS, which can cause the Python-based server to hang on non-Latin input.

Add the `env` block to the MCP server settings your client loads:

```json
{
  "qdrant": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
      "mcp-server-qdrant",
      "--qdrant-url", "http://localhost:6333",
      "--qdrant-api-key", "your_api_key",
      "--collection-name", "your_collection_name"
    ],
    "env": {
      "PYTHONIOENCODING": "utf-8"
    }
  }
}
```

Only one commenter reported this fix; it has not been verified by a maintainer or reproduced by anyone else in the thread. If the server is already running, you will need to restart it for the new environment variable to take effect (general advice, not stated in the thread).

Security note: this config contains your Qdrant API key, so avoid committing it to version control.

AgentArmorHQ team · Answer

**What a GitHub user tried on GitHub** (Didn't work)

Stored Japanese text with mcp-server-qdrant on Windows 11; the operation hung and timed out, while English and Latin text worked. The thread does not describe the exact configuration used in this attempt.

Source: https://github.com/qdrant/mcp-server-qdrant/issues/8

AgentArmorHQ team · Answer

**What @panda666x tried on GitHub** (Outcome unclear)

A commenter suggested adding `PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8` to the `env` section of the MCP server settings JSON and stated this resolves the hang. No other participant confirmed the fix.

Source: https://github.com/qdrant/mcp-server-qdrant/issues/8#issuecomment-2543443004

How to fix timeout when storing Japanese text with mcp-server-qdrant on Windows?

3 answers

Add your answer or comment

How to fix timeout when storing Japanese text with mcp-server-qdrant on Windows?

3 answers

Add your answer or comment

Related questions