CodeGraph Tool

Local-first code intelligence tool. tree-sitter parsing → SQLite (FTS5) storage → MCP exposes knowledge graph.

Use Cases

Use when users need to install CodeGraph, initialize code graph, index projects, understand code structure, trace call chains, evaluate change impact.

Installation

npx @colbymchenry/codegraph          # Recommended: one-click install + auto-configure Agent
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/main/install.sh | sh  # No Node required
npm i -g @colbymchenry/codegraph     # npm

Non-interactive: codegraph install --yes [--target=claude,cursor] [--location=local]

Project Initialization

cd your-project
codegraph init -i    # Create .codegraph/ + build index
codegraph index      # Full index (or rebuild: --force)
codegraph sync       # Incremental sync (changed files only)
codegraph status     # Check status

MCP Tools (8)

Tool selection guide is automatically sent to Agent in MCP initialize response.

Core Principles

• codegraph_explore is the PRIMARY tool — call it first, usually the only call needed. Returns relevant symbol source code (grouped by file), with line numbers.
• Answer directly, don't delegate to sub-Agent for file exploration — CodeGraph IS the pre-built index, grep/read loops are redundant work.
• One explore > search + node chained calls.

Anti-patterns

❌ Don't use grep to verify codegraph results (AST is more accurate than grep)
❌ Don't chain search + node to understand an area (one explore does it)
❌ Don't loop node over multiple symbols (one explore returns all)
⚠️ Check staleness banner after edits — pending files need direct Read

Auto-sync

Three-layer protection: ① Native FS events + 2s debounce auto-sync ② Per-file staleness banner (pending files prefixed with ⚠️) ③ Auto-reconciliation on MCP reconnect.
Manual sync only needed in sandbox (CODEGRAPH_NO_DAEMON=1) or CI pre-flight.

CLI Queries

codegraph query \x3Csymbol> [--kind class] [--limit 10] [--json]
codegraph callers \x3Csymbol> [--limit 20] [--json]
codegraph callees \x3Csymbol> [--limit 20] [--json]
codegraph impact \x3Csymbol> [--depth 2] [--json]
codegraph context "\x3Ctask>" [--max-nodes 20]
codegraph affected \x3Cfiles...> [--stdin] [--depth 5] [--filter "e2e/*"] [--quiet]

Configuration

Zero-config — no config files. Auto-excludes node_modules/vendor/dist/build/target/.venv/Pods/.next + .gitignore entries + >1MB files. Exclude more: add to .gitignore; bring back: !vendor/.

Environment variables: CODEGRAPH_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS(2000) CODEGRAPH_NO_DAEMON CODEGRAPH_EXPLORE_LINENUMS(1) CODEGRAPH_ADAPTIVE_EXPLORE(1)

Supported Languages (21)

TS/JS/Python/Go/Rust/Java/C#/PHP/Ruby/C/C++/Swift/Kotlin/Scala/Dart/Svelte/Vue/Liquid/Pascal-Delphi/Lua/Luau

Framework Routes (14)

Django/Flask/FastAPI/Express/NestJS/Laravel/Drupal/Rails/Spring/Gin-chi-gorilla-mux/Axum-actix-Rocket/ASP.NET/Vapor/ReactRouter-SvelteKit — auto-recognize route files and generate route nodes.

Cross-language Bridging

Swift↔ObjC / RN legacy bridge / TurboModules / RN events / Expo Modules / Fabric-Paper views. Synthesized edges marked provenance:'heuristic'.

Uninstall

codegraph uninstall    # Remove MCP config
codegraph uninit       # Delete .codegraph/

References

• references/configuration.md — Full CLI commands, manual Agent config, TypeScript API
• references/architecture.md — Architecture pipeline, NodeKind/EdgeKind, explore budget