codegraph/README.md

# 🔮 CodeGraph ### Supercharge Claude Code with Semantic Code Intelligence **30% fewer tokens • 25% fewer tool calls • 100% local** [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@colbymchenry/codegraph) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) [](https://nodejs.org/) [](#) [](#) [](#)
### Get Started ```bash npx @colbymchenry/codegraph ``` _{Interactive installer configures Claude Code automatically}

---

🚀 Why CodeGraph?

When you ask Claude Code to work on a complex task, it spawns Explore agents that scan your codebase using grep, glob, and file reads. These agents consume tokens with every tool call.

CodeGraph gives those agents a semantic knowledge graph — pre-indexed symbol relationships, call graphs, and code structure. Instead of scanning files, agents query the graph instantly.

📊 Benchmark Results

We ran the same complex task 3 times with and without CodeGraph:

Metric	Without CodeGraph	With CodeGraph	Improvement
Explore tokens	157.8k	111.7k	29% fewer
Per-agent tokens	74.0k	46.4k	37% fewer
Tool calls	60	45	25% fewer
Main context usage	28.7%	24.0%	4.7% less

Full benchmark data

**With CodeGraph:** | Test | Agents | Tool Uses | Explore Tokens | Plan Tokens | Time | |------|--------|-----------|----------------|-------------|------| | 1 | 3 | 54 | 149.7k | 76.4k | 1m 43s | | 2 | 2 | 41 | 102.1k | 74.8k | 1m 29s | | 3 | 2 | 40 | 83.3k | 63.3k | 1m 25s | | **Avg** | **2.3** | **45** | **111.7k** | **71.5k** | **1m 32s** | **Without CodeGraph:** | Test | Agents | Tool Uses | Explore Tokens | Plan Tokens | Time | |------|--------|-----------|----------------|-------------|------| | 1 | 3 | 74 | 177.3k | 80.5k | 1m 54s | | 2 | 2 | 55 | 149.3k | 64.0k | 1m 27s | | 3 | 2 | 51 | 146.7k | 62.3k | 1m 17s | | **Avg** | **2.3** | **60** | **157.8k** | **68.9k** | **1m 33s** |

🔄 How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Claude Code                               │
│                                                                  │
│  "Implement user authentication"                                 │
│           │                                                      │
│           ▼                                                      │
│  ┌─────────────────┐      ┌─────────────────┐                   │
│  │  Explore Agent  │ ──── │  Explore Agent  │                   │
│  └────────┬────────┘      └────────┬────────┘                   │
│           │                        │                             │
└───────────┼────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┘
            │                        │
            ▼                        ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     CodeGraph MCP Server                          │
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐               │
│  │   Search    │  │   Callers   │  │   Context   │               │
│  │  "auth"     │  │  "login()"  │  │  for task   │               │
│  └──────┬──────┘  └──────┬──────┘  └──────┬──────┘               │
│         │                │                │                       │
│         └────────────────┼────────────────┘                       │
│                          ▼                                        │
│              ┌───────────────────────┐                            │
│              │   SQLite Graph DB     │                            │
│              │   • 387 symbols       │                            │
│              │   • 1,204 edges       │                            │
│              │   • Instant lookups   │                            │
│              └───────────────────────┘                            │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Without CodeGraph: Explore agents use grep, glob, and Read to scan files → many API calls, high token usage

With CodeGraph: Explore agents query the graph via MCP tools → instant results, local processing, fewer tokens

---

✨ Key Features

### 🧠 Smart Context Building One tool call returns everything Claude needs—entry points, related symbols, and code snippets. No more expensive exploration agents.	### 🔍 Semantic Search Find code by meaning, not just text. Search for "authentication" and find `login`, `validateToken`, `AuthService`—even with different naming conventions.	### 📈 Impact Analysis Know exactly what breaks before you change it. Trace callers, callees, and the full impact radius of any symbol.
### 🌍 19+ Languages TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust, Java, C#, PHP, Ruby, C, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Dart, Svelte, Liquid, Pascal/Delphi—all with the same API.	### 🔒 100% Local No data leaves your machine. No API keys. No external services. Everything runs on your local SQLite database.	### ⚡ Always Fresh Claude Code hooks automatically sync the index as you work. Your code intelligence is always up to date.

---

🎯 Quick Start

1. Run the Installer

npx @colbymchenry/codegraph

The interactive installer will:

• Prompt to install codegraph globally (needed for hooks & MCP server to work)
• Configure the MCP server in ~/.claude.json
• Set up auto-allow permissions for CodeGraph tools
• Ask about anonymous error reporting (opt-out available)
• Add global instructions to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (teaches Claude how to use CodeGraph)
• Install Claude Code hooks for automatic index syncing
• Optionally initialize your current project

2. Restart Claude Code

Restart Claude Code for the MCP server to load.

3. Initialize Projects

For each project you want to use CodeGraph with:

cd your-project
codegraph init -i

That's it! Claude Code will now use CodeGraph tools automatically when a .codegraph/ directory exists.

Manual Setup (Alternative)

If you prefer manual configuration: **Install globally:** ```bash npm install -g @colbymchenry/codegraph ``` **Add to `~/.claude.json`:** ```json { "mcpServers": { "codegraph": { "type": "stdio", "command": "codegraph", "args": ["serve", "--mcp"] } } } ``` **Add to `~/.claude/settings.json` (optional, for auto-allow):** ```json { "permissions": { "allow": [ "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_search", "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_context", "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_callers", "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_callees", "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_impact", "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_node", "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_status", "mcp__codegraph__codegraph_files" ] } } ```

Global Instructions Reference

The installer automatically adds these instructions to `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md`. This is provided here for reference: ```markdown ## CodeGraph CodeGraph builds a semantic knowledge graph of codebases for faster, smarter code exploration. ### If `.codegraph/` exists in the project **Use codegraph tools for faster exploration.** These tools provide instant lookups via the code graph instead of scanning files: | Tool | Use For | |------|---------| | `codegraph_search` | Find symbols by name (functions, classes, types) | | `codegraph_context` | Get relevant code context for a task | | `codegraph_callers` | Find what calls a function | | `codegraph_callees` | Find what a function calls | | `codegraph_impact` | See what's affected by changing a symbol | | `codegraph_node` | Get details + source code for a symbol | | `codegraph_files` | Get project file structure from the index | **When spawning Explore agents in a codegraph-enabled project:** Tell the Explore agent to use codegraph tools for faster exploration. **For quick lookups in the main session:** - Use `codegraph_search` instead of grep for finding symbols - Use `codegraph_callers`/`codegraph_callees` to trace code flow - Use `codegraph_impact` before making changes to see what's affected ### If `.codegraph/` does NOT exist At the start of a session, ask the user if they'd like to initialize CodeGraph: "I notice this project doesn't have CodeGraph initialized. Would you like me to run `codegraph init -i` to build a code knowledge graph?" ```

---

📋 Requirements

• Node.js >= 18.0.0

---

💻 CLI Usage

codegraph                   # Run interactive installer
codegraph install           # Run interactive installer (explicit)
codegraph init [path]       # Initialize in a project
codegraph uninit [path]     # Remove CodeGraph from a project
codegraph index [path]      # Full index
codegraph sync [path]       # Incremental update
codegraph status [path]     # Show statistics
codegraph query <search>    # Search symbols
codegraph files [path]      # Show project file structure
codegraph context <task>    # Build context for AI
codegraph affected [files]  # Find test files affected by changes
codegraph serve --mcp       # Start MCP server

📖 CLI Commands

codegraph / codegraph install

Run the interactive installer for Claude Code integration. Configures MCP server and permissions automatically.

codegraph                         # Run installer (when no args)
codegraph install                 # Run installer (explicit)
npx @colbymchenry/codegraph       # Run via npx (no global install needed)

The installer will:

1. Prompt to install codegraph globally (needed for hooks & MCP server)
2. Ask for installation location (global ~/.claude or local ./.claude)
3. Optionally set up auto-allow permissions
4. Ask about anonymous error reporting (opt-out available)
5. Configure the MCP server in claude.json
6. Add global instructions to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (teaches Claude how to use CodeGraph)
7. Install Claude Code hooks for automatic index syncing
8. For local installs: initialize and index the current project

codegraph init [path]

Initialize CodeGraph in a project directory. Creates a .codegraph/ directory with the database and configuration.

codegraph init                    # Initialize in current directory
codegraph init /path/to/project   # Initialize in specific directory
codegraph init --index            # Initialize and immediately index

codegraph uninit [path]

Remove CodeGraph from a project. Deletes the .codegraph/ directory and all indexed data.

codegraph uninit                  # Remove from current directory
codegraph uninit --force          # Skip confirmation prompt

codegraph index [path]

Index all files in the project. Extracts functions, classes, methods, and their relationships.

codegraph index                   # Index current directory
codegraph index --force           # Force full re-index
codegraph index --quiet           # Suppress progress output

codegraph sync [path]

Incrementally sync changes since the last index. Only processes added, modified, or removed files.

codegraph sync                    # Sync current directory
codegraph sync --quiet            # Suppress output

codegraph status [path]

Show index status and statistics.

codegraph status

Output includes:

• Files indexed, nodes, edges
• Nodes by kind (functions, classes, methods, etc.)
• Files by language
• Pending changes (if any)

codegraph query <search>

Search for symbols in the codebase by name.

codegraph query "authenticate"           # Search for symbols
codegraph query "User" --kind class      # Filter by kind
codegraph query "process" --limit 20     # Limit results
codegraph query "validate" --json        # Output as JSON

codegraph files [path]

Show the project file structure from the index. Faster than filesystem scanning since it reads from the indexed data.

codegraph files                           # Show file tree
codegraph files --format flat             # Simple list
codegraph files --format grouped          # Group by language
codegraph files --filter src/components   # Filter by directory
codegraph files --pattern "*.test.ts"     # Filter by glob pattern
codegraph files --max-depth 2             # Limit tree depth
codegraph files --no-metadata             # Hide language/symbol counts
codegraph files --json                    # Output as JSON

codegraph context <task>

Build relevant code context for a task. Uses semantic search to find entry points, then expands through the graph to find related code.

codegraph context "fix checkout bug"
codegraph context "add user authentication" --format json
codegraph context "refactor payment service" --max-nodes 30

codegraph affected [files...]

Find test files affected by changed source files. Traces import dependencies transitively through the graph to discover which test files depend on the code you changed. Works with any test framework and any language CodeGraph supports.

codegraph affected src/utils.ts src/api.ts         # Pass files as arguments
git diff --name-only | codegraph affected --stdin   # Pipe from git diff
codegraph affected --stdin --json < changed.txt     # JSON output
codegraph affected src/auth.ts --filter "e2e/*"     # Custom test file pattern
codegraph affected src/lib.ts --depth 3 --quiet     # Shallow search, paths only

Options:

Option	Description	Default
--stdin	Read file list from stdin (one per line)	false
-d, --depth <n>	Max dependency traversal depth	5
-f, --filter <glob>	Custom glob to identify test files	auto-detect
-j, --json	Output as JSON	false
-q, --quiet	Output file paths only, no decoration	false
-p, --path <path>	Project path	auto-detect

How it works:

1. For each changed file, BFS-traverses its transitive dependents (files that import from it, directly or indirectly)
2. Filters results to test files using common conventions (*.spec.*, *.test.*, e2e/, tests/, __tests__/) or a custom --filter glob
3. Changed files that are themselves test files are always included

Example: CI/hook integration

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# In a pre-commit hook or CI step:
AFFECTED=$(git diff --name-only HEAD | codegraph affected --stdin --quiet)
if [ -n "$AFFECTED" ]; then
  echo "Running affected tests..."
  npx vitest run $AFFECTED
fi

codegraph serve

Start CodeGraph as an MCP server for AI assistants.

codegraph serve                          # Show MCP configuration help
codegraph serve --mcp                    # Start MCP server (stdio)
codegraph serve --mcp --path /project    # Specify project path

🔌 MCP Tools Reference

When running as an MCP server, CodeGraph exposes these tools to AI assistants. These tools are designed to be used by Claude's Explore agents for faster, more efficient codebase exploration.

codegraph_context

Build context for a specific task. Good for focused queries.

codegraph_context(task: "fix checkout validation bug", maxNodes: 20)

codegraph_search

Quick symbol search by name. Returns locations only.

codegraph_search(query: "UserService", kind: "class", limit: 10)

codegraph_callers / codegraph_callees

Find what calls a function, or what a function calls.

codegraph_callers(symbol: "validatePayment", limit: 20)
codegraph_callees(symbol: "processOrder", limit: 20)

codegraph_impact

Analyze what code would be affected by changing a symbol.

codegraph_impact(symbol: "UserService", depth: 2)

codegraph_node

Get details about a specific symbol. Use includeCode: true only when needed.

codegraph_node(symbol: "authenticate", includeCode: true)

codegraph_files

Get the project file structure from the index. Faster than filesystem scanning.

codegraph_files(path: "src/components", format: "tree", includeMetadata: true)

codegraph_status

Check index health and statistics.

How It Works With Claude Code

Claude's Explore agents use these tools instead of grep/glob/Read for faster exploration:

Without CodeGraph	With CodeGraph	Benefit
grep -r "auth"	codegraph_search("auth")	Instant symbol lookup
Multiple Read calls	codegraph_context(task)	Related code in one call
Manual file tracing	codegraph_callers/callees	Call graph traversal
Guessing impact	codegraph_impact(symbol)	Know what breaks
Glob/find scanning	codegraph_files(path)	Indexed file structure

This hybrid approach gives you ~30% fewer tokens and ~25% fewer tool calls while letting Claude's native agents handle synthesis.

📚 Library Usage

CodeGraph can also be used as a library in your Node.js applications:

import CodeGraph from '@colbymchenry/codegraph';

// Initialize a new project
const cg = await CodeGraph.init('/path/to/project');

// Or open an existing one
const cg = await CodeGraph.open('/path/to/project');

// Index with progress callback
await cg.indexAll({
  onProgress: (progress) => {
    console.log(`${progress.phase}: ${progress.current}/${progress.total}`);
  }
});

// Search for symbols
const results = cg.searchNodes('UserService');

// Get callers of a function
const node = results[0].node;
const callers = cg.getCallers(node.id);

// Build context for a task
const context = await cg.buildContext('fix login bug', {
  maxNodes: 20,
  includeCode: true,
  format: 'markdown'
});

// Get impact radius
const impact = cg.getImpactRadius(node.id, 2);

// Sync changes
const syncResult = await cg.sync();

// Clean up
cg.close();

⚙️ How It Works

1. Extraction

CodeGraph uses tree-sitter to parse source code into ASTs. Language-specific queries (.scm files) extract:

• Nodes: Functions, methods, classes, interfaces, types, variables
• Edges: Calls, imports, extends, implements, returns_type

Each node gets a unique ID based on its kind, file path, name, and line number.

2. Storage

All data is stored in a local SQLite database (.codegraph/codegraph.db):

• nodes table: All code entities with metadata
• edges table: Relationships between nodes
• files table: File tracking for incremental updates
• unresolved_refs table: References pending resolution
• vectors table: Embeddings stored as BLOBs for semantic search
• nodes_fts: FTS5 virtual table for full-text search
• schema_versions table: Schema version tracking
• project_metadata table: Project-level key-value metadata

3. Reference Resolution

After extraction, CodeGraph resolves references:

1. Match function calls to function definitions
2. Resolve imports to their source files
3. Link class inheritance and interface implementations
4. Apply framework-specific patterns (Express routes, etc.)

4. Semantic Search

CodeGraph uses local embeddings (via @xenova/transformers) to enable semantic search:

1. Code symbols are embedded using a transformer model
2. Queries are embedded and compared using cosine similarity
3. Results are ranked by relevance

5. Graph Queries

The graph structure enables powerful queries:

• Callers/Callees: Direct call relationships
• Impact Radius: BFS traversal to find all potentially affected code
• Dependencies: What a symbol depends on
• Dependents: What depends on a symbol

6. Context Building

When you request context for a task:

1. Semantic search finds relevant entry points
2. Graph traversal expands to related code
3. Code snippets are extracted
4. Results are formatted for AI consumption

⚙️ Configuration

The .codegraph/config.json file controls indexing behavior:

{
  "version": 1,
  "languages": ["typescript", "javascript"],
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules/**",
    "dist/**",
    "build/**",
    "*.min.js"
  ],
  "frameworks": [],
  "maxFileSize": 1048576,
  "extractDocstrings": true,
  "trackCallSites": true,
  "enableEmbeddings": false
}

Options

Option	Description	Default
languages	Languages to index (auto-detected if empty)	[]
exclude	Glob patterns to ignore	["node_modules/**", ...]
frameworks	Framework hints for better resolution	[]
maxFileSize	Skip files larger than this (bytes)	1048576 (1MB)
extractDocstrings	Whether to extract docstrings from code	true
trackCallSites	Whether to track call site locations	true
enableEmbeddings	Enable semantic search embeddings	false

🌐 Supported Languages

Language	Extension	Status
TypeScript	.ts, .tsx	Full support
JavaScript	.js, .jsx, .mjs	Full support
Python	.py	Full support
Go	.go	Full support
Rust	.rs	Full support
Java	.java	Full support
C#	.cs	Full support
PHP	.php	Full support
Ruby	.rb	Full support
C	.c, .h	Full support
C++	.cpp, .hpp, .cc	Full support
Swift	.swift	Basic support
Kotlin	.kt, .kts	Basic support
Dart	.dart	Full support
Svelte	.svelte	Full support (script extraction, Svelte 5 runes, SvelteKit routes)
Liquid	.liquid	Full support
Pascal / Delphi	.pas, .dpr, .dpk, .lpr	Full support (classes, records, interfaces, enums, DFM/FMX form files)

🔧 Troubleshooting

"CodeGraph not initialized"

Run codegraph init in your project directory first.

Indexing is slow

• Check if node_modules or other large directories are excluded
• Use --quiet flag to reduce console output overhead
• Consider increasing maxFileSize if you have large files to skip

MCP server not connecting

1. Ensure the project is initialized and indexed
2. Check the path in your MCP configuration is correct
3. Verify codegraph serve --mcp works from the command line
4. Check Claude Code logs for connection errors

Missing symbols in search

• Run codegraph sync to pick up recent changes
• Check if the file's language is supported
• Verify the file isn't excluded by config patterns

📡 Telemetry

CodeGraph collects anonymous error reports via Sentry to help diagnose and fix bugs. This is enabled by default in production environments (disabled in development/test).

What is collected:

• Error type, message, and stack trace (includes local file paths in the trace)
• CodeGraph version and process name (CLI or MCP server)

What is NOT collected:

• Source code contents
• File contents or repository data
• Personal information or environment variables

To opt out, set the environment variable before running CodeGraph:

export CODEGRAPH_TELEMETRY=off

---

📄 License

MIT

---

**Made for the Claude Code community** 🤖 [Report Bug](https://github.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/issues) · [Request Feature](https://github.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/issues)