## Get Started
**No Node.js required** — one command grabs the right build for your OS:
```bash
# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/main/install.sh | sh
# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/main/install.ps1 | iex
```
Already have Node? Use npm instead (works on any version):
```bash
npx @colbymchenry/codegraph # zero-install, or:
npm i -g @colbymchenry/codegraph
```
CodeGraph bundles its own runtime — nothing to compile, no native build, works the same everywhere. The interactive installer auto-configures your agent(s) — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, opencode, Hermes Agent, Gemini CLI, Antigravity IDE, Kiro.
### Initialize Projects
```bash
cd your-project
codegraph init -i
```
`codegraph init` just creates the local `.codegraph/` index directory; adding `-i` (`--index`) also builds the initial graph in the same step. Without `-i`, run `codegraph index` afterwards to populate it.
### Uninstall
Changed your mind? One command removes CodeGraph from every agent it configured:
```bash
codegraph uninstall
```
Reverses the installer — strips CodeGraph's MCP server config, instructions, and permissions from each configured agent. Your project indexes (`.codegraph/`) are left untouched; remove those per-project with `codegraph uninit`. Use `--target` to remove from specific agents, or `--yes` to run non-interactively.
---
## Why CodeGraph?
When Claude Code explores a codebase, it spawns **Explore agents** that scan files with grep, glob, and Read — consuming tokens on every tool call.
**CodeGraph gives those agents a pre-indexed knowledge graph** — symbol relationships, call graphs, and code structure. Agents query the graph instantly instead of scanning files.
### Benchmark Results
Tested across **7 real-world open-source codebases** spanning 7 languages, comparing an agent (Claude Code, headless) answering one architecture question **with** and **without** CodeGraph. Each cell is the savings at the **median of 4 runs per arm**. _Re-validated on Opus 4.8 (2026-05-29), on the build with per-symbol adaptive `codegraph_explore` sizing._
> **Average: 25% cheaper · 57% fewer tokens · 23% faster · 62% fewer tool calls**
| Codebase | Language | Cost | Tokens | Time | Tool calls |
|----------|----------|------|--------|------|------------|
| **VS Code** | TypeScript · ~10k files | 33% cheaper | 70% fewer | 27% faster | 80% fewer |
| **Excalidraw** | TypeScript · ~640 | 27% cheaper | 61% fewer | 26% faster | 70% fewer |
| **Django** | Python · ~3k | 23% cheaper | 70% fewer | 28% faster | 77% fewer |
| **Tokio** | Rust · ~790 | 35% cheaper | 70% fewer | 37% faster | 79% fewer |
| **OkHttp** | Java · ~645 | 11% cheaper | 48% fewer | 26% faster | 70% fewer |
| **Gin** | Go · ~110 | 15% cheaper | 35% fewer | 9% faster | 47% fewer |
| **Alamofire** | Swift · ~110 | 28% cheaper | 46% fewer | 7% faster | 13% fewer |
CodeGraph cuts **cost, tokens, tool calls, and time on every repo** — across small, medium, and large codebases — and answers most of them with **zero file reads**, while the no-CodeGraph agent spends its budget on grep/find/Read discovery. `codegraph_explore` shows the answer in full — the mechanism plus the exact methods you asked about, even when they're buried in a multi-thousand-line file — while collapsing redundant interchangeable implementations to signatures, so the response is sized to the *answer* rather than the file count. The cost margin is narrowest on the smallest repos, where a modern model's native search is already cheap, but it stays solidly positive across the board.
Per-repo breakdown — WITH vs WITHOUT (median of 4)
**VS Code** · ~10k files
| Metric | WITH cg | WITHOUT cg | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 1m 37s | 2m 13s | 27% faster |
| File Reads | 0 | 9 | −9 |
| Grep/Bash | 0 | 11 | −11 |
| Tool calls | 4 | 21 | 80% fewer |
| Total tokens | 545k | 1.79M | 70% fewer |
| Cost | $0.55 | $0.83 | 33% cheaper |
**Excalidraw** · ~640 files
| Metric | WITH cg | WITHOUT cg | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 1m 34s | 2m 6s | 26% faster |
| File Reads | 0 | 7 | −7 |
| Grep/Bash | 0 | 8 | −8 |
| Tool calls | 5 | 15 | 70% fewer |
| Total tokens | 651k | 1.69M | 61% fewer |
| Cost | $0.57 | $0.78 | 27% cheaper |
**Django** · ~3k files
| Metric | WITH cg | WITHOUT cg | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 1m 25s | 1m 58s | 28% faster |
| File Reads | 0 | 9 | −9 |
| Grep/Bash | 0 | 5 | −5 |
| Tool calls | 3 | 13 | 77% fewer |
| Total tokens | 419k | 1.41M | 70% fewer |
| Cost | $0.48 | $0.62 | 23% cheaper |
**Tokio** · ~790 files
| Metric | WITH cg | WITHOUT cg | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 1m 28s | 2m 20s | 37% faster |
| File Reads | 0 | 8 | −8 |
| Grep/Bash | 0 | 6 | −6 |
| Tool calls | 3 | 14 | 79% fewer |
| Total tokens | 522k | 1.73M | 70% fewer |
| Cost | $0.53 | $0.82 | 35% cheaper |
**OkHttp** · ~645 files
| Metric | WITH cg | WITHOUT cg | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 1m 6s | 1m 29s | 26% faster |
| File Reads | 1 | 4 | −3 |
| Grep/Bash | 0 | 6 | −6 |
| Tool calls | 3 | 10 | 70% fewer |
| Total tokens | 572k | 1.10M | 48% fewer |
| Cost | $0.48 | $0.55 | 11% cheaper |
**Gin** · ~110 files
| Metric | WITH cg | WITHOUT cg | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 1m 28s | 1m 37s | 9% faster |
| File Reads | 0 | 6 | −6 |
| Grep/Bash | 0 | 2 | −2 |
| Tool calls | 5 | 9 | 47% fewer |
| Total tokens | 552k | 847k | 35% fewer |
| Cost | $0.48 | $0.57 | 15% cheaper |
**Alamofire** · ~110 files
| Metric | WITH cg | WITHOUT cg | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 2m 11s | 2m 21s | 7% faster |
| File Reads | 3 | 9 | −6 |
| Grep/Bash | 2 | 4 | −2 |
| Tool calls | 11 | 12 | 13% fewer |
| Total tokens | 1.13M | 2.10M | 46% fewer |
| Cost | $0.69 | $0.95 | 28% cheaper |
Full benchmark details
**Methodology.** Each arm is `claude -p` (Claude Opus 4.8) run headlessly against the repo with `--strict-mcp-config`: **WITH** = CodeGraph's MCP server enabled, **WITHOUT** = an empty MCP config. Built-in Read/Grep/Bash stay available to both. Same question per repo, **4 runs per arm, median reported**. Cost = the run's `total_cost_usd`; Tokens = total tokens processed (input incl. cached + output); Time = wall-clock; Tool calls = every tool invocation, including those inside any sub-agents the model spawns. Repos cloned at `--depth 1` and indexed by the same CodeGraph build that served them. Re-validated 2026-05-29 on the build with per-symbol adaptive `codegraph_explore` sizing. These numbers are lower than the prior Opus 4.7 validation — not a CodeGraph regression but a stronger native baseline: Opus 4.8 greps/reads efficiently on the main thread instead of fanning out into large Explore-subagent sweeps, so the no-CodeGraph arm is leaner than it used to be. Per-repo numbers move run-to-run with how hard the without-arm thrashes (the median-of-4 smooths it, but tails remain — e.g. Django's without-arm hit $2.71/14m one batch).
**Queries:**
| Codebase | Query |
|----------|-------|
| VS Code | "How does the extension host communicate with the main process?" |
| Excalidraw | "How does Excalidraw render and update canvas elements?" |
| Django | "How does Django's ORM build and execute a query from a QuerySet?" |
| Tokio | "How does tokio schedule and run async tasks on its runtime?" |
| OkHttp | "How does OkHttp process a request through its interceptor chain?" |
| Gin | "How does gin route requests through its middleware chain?" |
| Alamofire | "How does Alamofire build, send, and validate a request?" |
**Why CodeGraph wins:** with the index available, the agent answers directly — `codegraph_context` to map the area, then one `codegraph_explore` for the relevant source — and stops, usually with zero file reads. Without it, the agent spends most of its budget on discovery (find/ls/grep) before reading the right code. CodeGraph only helps when queried *directly*, so its instructions steer agents to answer directly rather than delegate exploration to file-reading sub-agents — otherwise a sub-agent reads files regardless and CodeGraph becomes overhead.
---
## Key Features
| | |
|---|---|
| **Smart Context Building** | One tool call returns entry points, related symbols, and code snippets — no expensive exploration agents |
| **Full-Text Search** | Find code by name instantly across your entire codebase, powered by FTS5 |
| **Impact Analysis** | Trace callers, callees, and the full impact radius of any symbol before making changes |
| **Always Fresh** | File watcher uses native OS events (FSEvents/inotify/ReadDirectoryChangesW) with debounced auto-sync — the graph stays current as you code, zero config |
| **20+ Languages** | TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust, Java, C#, PHP, Ruby, C, C++, Objective-C, Swift, Kotlin, Dart, Lua, Luau, Svelte, Liquid, Pascal/Delphi |
| **Framework-aware Routes** | Recognizes web-framework routing files and links URL patterns to their handlers across 14 frameworks |
| **Mixed iOS / React Native / Expo** | Closes cross-language flows that static parsing misses: Swift ↔ ObjC bridging, React Native legacy bridge + TurboModules + Fabric view components, native → JS event emitters, Expo Modules |
| **100% Local** | No data leaves your machine. No API keys. No external services. SQLite database only |
How auto-syncing works — and why you don't need to run codegraph sync manually
When your agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, opencode) launches `codegraph serve --mcp`, three layers keep the index in step with your code — and make sure the agent never gets a silent wrong answer in the brief window between an edit and the next sync:
1. **File watcher with debounced auto-sync.** A native FSEvents / inotify / ReadDirectoryChangesW watcher captures every source-file create / modify / delete and triggers a re-index after a debounce window (default `2000ms`, tunable via `CODEGRAPH_WATCH_DEBOUNCE_MS`, clamped to `[100ms, 60s]`). Bursts of edits collapse into a single sync.
2. **Per-file staleness banner.** During the brief debounce window, MCP tool responses that would reference a still-pending file prepend a `⚠️` banner naming it and telling the agent to `Read` it directly. Pending files NOT referenced by the response surface as a small footer instead. Either way, the agent gets an explicit signal — validated with Claude Code, where the agent literally says "Reading the file directly for the live content" before opening it.
3. **Connect-time catch-up.** When the MCP server (re)connects, codegraph runs a fast `(size, mtime)` + content-hash reconciliation against the working tree before answering the first query — so edits made while no MCP server was running (a `git pull` from the terminal, edits from another editor, a previous agent session that exited) get absorbed on the next session's first tool call.
```
agent writes src/Widget.ts
→ watcher fires (<100ms)
→ debounce (default 2s)
→ sync; Widget.ts is in the index
→ next agent query sees it
```
**Verify any time** with `codegraph_status` (via MCP) or `codegraph status` (CLI). If anything is pending, you'll see a `### Pending sync:` section naming the files and their edit age.
The handful of cases where manual `codegraph sync` makes sense: the watcher is disabled (sandboxed environments, or `CODEGRAPH_NO_DAEMON=1`), or you're scripting against the index outside an agent session and want a pre-flight sync at the start of your script.
→ Full deep-dive in [Guides → Indexing a Project](https://colbymchenry.github.io/codegraph/guides/indexing/#stay-fresh-automatically).
---
## Framework-aware Routes
CodeGraph detects web-framework routing files and emits `route` nodes linked by `references` edges to their handler classes or functions. Querying callers of a view/controller now surfaces the URL pattern that binds it.
| Framework | Shapes recognized |
|---|---|
| **Django** | `path()`, `re_path()`, `url()`, `include()` in `urls.py` (CBV `.as_view()`, dotted paths) |
| **Flask** | `@app.route('/path', methods=[...])`, blueprint routes |
| **FastAPI** | `@app.get(...)`, `@router.post(...)`, all standard methods |
| **Express** | `app.get(...)`, `router.post(...)` with middleware chains |
| **NestJS** | `@Controller` + `@Get/@Post/...`, GraphQL `@Resolver` + `@Query/@Mutation`, `@MessagePattern`/`@EventPattern`, `@SubscribeMessage` |
| **Laravel** | `Route::get()`, `Route::resource()`, `Controller@action`, tuple syntax |
| **Drupal** | `*.routing.yml` routes (`_controller`, `_form`, entity handlers); `hook_*` implementations in `.module`/`.theme`/`.install`/`.inc` |
| **Rails** | `get '/x', to: 'users#index'`, hash-rocket `=>` syntax |
| **Spring** | `@GetMapping`, `@PostMapping`, `@RequestMapping` on methods |
| **Gin / chi / gorilla / mux** | `r.GET(...)`, `router.HandleFunc(...)` |
| **Axum / actix / Rocket** | `.route("/x", get(handler))` |
| **ASP.NET** | `[HttpGet("/x")]` attributes on action methods |
| **Vapor** | `app.get("x", use: handler)` |
| **React Router** / **SvelteKit** | Route component nodes |
---
## Mixed iOS / React Native / Expo bridging
Real iOS and React Native codebases live across multiple languages — a Swift caller invokes an Objective-C selector that's been auto-bridged, a JS file calls into a native module via the React Native bridge, a JSX component delegates to a native view manager. Static tree-sitter extraction stops at each language boundary. CodeGraph bridges them so `trace`, `callers`, `callees`, and `impact` connect end-to-end across the gap.
| Boundary | JS / Swift side | Native side | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Swift → ObjC** | Swift `obj.foo(bar:)` | ObjC selector `-fooWithBar:` | `@objc` auto-bridging rules (including init/property/protocol forms) + Cocoa preposition prefixes (`With`/`For`/`By`/`In`/`On`/`At`/…) |
| **ObjC → Swift** | ObjC `[obj fooWithBar:]` | Swift `@objc func foo(bar:)` | Reverse-bridge name candidates; verifies `@objc` exposure from source |
| **React Native legacy bridge** | JS `NativeModules.X.fn(...)` | ObjC `RCT_EXPORT_METHOD` / `RCT_REMAP_METHOD` · Java/Kotlin `@ReactMethod` | Parses macro/annotation declarations to build a JS-name → native-method map |
| **React Native TurboModules** | JS `import M from './NativeM'; M.fn(...)` | Native impl matching the Codegen spec | Treats the `Native.ts` spec interface as ground truth |
| **RN native → JS events** | JS `new NativeEventEmitter(...).addListener('e', cb)` | ObjC `[self sendEventWithName:@"e" body:...]` · Swift `sendEvent(withName: "e", ...)` · Java/Kotlin `.emit("e", ...)` | Synthesized cross-language event channel keyed by literal event name |
| **Expo Modules** | JS `requireNativeModule('X').fn(...)` | Swift / Kotlin `Module { Name("X"); AsyncFunction("fn") { ... } }` | Parses the Expo DSL literals; synthetic method nodes resolve via existing name-match |
| **Fabric view components** | JSX `` | TS Codegen spec + native impl class | Spec → `component` node; convention-based name+suffix lookup (`View`/`ComponentView`/`Manager`/`ViewManager`) bridges to native |
| **Legacy Paper view managers** | JSX `` | ObjC `RCT_EXPORT_VIEW_PROPERTY` · Java/Kotlin `@ReactProp` | Same as Fabric — Paper-era declarations also produce `component` + `property` nodes |
**Validated on real codebases** (small + medium + large for each bridge):
| Bridge | Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swift ↔ ObjC | [Charts](https://github.com/danielgindi/Charts) | [realm-swift](https://github.com/realm/realm-swift) | [Wikipedia-iOS](https://github.com/wikimedia/wikipedia-ios) |
| RN legacy bridge | [AsyncStorage](https://github.com/react-native-async-storage/async-storage) | [react-native-svg](https://github.com/software-mansion/react-native-svg) | [react-native-firebase](https://github.com/invertase/react-native-firebase) |
| RN native → JS events | [RNGeolocation](https://github.com/Agontuk/react-native-geolocation-service) | — | react-native-firebase |
| Expo Modules | expo-haptics | expo-camera | expo SDK sweep (7 packages) |
| Fabric / Paper views | [react-native-segmented-control](https://github.com/react-native-segmented-control/segmented-control) | [react-native-screens](https://github.com/software-mansion/react-native-screens) | [react-native-skia](https://github.com/Shopify/react-native-skia) |
Each bridge emits edges tagged `provenance:'heuristic'` with `metadata.synthesizedBy:` set to a stable channel name (e.g. `swift-objc-bridge`, `rn-event-channel`, `fabric-native-impl`, `expo-module-extract`), so the agent can tell at a glance how a hop got into the graph.
---
## Quick Start
### 1. Run the Installer
```bash
npx @colbymchenry/codegraph
```
The installer will:
- Ask which agent(s) to configure — auto-detects installed ones from: **Claude Code**, **Cursor**, **Codex CLI**, **opencode**, **Hermes Agent**, **Gemini CLI**, **Antigravity IDE**, **Kiro**
- Prompt to install `codegraph` on your PATH (so agents can launch the MCP server)
- Ask whether configs apply to all your projects or just this one
- Write each chosen agent's MCP server config (the codegraph usage guide is delivered by the MCP server itself, so no instructions file is added to `CLAUDE.md` / `AGENTS.md` / etc.)
- Set up auto-allow permissions when Claude Code is one of the targets
- Initialize your current project (local installs only)
**Non-interactive (scripting / CI):**
```bash
codegraph install --yes # auto-detect agents, install global
codegraph install --target=cursor,claude --yes # explicit target list
codegraph install --target=auto --location=local # detected agents, project-local
codegraph install --print-config codex # print snippet, no file writes
```
| Flag | Values | Default |
|---|---|---|
| `--target` | `auto`, `all`, `none`, or csv (`claude,cursor,...`) | prompt |
| `--location` | `global`, `local` | prompt |
| `--yes` | (boolean) | prompt every step |
| `--no-permissions` | (boolean) skip Claude auto-allow list | permissions on |
| `--print-config ` | dump snippet for one agent and exit | — |
### 2. Restart Your Agent
Restart your agent (Claude Code / Cursor / Codex CLI / opencode / Hermes Agent / Gemini CLI / Antigravity IDE / Kiro) for the MCP server to load.
### 3. Initialize Projects
```bash
cd your-project
codegraph init -i
```
Builds the per-project knowledge graph index. A single global `codegraph install` works in every project you open — no need to re-run the installer per project.
That's it — your agent will use CodeGraph tools automatically when a `.codegraph/` directory exists.
Manual Setup (Alternative)
**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"
]
}
}
```
Agent Tool Guidance
CodeGraph's MCP server delivers its usage guidance to your agent **automatically**, in the MCP `initialize` response — there's no instructions file to manage and nothing is added to your `CLAUDE.md` / `AGENTS.md` / `GEMINI.md`. In short, it tells the agent to:
- **Answer structural questions directly with CodeGraph** — it *is* the pre-built index, so a grep/read loop just repeats work it already did. Treat the returned source as already read.
- **Pick the tool by intent:** `codegraph_context` to map an area, `codegraph_trace` for "how does X reach Y", `codegraph_explore` to survey several symbols, `codegraph_search` to find a symbol, `codegraph_callers`/`codegraph_callees` to walk call flow, `codegraph_impact` before editing, `codegraph_node` for one symbol's source.
- **Trust the results — don't re-verify with grep**, and check the staleness banner after edits.
- If `.codegraph/` doesn't exist yet, offer to run `codegraph init -i`.
The exact text is `src/mcp/server-instructions.ts` — the single source of truth.
---
## How It Works
```
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Claude Code │
│ │
│ "How does a request reach the database?" │
│ calls CodeGraph tools directly — no Explore sub-agent │
│ │ │
└─────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CodeGraph MCP Server │
│ │
│ context · trace · explore · callers · callees · impact │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ SQLite knowledge graph │
│ symbols · edges · files · FTS5 full-text search │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
1. **Extraction** — [tree-sitter](https://tree-sitter.github.io/) parses source code into ASTs. Language-specific queries extract nodes (functions, classes, methods) and edges (calls, imports, extends, implements).
2. **Storage** — Everything goes into a local SQLite database (`.codegraph/codegraph.db`) with FTS5 full-text search.
3. **Resolution** — After extraction, references are resolved: function calls → definitions, imports → source files, class inheritance, and framework-specific patterns.
4. **Auto-Sync** — The MCP server watches your project using native OS file events. Changes are debounced (2-second quiet window), filtered to source files only, and incrementally synced. The graph stays fresh as you code — no configuration needed.
---
## CLI Reference
```bash
codegraph # Run interactive installer
codegraph install # Run installer (explicit)
codegraph uninstall # Remove CodeGraph from your agents (inverse of install)
codegraph init [path] # Initialize in a project (--index to also index)
codegraph uninit [path] # Remove CodeGraph from a project (--force to skip prompt)
codegraph index [path] # Full index (--force to re-index, --quiet for less output)
codegraph sync [path] # Incremental update
codegraph status [path] # Show statistics
codegraph query # Search symbols (--kind, --limit, --json)
codegraph files [path] # Show file structure (--format, --filter, --max-depth, --json)
codegraph context # Build context for AI (--format, --max-nodes)
codegraph callers # Find what calls a function/method (--limit, --json)
codegraph callees # Find what a function/method calls (--limit, --json)
codegraph impact # Analyze what code is affected by changing a symbol (--depth, --json)
codegraph affected [files...] # Find test files affected by changes (see below)
codegraph serve --mcp # Start MCP server
```
### `codegraph affected`
Traces import dependencies transitively to find which test files are affected by changed source files.
```bash
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 src/auth.ts --filter "e2e/*" # Custom test file pattern
```
| Option | Description | Default |
|--------|-------------|---------|
| `--stdin` | Read file list from stdin | `false` |
| `-d, --depth ` | Max dependency traversal depth | `5` |
| `-f, --filter ` | Custom glob to identify test files | auto-detect |
| `-j, --json` | Output as JSON | `false` |
| `-q, --quiet` | Output file paths only | `false` |
**CI/hook example:**
```bash
#!/usr/bin/env bash
AFFECTED=$(git diff --name-only HEAD | codegraph affected --stdin --quiet)
if [ -n "$AFFECTED" ]; then
npx vitest run $AFFECTED
fi
```
---
## MCP Tools
When running as an MCP server, CodeGraph exposes these tools to Claude Code:
| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `codegraph_search` | Find symbols by name across the codebase |
| `codegraph_context` | Build relevant code context for a task |
| `codegraph_trace` | Trace the call path between two symbols ("how does X reach Y") in one call — each hop with its body inline, following dynamic-dispatch hops (callbacks, React re-render, interface→impl) that grep can't |
| `codegraph_callers` | Find what calls a function |
| `codegraph_callees` | Find what a function calls |
| `codegraph_impact` | Analyze what code is affected by changing a symbol |
| `codegraph_node` | Get details about a specific symbol (optionally with source code) |
| `codegraph_explore` | Return source for several related symbols grouped by file, plus a relationship map, in one call |
| `codegraph_files` | Get indexed file structure (faster than filesystem scanning) |
| `codegraph_status` | Check index health and statistics |
---
## Library Usage
CodeGraph can be embedded directly. The npm package re-exports its programmatic
API, so both `import` and `require` resolve the `CodeGraph` class in your own
process — handy for embedding it in an app (e.g. an Electron main process).
```typescript
import CodeGraph from '@colbymchenry/codegraph';
// CommonJS works too:
// const { CodeGraph } = require('@colbymchenry/codegraph');
const cg = await CodeGraph.init('/path/to/project');
// Or: const cg = await CodeGraph.open('/path/to/project');
await cg.indexAll({
onProgress: (p) => console.log(`${p.phase}: ${p.current}/${p.total}`)
});
const results = cg.searchNodes('UserService');
const callers = cg.getCallers(results[0].node.id);
const context = await cg.buildContext('fix login bug', { maxNodes: 20, includeCode: true, format: 'markdown' });
const impact = cg.getImpactRadius(results[0].node.id, 2);
cg.watch(); // auto-sync on file changes
cg.unwatch(); // stop watching
cg.close();
```
Lower-level building blocks are exported from the same entry point for callers
that drive the graph directly: `DatabaseConnection`, `QueryBuilder`,
`getDatabasePath`, `initGrammars` / `loadGrammarsForLanguages`, and `FileLock`.
**Embedding requirements**
- Install from npm (`npm i @colbymchenry/codegraph`) so the matching
per-platform package — which carries the compiled library and its
dependencies — is fetched alongside the shim.
- The API runs on **your** runtime, so it needs **Node 22.5+** for the built-in
`node:sqlite` (Electron qualifies when its bundled Node is 22.5+). The CLI and
MCP server are unaffected — they run on the self-contained bundled runtime.
- TypeScript types ship with the package. As with any Node-targeting library,
keep `@types/node` available and `skipLibCheck: true` (the common default).
---
## Configuration
There isn't any — CodeGraph is zero-config, with **no config file** to write or
keep in sync. Language support is automatic from the file extension; there's
nothing to wire up per language.
What it skips out of the box:
- **Dependency, build, and cache directories** — `node_modules`, `vendor`,
`dist`, `build`, `target`, `.venv`, `Pods`, `.next`, and the like across every
[supported stack](#supported-languages) — so the graph is your code, not
third-party noise. This holds even with no `.gitignore`.
- **Anything in your `.gitignore`** — honored in git repos via git, and in
non-git projects by reading `.gitignore` directly (root and nested).
- **Files larger than 1 MB** — generated bundles, minified JS, vendored blobs.
To keep something else out, add it to `.gitignore`. To pull a default-excluded
directory back **in** (say you really do want a vendored dependency indexed),
add a negation — `!vendor/`. The defaults apply uniformly, so committing a
dependency or build directory doesn't force it into the graph; the `.gitignore`
negation is the explicit opt-in.
## Supported Platforms
Every release ships a self-contained build (bundled Node runtime — nothing to
compile) for all three desktop OSes, on both Intel/AMD (x64) and ARM (arm64):
| Platform | Architectures | Install |
|----------|---------------|---------|
| Windows | x64, arm64 | PowerShell installer or npm |
| macOS | x64, arm64 | shell installer or npm |
| Linux | x64, arm64 | shell installer or npm |
See [Get Started](#get-started) for the one-line install commands.
## Supported Agents
The interactive installer auto-detects and configures each of these — wiring up
the MCP server (which delivers its own usage guidance, so no instructions file
is written):
- **Claude Code**
- **Cursor**
- **Codex CLI**
- **opencode**
- **Hermes Agent**
- **Gemini CLI**
- **Antigravity IDE**
- **Kiro**
## 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 |
| Objective-C | `.m`, `.mm`, `.h` | Partial support (classes, protocols, methods, `@property`, `#import`, message sends; `.mm` ObjC++ may parse incompletely) |
| Swift | `.swift` | Full support |
| Kotlin | `.kt`, `.kts` | Full support |
| Scala | `.scala`, `.sc` | Full support (classes, traits, methods, type aliases, Scala 3 enums) |
| Dart | `.dart` | Full support |
| Svelte | `.svelte` | Full support (script extraction, Svelte 5 runes, SvelteKit routes) |
| Vue | `.vue` | Full support (script + script-setup extraction, Nuxt page/API/middleware routes) |
| Liquid | `.liquid` | Full support |
| Pascal / Delphi | `.pas`, `.dpr`, `.dpk`, `.lpr` | Full support (classes, records, interfaces, enums, DFM/FMX form files) |
| Lua | `.lua` | Full support (functions, methods with receivers, local variables, `require` imports, call edges) |
| Luau | `.luau` | Full support (everything in Lua, plus `type`/`export type` aliases, typed signatures, and Roblox instance-path `require`) |
## Troubleshooting
**"CodeGraph not initialized"** — Run `codegraph init` in your project directory first.
**Indexing is slow** — Check that `node_modules` and other large directories are excluded. Use `--quiet` to reduce output overhead.
**MCP hits `database is locked`** — current builds shouldn't: CodeGraph bundles its own Node runtime and uses Node's built-in `node:sqlite` in WAL mode, where concurrent reads never block on a writer. If you still see it:
- **You're on an old (pre-0.9) install.** Reinstall to get the bundled runtime — `curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/main/install.sh | sh` (macOS/Linux), `irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/main/install.ps1 | iex` (Windows), or `npm i -g @colbymchenry/codegraph@latest`.
- **`codegraph status` shows `Journal:` other than `wal`** — WAL couldn't be enabled on this filesystem (common on network shares and WSL2 `/mnt`), so reads can block on writes. Move the project (with its `.codegraph/` folder) onto a local disk.
**MCP server not connecting** — Ensure the project is initialized/indexed, verify the path in your MCP config, and check that `codegraph serve --mcp` works from the command line.
**Missing symbols** — The MCP server auto-syncs on save (wait a couple seconds). Run `codegraph sync` manually if needed. Check that the file's language is supported and isn't inside a `.gitignore`d or default-excluded directory (e.g. `node_modules`, `dist`).
## Star History
## License
MIT
---
**Made for AI coding agents — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, opencode, Hermes Agent, Gemini CLI, Antigravity IDE, and Kiro**
[Report Bug](https://github.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/issues) · [Request Feature](https://github.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/issues)