MCP Server¶

CodeNib serves a pre-built repository manifest to coding agents over Model Context Protocol stdio. Index construction and query serving are separate: build or update a repository once, then reuse that manifest across agent sessions.

Install And Index¶

pip install "codenib[mcp]"
codenib index /path/to/repository

The default fast preset builds BM25 without a model download. Add semantic search when needed:

pip install "codenib[mcp,semantic]"
codenib index /path/to/repository --preset semantic

Add static navigation and dependency tools without the embedding download:

pip install "codenib[graph,mcp]"
codenib index /path/to/repository --preset graph

Each build writes a manifest below $CODENIB_HOME/repositories/<repo>-<id>/indexes (default ~/.codenib/repositories/...) and prints its exact path. A failed optional view is recorded in the manifest without invalidating successful independent views.

Run The Server¶

codenib mcp /path/to/repository

The command also accepts the manifest path directly:

codenib mcp ~/.codenib/repositories/<repo>-<id>/indexes/repo_manifest.json

Transport is stdio and logs go to stderr. A typical client configuration is:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codenib": {
      "command": "codenib",
      "args": ["mcp", "/absolute/path/to/repository"]
    }
  }
}

Use an absolute repository path because the client may launch the server from a different working directory.

Tools¶

Only tools whose backing views are fresh and available can return results.

Tool	Backing view	Granularity	Use for
`search_semantic`	`vector`	file/symbol (L0/L2)	Natural-language or conceptual queries
`search_bm25`	`bm25`	symbol	Exact names and keyword lookups
`search_regex`	`symbol_graph`	file / symbol	Structural pattern matching
`search_zoekt`	`zoekt`	file	Fast substring or regex search over files
`dependency_subgraph`	`symbol_graph`	call graph	Caller impact, callee dependencies, or a one-hop neighborhood
`lsp_definition`	`symbol_graph`	location	Static go-to-definition-shaped lookup
`lsp_references`	`symbol_graph`	locations	Static find-references-shaped lookup
`lsp_route`	`symbol_graph`	locations	Compact route anchors among related symbols
`get_manifest`	manifest	repository	Repository identity, languages, view states, and capabilities

All source locations returned by MCP use 1-based line numbers.

The codenib-guide prompt explains how to choose among available tools. Parameter and return schemas live in codenib/mcp/README.md.

Advanced Views¶

The full preset requests BM25, vectors, a symbol graph, and Zoekt:

pip install "codenib[full]"
codenib index /path/to/repository --preset full

Graph and Zoekt construction also require external backend binaries. Check the repository's language-specific graph provider before building:

codenib doctor /path/to/repository --require graph

The doctor command does not currently diagnose Zoekt. Verify both Zoekt commands independently:

command -v zoekt-git-index
command -v zoekt-webserver

See SCIP Indexing and Language Capabilities for backend-specific setup and support boundaries.