CodeAst

MCP server for static code analysis — Returns structured data instead of raw files to reduce context window usage by 10x.

Built with Rust (analyzer) + TypeScript (MCP wrapper).

Why CodeAst?

When LLMs analyze code, they typically read entire files. CodeAst extracts only what matters:

Without CodeAst	With CodeAst
Read 500 lines to find functions	Get structured list of symbols
Grep entire codebase for callers	Get precise caller locations
Manual dependency tracing	Automatic cycle detection

Installation

macOS / Linux:

claude mcp add codeast npx codeast

Windows:

npm install -g codeast
claude mcp add codeast codeast

The analyzer binary is downloaded automatically on first run.

Tools

Tool	Description
get_symbols	List functions, classes, types in a file
get_callers	Find all functions that call a function
get_calls	Get all functions called by a function
get_imports	Get imports (internal vs external)
get_imported_by	Find files that import a file
get_complexity	Get cyclomatic/cognitive complexity metrics
get_cycles	Detect circular dependencies
get_duplicates	Find duplicated code blocks
get_file_info	Quick file overview
search_files	Search files by glob pattern
run_tests	Run tests (auto-detects npm/cargo/pytest)
status	Check if analyzer is running

Supported Languages

• JavaScript / TypeScript / JSX / TSX
• Python
• Rust
• Astro

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how to get started:

1. Fork & Clone

# Fork the repo on GitHub, then clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/codeast.git
cd codeast

2. Setup Dev Environment

# Build the Rust analyzer
cd analyzer && cargo build --release

# Build and run MCP server (auto-detects local binary)
cd ../mcp && npm install && npm run build
node dist/mcp/server.js

3. Make Changes

# Create a branch for your feature/fix
git checkout -b feature/my-feature

# Make your changes, then commit
git add .
git commit -m "feat: Add my feature"

4. Open a Pull Request

# Push to your fork
git push origin feature/my-feature

# Then open a PR on GitHub: https://github.com/dimaland1/codeast/pulls

Areas for Contribution

Bugs to Fix

#	Bug	Impact
1	get_callers doesn't find without module prefix (fn vs module::fn)	Usability
2	JS grammar doesn't detect exports (only TS works)	.js files

Missing Features

#	Feature	Description
1	Function parameters	Extract params (name, type) from functions
2	Return types	Extract return type from functions
3	Class methods	get_symbols doesn't return methods
4	Export default	export default function not detected
5	Re-exports	export { foo } from './bar' not traced
6	Decorators	@Controller, @Injectable (NestJS, Angular)
7	JSDoc/TSDoc	Extract documentation comments
8	Async detection	Mark if a function is async

MCP Improvements

#	Tool	Improvement
1	get_callers	Fuzzy match (without module prefix)
2	get_callers	Add recursive: true param for call chain
3	get_symbols	Add methods for classes
4	get_complexity	Add maintainability index
5	search_code	New tool for grep with context
6	get_dependencies	Visualize dependency tree of a file

Refactoring

File	Complexity	Action
symbols.rs	382	Split into modules (js.rs, rust.rs, python.rs, astro.rs)
analyzer.rs	73	Extract process_import logic
handlers.ts	-	Factor out error handling

New Language Support

Want to add support for a new language? Here's what you need:

1. Add tree-sitter grammar to analyzer/Cargo.toml
2. Create extraction functions in analyzer/src/symbols.rs
3. Add import parsing in analyzer/src/parser.rs
4. Add tests in analyzer/tests/

Languages we'd love to support:

• Go
• Java
• C/C++
• Ruby
• PHP

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Project Structure

codeast/
├── analyzer/          # Rust - Core analysis engine
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs        # CLI entry point
│   │   ├── analyzer.rs    # Orchestration
│   │   ├── symbols.rs     # AST symbol extraction
│   │   ├── parser.rs      # Import extraction
│   │   ├── complexity.rs  # Metrics calculation
│   │   ├── duplicates.rs  # Duplicate detection
│   │   └── graph.rs       # Dependency graph
│   └── Cargo.toml
│
├── mcp/               # TypeScript - MCP server wrapper
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── mcp/
│   │   │   ├── server.ts      # MCP entry point
│   │   │   ├── tools.ts       # Tool definitions
│   │   │   └── handlers.ts    # Tool implementations
│   │   └── services/
│   │       ├── analyzer.ts    # Process management
│   │       └── queries.ts     # Query API
│   └── package.json
│
└── docs/              # Landing page

License

MIT

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Found a bug? Have an idea? Open an issue or submit a PR!