Overview
What Codebase Memory MCP does
Codebase Memory MCP is a local code-intelligence backend built around tree-sitter parsing, a persistent SQLite graph, and an embedded type-resolution layer for selected languages. After indexing, agents can search symbols, follow call paths, inspect architecture, map a git diff to affected code, run read-only graph queries, and retrieve focused snippets instead of repeatedly scanning files. The server ships as a native static binary, with npm and PyPI delivery wrappers, and can optionally serve a local 3D graph interface. It does not bundle an LLM or send the indexed code to a model service on its own.
Best for
- Large or unfamiliar repositories where repeated text search is expensive
- Architecture, dependency, call-path, and change-impact investigations
- Local code analysis without an external embedding or LLM API key
Not ideal for
- Teams that cannot permit a local tool to read and index repository contents
- Projects where language semantics require a full language server not covered by the embedded resolver
Capabilities
What an agent can do
- 01
Index source, routes, tests, and infrastructure files into a persistent graph
- 02
Search graph nodes and indexed code with structural filters
- 03
Trace inbound and outbound call paths across files and packages
- 04
Summarize architecture and estimate the blast radius of git changes
- 05
Run a read-only Cypher-like query language and manage architecture decisions
- 06
Share an optional compressed graph artifact across a team
Representative tools and operations
index_repositorylist_projectsdelete_projectindex_statussearch_graphtrace_pathdetect_changesquery_graphget_graph_schemaget_code_snippetget_architecturesearch_codemanage_adringest_traces
Installation
Connect Codebase Memory MCP
Use the publisher’s current instructions as the source of truth. The examples below were checked on .
macOS or LinuxInstall the signed native release and configure detected agents
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp/main/install.sh | bashInspect the installer in controlled environments, or download a release and verify its checksum and attestation before running it.Any stdio MCP clientConfigure a downloaded binary manually
/path/to/codebase-memory-mcp{
"mcpServers": {
"codebase-memory-mcp": {
"command": "/path/to/codebase-memory-mcp",
"args": []
}
}
}Trust and access
Authentication and security notes
Authentication: None for the local stdio server. Filesystem access is governed by the process user; CBM_ALLOWED_ROOT can constrain which repository paths may be indexed.
Review before connecting
- The process reads source code and writes a local graph plus agent configuration during automatic setup; review those paths before installation.
- Set CBM_ALLOWED_ROOT when the caller should not be able to request indexing of arbitrary filesystem locations.
- Verify release checksums or build provenance and decide whether the optional shared graph artifact belongs in source control.
Known limitations
- The first useful query requires indexing time and local disk and memory proportional to the repository.
- Cross-language and dynamic call resolution is heuristic; unsupported languages fall back to less precise textual resolution.
- The project is community-maintained and its benchmark claims should be validated against the team's own codebase.
- It supplies structural evidence, not an LLM or a complete substitute for compiler and language-server diagnostics.
Evidence
Sources used for this guide
Facts were checked against primary publisher material. Descriptions and guidance are original Graphify summaries.
FAQ
Questions about Codebase Memory MCP
Does Codebase Memory send source code to an external model?
The server is a local structural index and does not include an LLM. Your MCP client still controls what context it sends to its own model provider.
Must the generated graph artifact be committed?
No. Teams can share the compressed artifact for faster onboarding or ignore the directory and let each developer build a local index.
