CodeExplorer (ce) — Make AI Coding Agents Production-Safe
AI agents see files, not architecture. CodeExplorer (ce) gives your AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cline) and engineering teams a live cross-service map of every API, queue, and database in VS Code & MCP—plus hard architectural guardrails in CI.
✓ Live Architecture Map in VS Code • ✓ Surgical MCP Context (7.5× Faster, 40× Fewer Tokens) • ✓ CI Architecture Gates • ✓ 100% Local SQLite Graph
It indexes polyglot source files, project manifests, HTTP/gRPC/GraphQL endpoints, message broker topologies, and SQL schemas into a single local SQLite graph (.codeexplorer/graph.db) powered by an embedded OpenCypher-to-SQL compiler:
- Live Architecture Map in VS Code: Interactive C1/C2/C3 service topologies, concentric architectural tiers, async broker flows, and database lineage with click-to-source navigation.
- Surgical MCP Context for AI Agents: Gives coding agents instant access to call chains, cross-service dependencies, data lineage, and blast-radius impact analysis without burning millions of tokens on blind
grepsearches. - CI Architecture Gates (Semantic Invariant Gates): Enforces architectural boundaries in the IDE and CI (
ce gate check) using declarative OpenCypher rules and SHA-256 ratchet baselines.
Enterprise Benchmark: Plain AI Agent (ripgrep) vs. AI Agent + CodeExplorer MCP
(Measured on a 450-module enterprise monorepo: 324 microservices, 93 shared libraries, 33 workers — full benchmark details)
Installation
CodeExplorer is distributed as a self-contained single-file binary (ce / ce.exe) with embedded Tree-sitter grammars and SQLite, and as a VS Code extension that bundles the native binary for your platform.
Homebrew (macOS & Linux)
brew install vmikhailov/tap/ce
VS Code Extension
Install from the Visual Studio Marketplace or Open VSX Registry:
code --install-extension vmikhailov.code-explorer-vscode
Install Script
macOS & Linux:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vmikhailov/code-explorer/main/cli/scripts/install.sh | bash
Windows (PowerShell):
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vmikhailov/code-explorer/main/cli/scripts/install.ps1 | iex
.NET Global Tool
dotnet tool install -g CodeExplorer.Cli
Prebuilt Binaries (Native Standalone)
Standalone archives are available on GitHub Releases:
Note: For other architectures (Linux x64/ARM64, macOS Intel, Windows ARM64), install the lightweight universal .NET tool: dotnet tool install -g CodeExplorer.Cli.
Quick Start
# 1. Initialize .codeexplorer/ in your repository
ce init
# 2. Parse ASTs, project references, endpoints, and cross-service links
ce scan
# 3. Inspect workspace summary and node/edge counts
ce status
# 4. Run a built-in or ad-hoc OpenCypher query
ce query -n get_architecture_map_workspace
ce query "MATCH (s:Service)-[:CALLS]->(t:Service) RETURN s.name, t.name"
# 5. Evaluate architectural gates
ce gate check
# 6. Start the MCP server (stdio)
ce mcp
MCP Server
Text search (grep, ripgrep) works well for finding literals, but it cannot reliably trace interface implementations, cross-service HTTP/gRPC calls, message queue publishers/consumers, or SQL table usage across projects. Reading dozens of files to reconstruct call graphs consumes context window budget and degrades agent accuracy.
Running ce mcp exposes the indexed SQLite graph over the Model Context Protocol:
- Architecture & Entry Points: Query projects, dependencies, HTTP/gRPC/GraphQL endpoints, and message consumers via
get_architecture_mapandget_project_entry_points. - Low-Token File Outlines: Inspect classes, methods, and line ranges in a file via
get_file_outlinebefore reading full source text. - Impact & Lineage Analysis: Trace downstream callers of a symbol (
analyze_code_impact) or all SQL/ORM readers and writers of a database table (inspect_data_lineage). - OpenCypher Queries: Execute read-only Cypher queries (
execute_custom_read_cypher) and save reusable project queries in.codeexplorer/queries/.
Client Configuration
Add ce to your MCP client configuration (.cursor/mcp.json, claude_desktop_config.json, or VS Code MCP settings):
{
"mcpServers": {
"code-explorer": {
"command": "ce",
"args": ["mcp"]
}
}
}
Or auto-provision your workspace MCP configuration with a single command:
ce mcp configure
Recommended AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md Snippet
## CodeExplorer (`ce`) MCP Guidelines
- Start architectural exploration with `get_architecture_map` and `get_project_dependencies` instead of broad file searches.
- Use `find_symbol` and `get_file_outline` to locate declarations and line ranges before reading large files.
- Run `analyze_code_impact` or `get_call_chain` before changing shared interfaces or methods.
- Run `inspect_data_lineage` before modifying database tables or ORM entities.
- Use `execute_custom_read_cypher` for multi-hop structural queries.
Semantic Invariant Gates
Linters validate syntax and style within single files. Semantic Invariant Gates (SIG) validate structural and architectural rules across the entire repository by executing OpenCypher queries against the graph.
How Gates Work
Every gate follows a Zero-Match Contract:
- 0 rows returned: Gate passes.
- 1 or more rows returned: Each returned row is a violation with
file:line:columncoordinates, offendingsymbol,target, and remediation message.
FAIL: SIG-P-B-001 [Clean Architecture Layer Isolation]
src/Core/Services/OrderService.cs:42:15: OrderService -> SqliteConnection
Domain Core module directly references Infrastructure driver.
Defining a Gate (.codeexplorer/gates/*.yaml)
id: SIG-P-B-001
name: Clean Architecture Layer Isolation
category: Architectural
platform: agnostic
scope: Module
dimension: Boundaries
severity: Error
description: Domain Core projects must not reference Infrastructure or UI projects.
remediation: Invert the dependency by introducing an interface in Core and implementing it in Infrastructure.
query: |
MATCH (source:Project)-[:DEPENDS_ON]->(target:Project)
WHERE source.name CONTAINS "Core" AND target.name CONTAINS "Infrastructure"
RETURN
coalesce(source.path, "workspace") AS file,
1 AS line,
1 AS column,
source.name AS symbol,
target.name AS target,
"Core project '" + source.name + "' cannot depend on '" + target.name + "'" AS message
Ratchet Baselines for Existing Codebases
To introduce strict rules into an existing repository without fixing every legacy violation upfront, gates support ratchet baselines (.codeexplorer/baselines/*.json):
- Baseline Existing Debt:
ce gate ratchet --updaterecords SHA-256 fingerprints of current violations as tolerated baseline debt. - Block Regressions:
ce gate checkpasses if only baselined violations exist, and fails immediately if any new violation is introduced. - Ratchet Down: When legacy violations are fixed, running
ce gate ratchet --updatetightens the baseline so debt cannot be reintroduced.
CI Usage
- name: Run Architectural Gates
run: |
ce scan
ce gate check --format markdown >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
VS Code Extension
The VS Code extension provides an interactive workspace for exploring the graph, inspecting dependencies, and managing architectural gates.
Capabilities
- Multiple Views:
- Domain Microservice Map: Interactive graph with Concentric Orbits, Swimlanes, Domain Islands, Hive Plot, Grid, and Dependency Matrix modes.
- Architecture Tiers: Layered view across Presentation, Application, Domain, and Infrastructure tiers.
- Project Flow: Upstream/downstream dependency columns for a selected project, showing endpoints, database tables, and message topics.
- Bounded Context Map: Visualizes domain groupings, capabilities, and domain entities.
- Transitive Broker Contraction: When message broker nodes (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS) are hidden, the graph automatically synthesizes dashed producer-to-consumer edges (
PUBLISHES_TO (via Topic)) so asynchronous flows remain visible. - Unified Right-Hand Dock Panel:
- Info: Displays inbound/outbound calls, database dependencies, topics, and source links for the selected node or edge.
- Orbits: Reorders concentric tiers and toggles tier visibility.
- Hidden: Lists filtered nodes with search and one-click restore.
- Gates: Evaluates Semantic Invariant Gates, displays new vs. tolerated violations, ratchets baselines, and jumps directly to offending lines of code.
- Sidebar TreeView: Browse Architecture Diagrams, Ontology Layers (Layers 1–5), Domains & Bounded Contexts, Semantic Invariant Gates, and Server/Graph status from the VS Code activity bar.
Supported Languages & Frameworks
CodeExplorer combines Tree-sitter grammars, Microsoft SQL ScriptDom, and framework-specific semantic analyzers (ISemanticExtension):
Graph Ontology
The graph schema is organized into five decoupled layers (see docs/ontology.md for the full node and relationship specification):
- Layer 1 — Physical:
Workspace,Folder,File,ConfigurationFile,Document,Script. - Layer 2 — Project:
Project,Service,App,Worker,Library,Package,ExternalDependencies. - Layer 3 — Syntactic:
Namespace,Type(class, interface, struct, record, enum),Function(method, constructor),Variable,Field,CallLiteral. - Layer 4 — Semantic:
Endpoint(REST, gRPC, GraphQL, WebSocket),ExternalService,Database,Table,Query,Topic,Queue. - Layer 5 — Cross-Project & Analytical: Late-bound cross-project
CALLS,IMPLEMENTS,USES_TYPE,PUBLISHES_TO,SUBSCRIBES_TO,READS_FROM,WRITES_TO, and optional LLM-distilledDomain/BoundedContextclassifications.
CLI Reference
MCP Tools
Repository Layout
├── cli/
│ ├── src/
│ │ ├── Core/CodeExplorer.Core/ # Graph storage (SQLite), 5-layer indexer, SIG engine, MCP tools
│ │ ├── Cypher/CodeExplorer.Cypher/ # OpenCypher parser, AST, and SQLite SQL compiler
│ │ ├── Parsers/ # Language parsers (C#, TS/JS, Java, Kotlin, Android, Go, Python, SQL, CF)
│ │ ├── Tools/CodeExplorer.OntologyGen/# Generates docs/ontology.md from C# node/edge attributes
│ │ └── UI/CodeExplorer/ # 'ce' CLI, WebSocket/HTTP server, and MCP host
│ ├── tests/
│ │ ├── CodeExplorer.Cypher.Tests/ # OpenCypher parser & SQL compiler test suite
│ │ └── CodeExplorer.Tests/ # Indexing, cross-service, gate, and MCP integration tests
│ └── CodeExplorer.slnx
├── vscode-extension/ # VS Code extension (TreeView, Webview UI, bundled binary manager)
├── proto/ # Shared WebSocket & REST protocol contracts
└── docs/ # Auto-generated ontology reference and diagrams
