codetree
Stop feeding entire files to your AI agent.
codetree is an MCP server that gives coding agents structured code understanding via tree-sitter — so they ask precise questions instead of reading thousands of lines. 23 tools, 11 languages, ~1 second startup. No vector DB, no embedding model, no config.
Quick Start
Prerequisite: Install uv if you don't have it (curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh).
Then cd into any project and run:
claude mcp add codetree -- uvx --from mcp-server-codetree codetree --root .
That's it. The . means "this project." Your agent now has structured code understanding.
Not using Claude Code? See Editor Setup for Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, and Claude Desktop.
Before / After
Before codetree — agent reads the raw file:
$ cat calculator.py
import math
from typing import Optional
class Calculator:
"""A scientific calculator with memory."""
def __init__(self):
self.memory = 0
self.history = []
def add(self, a: float, b: float) -> float:
"""Add two numbers."""
result = a + b
self.history.append(('add', a, b, result))
return result
def divide(self, a: float, b: float) -> Optional[float]:
"""Divide a by b, returns None on zero division."""
if b == 0:
return None
result = a / b
self.history.append(('divide', a, b, result))
return result
# ... 200 more lines of methods ...
Tokens consumed: ~2,000+ for the full file
After codetree — agent asks for the skeleton:
class Calculator → line 4
"A scientific calculator with memory."
def __init__(self) (in Calculator) → line 7
def add(self, a: float, b: float) (in Calculator) → line 11
"Add two numbers."
def divide(self, a: float, b: float) (in Calculator) → line 17
"Divide a by b, returns None on zero division."
def sqrt(self, x: float) (in Calculator) → line 24
"Square root using math.sqrt."
Tokens consumed: ~80. That's a 25x reduction.
The agent sees every class, method, and docstring — with line numbers — without reading a single function body. When it needs the full source of divide, it calls get_symbol("calculator.py", "divide") and gets just those 6 lines.
23 Tools
Understand Structure
Navigate Relationships
Analyze Quality
Inspect & Search
Onboarding & Graph
Change & Dataflow
Visualization & History
get_file_skeleton,get_skeletons, andsearch_symbolsacceptformat="compact"for even fewer tokens.
Supported Languages
Editor Setup
The --root flag tells codetree which project to analyze. Use . for the current directory, or a full path.
Claude Code
cd into your project, then:
claude mcp add codetree -- uvx --from mcp-server-codetree codetree --root .
Cursor
Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project:
{
"mcpServers": {
"codetree": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["--from", "mcp-server-codetree", "codetree", "--root", "${workspaceFolder}"]
}
}
}
VS Code (Copilot)
Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your project:
{
"servers": {
"codetree": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["--from", "mcp-server-codetree", "codetree", "--root", "${workspaceFolder}"]
}
}
}
Windsurf
Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"codetree": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["--from", "mcp-server-codetree", "codetree", "--root", "${workspaceFolder}"]
}
}
}
Claude Desktop
Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):
{
"mcpServers": {
"codetree": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["--from", "mcp-server-codetree", "codetree", "--root", "/path/to/your/project"]
}
}
}
Claude Desktop doesn't support
${workspaceFolder}, so use a full path here.
Why codetree?
Architecture
Agent (Claude, Copilot, Cursor, etc.)
│ MCP (stdio)
▼
codetree server (FastMCP)
│
├── Indexer → LanguagePlugin → tree-sitter → structured results
│ Cache (.codetree/index.json, mtime-based)
│
└── Graph Layer → SQLite (.codetree/graph.db)
Persistent symbols + edges, incremental updates
Change impact, dataflow, taint analysis
Adding a Language
pip install tree-sitter-LANGand add topyproject.toml- Copy
src/codetree/languages/_template.pytolanguages/yourlang.py - Implement the abstract methods
- Register extensions in
registry.py - Add tests
Development
git clone https://github.com/ThinkyMiner/codeTree.git
cd codeTree
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
pip install pytest
# Run all tests (~1058 tests, ~35s)
pytest
# Run a single test file
pytest tests/languages/test_python.py -v
Contributing
Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions and guidelines.
