jCodeMunch MCP
An MCP server that indexes code with tree-sitter and returns individual functions and classes to the agent instead of whole files
- 2,843 ★ on the repository
- Last commit
Extended access
Why this level
- Reads and indexes the project's source files locally
- Sends an anonymous statistics counter by default, with some network features optional
Install
- Works in
Manual install
uv tool install jcodemunch-mcp
jcodemunch-mcp initInstalls the server and, via init, writes it into the config of detected MCP clients. Requires Python and the uv manager.
Access and checks
How we reviewExtended accessThe tool runs code or makes network calls and only reads external data.
- Reads and indexes the project's source files locally
- Sends an anonymous statistics counter by default, with some network features optional
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
The server parses a repository once with tree-sitter and builds a local symbol index: signatures, kinds, qualified names, byte offsets. After that the agent requests a specific function, class, method or a scoped context bundle rather than a full file. It answers structural questions ordinary search cannot: who imports a symbol, what breaks on a change, the call hierarchy, dead code detection. The index lives on disk and refreshes as edits happen, with support for more than 70 languages. The point is to let the agent read less noise and spend fewer tokens on code exploration.
Who it is for. For developers and teams who drive an agent through large or unfamiliar repositories and want to cut token spend on reading code.
Good fit when
- The agent keeps reading whole files just to find one function to edit
- You need to understand an unfamiliar or large repository without loading it entirely into context
- You need structural queries: who imports a symbol, what a change affects, where dead code sits
Not a fit when
- The edit genuinely needs the entire file, so there is no token advantage
- The project is small and the agent handles it fine with native read and search
Example request
Index this repository with jcodemunch and show me the source of the function that handles authorizationMCP
- Transport
- stdio, http, sse
- Authentication
- not required
Limitations
Dual-use license: free for personal use, commercial use needs a paid license from the author. It installs via the uv tool manager or PyPI and needs Python. By default the server sends an anonymous saved-tokens counter, which you can turn off with the share_savings setting. Some tree-sitter grammars are fetched over the network on first parse, so an offline install cannot parse those languages. Optional extras such as semantic search and AI summaries pull in external services and are enabled separately.
How to disable. Remove the server entry from your MCP client config. If you installed it as a uv tool, remove it with uv tool uninstall jcodemunch-mcp. The local index lives in the ~/.code-index/ directory.
FAQ
How is this different from grep and plain file reading?
The server returns a specific symbol with byte-level precision and answers structural questions such as who imports it and what a change affects, instead of handing back lines or files the agent still has to read.
Is it free?
For personal use, yes. Commercial use needs a paid license; the terms are in the README and the LICENSE file.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
Related
MCP serversAn MCP server that builds a code graph of functions, classes, calls and routes and answers the agent's structural queries locally
A local MCP server with call graphs and symbol search: the agent sees code structure and what an edit affects in advance.
An MCP server that indexes a local repository with tree-sitter and gives the agent code search, file lookup and a structure summary of a file
An MCP server that builds a code graph once and serves the answer to the agent instead of re-reading files
The CodeAlive MCP server: the agent searches large codebases by meaning and exactly and follows call relations without a full read
A local codebase index for agents: hybrid search, dependency graphs and change impact analysis
Comparison with similar tools
Cards that share the main search query, and how they differ.
| Tool | Official | Authentication | Repository stars | Main difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| jCodeMunch MCP (this card) | no | not required | 2,843 | |
| Code Index MCP | no | not required | 1,005 | an MCP server that indexes a local repository with tree-sitter and |
| tilth | no | not required | 362 | a Rust binary for agents and the terminal that uses tree-sitter to |
| SDL-MCP | no | not required | 498 | an MCP server that indexes a repository into a symbol graph and hands |
README in short
The README describes an MCP server for precise source code retrieval: it indexes a repository with tree-sitter and returns symbols instead of files to cut token usage during agent work. It lists structural tools including importer search, change impact analysis, call hierarchy and dead code detection, plus assembling a task's context in one call. Installation goes through uv, uvx, pipx or pip, and the init command writes config for common clients on its own. The server runs locally, the index is stored on disk, and some network features are optional. The license is dual-use: free for personal use, paid for commercial use.