MCP server

codemap is a stdio Model Context Protocol server, so AI agents can query your code graph directly instead of reading dozens of files. This page is the full tool reference — for registering codemap in one command with a playbook included, see codemap for agents; for the order to call these tools in, see the agent loop. Tool text payloads use compact JSON to avoid spending context tokens on indentation; the structured result fields are identical to CLI --json reports.

For SQL/sqlc, YAML, Markdown, and HTML/CSS, start with Data, configuration, and documentation. Use dependencies for inbound evidence and traverse for typed relationships. These formats do not gain function calls from --precise. The same guide is available through codemap docs formats and codemap_docs with topic: "formats". MCP traverse requires the full profile.

Register it

Install codemap (brew install abdul-hamid-achik/tap/codemap, or go install github.com/abdul-hamid-achik/codemap/cmd/codemap@latest), then register codemap serve with your agent. Most CLIs have a one-liner:

Claude Code

claude mcp add codemap -- codemap serve        # add --scope user to share across all projects

OpenAI Codex

codex mcp add codemap -- codemap serve

GitHub Copilot CLI

copilot mcp add codemap -- codemap serve

Any other MCP client — add a stdio server to its config (the key may be mcpServers, mcp, or context_servers depending on the client):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codemap": { "command": "codemap", "args": ["serve"] }
  }
}

Once connected, an agent can call codemap_docs to learn the tools and the index → understand → read workflow on its own.

Tool profiles

By default codemap serve registers all 45 tools. That's a real cost: a hermetic benchmark measured +95% input tokens on the codemap arm, driven by every tool's schema riding in every session's context — and some clients (Cursor) cap total MCP tools at ~40 across all servers combined, so a full codemap registration can crowd out every other server.

Set CODEMAP_MCP_PROFILE=agent (env), mcp.profile: agent (codemap.yaml), or pass --profile agent to codemap serve for the exact 26-tool surface derived from the canonical taught workflow: the 25 tools it names plus codemap_docs for self-discovery. The shipped core profile remains compatible and currently has the same 26-tool inventory; its contract stays stable while agent is pinned to what the playbook actually teaches. full remains the default for backwards compatibility and is the explicit expert/admin surface.

codemap_index, codemap_status, codemap_docs, codemap_read_order, codemap_semantic, codemap_find, codemap_grep, codemap_context, codemap_context_batch, codemap_impact, codemap_source, codemap_callers, codemap_callees, codemap_references, codemap_risk, codemap_dependencies, codemap_file_impact, codemap_file_context, codemap_review, codemap_path, codemap_hotspots, codemap_orphans, codemap_coverage, codemap_explore, codemap_symbol_at, codemap_related_files.

The current offline microbenchmark drives real tools/list calls through the Go MCP SDK's in-memory transport, with no model, network, embeddings, or language server. On an Apple M5 over 100 iterations, agent/core each serialize 31,808 schema characters (≈7,952 tokens using the declared chars/4 planning estimate); full serializes 47,784 characters (≈11,946 estimated tokens). That is about 33% less schema context for the taught surface. Reproduce it with:

go test ./internal/mcp -run '^$' -bench '^BenchmarkProfileSchemaTax$' -benchtime=100x -benchmem

Everything else — codemap_init, codemap_doctor, codemap_projects, codemap_symbols, codemap_refactor_plan, codemap_secret_impact, codemap_required_keys, codemap_annotate / codemap_annotations / codemap_unannotate, codemap_branch_status / codemap_branch_switch, and codemap_cache_save / codemap_cache_restore / codemap_cache_list / codemap_cache_drop, plus the full-profile orientation surfaces codemap_map, codemap_traverse, and codemap_task_context — is admin/ecosystem/extended surface, available under the default full profile and excluded from both current lean profiles. Precedence is the same three-way order as every other codemap setting: config file < environment < CLI flag. An unrecognized value is a startup error, not a silent fallback. codemap agent setup cursor defaults its generated .cursor/mcp.json entry to CODEMAP_MCP_PROFILE=core for exactly this reason; every other harness stays on full since only Cursor has the tool-count ceiling.

Tools

Project-scoped tools take an optional path (the project directory; defaults to the server's working directory) and return JSON. Global helpers such as codemap_projects, codemap_docs, and codemap_doctor do not need a project path.

Tool	Description
codemap_init	Register a project directory
codemap_index	Index/reindex a project (reindex, no_embed, precise → exact call edges via go/types for Go and LSP callHierarchy for TypeScript/JavaScript/Python; Vue remains symbols + imports only). Base TS/JS indexing already carries name-based import, JSX component-usage, and Next.js framework-wiring edges; Ruby and Lua index name-based with no server
codemap_status	Index statistics plus freshness — a stale count of files changed/added/removed since indexing, so an agent reindexes before trusting results. The health call skips the local vector-store count (vectors_known:false) to stay bounded; use the CLI's explicit codemap status --full for that diagnostic
codemap_doctor	Check the environment (go toolchain, gopls, TS/JS + Python language servers, Ollama) with install hints — diagnose why a language isn't indexed or semantic search is off
codemap_semantic	Semantic search by meaning (query, top_k). Adaptively balances the vector/BM25 hybrid-search fusion by query shape — an identifier-looking query leans BM25, a natural-language question leans vector — and reports the chosen profile as fusion (identifier/natural_language/balanced). Set semantic.fusion: balanced (or CODEMAP_SEMANTIC_FUSION=balanced) on the server for exact equal weighting
codemap_callers	Functions/methods that call a symbol (precise: true → language-server resolution; selector → one exact definition). Carries a stable call_graph enum (resolved/name/unresolved/none)
codemap_callees	Functions/methods a symbol calls; accepts the same precise and exact selector inputs. Same call_graph enum
codemap_references	Places a function/method is used as a value rather than called (callbacks, handlers, registrations — and, for TS/JS, Next.js framework wiring). Accepts an exact selector; returns capped source sites with totals plus independent coverage and confirmed/candidate confidence. Coverage is partial and name fan-out remains candidate, so an empty result is not proof of no runtime wiring.
codemap_impact	Callers + blast radius + covering tests + test_commands (copy/paste-ready runner invocations derived from those tests, same derivation as codemap_review) (depth). selector scopes all traversal to one definition. Carries call_graph alongside the human resolution note — unresolved means callers/blast/tests are unknown, not absent (for example, uncovered TS/JS/Python definitions or Vue, whose call graph is not supported yet)
codemap_review	Diff-scoped impact + test selection — maps a working/staged/since diff to changed symbols, blast_radius, covering_tests, test_commands, aggregate risk, confidence, and bounded next actions. analysis_complete plus total/analyzed/truncated counts and bounded partial_errors prevent stale, capped, or partially failed analysis from looking authoritative; structural-source mapping errors include failed symbol lookup, deletion-only hunks, recognized callable/type declaration lines removed in mixed or equal-count hunks, and exact source renames with no mapped symbols. Documentation/assets remain visible in changed_files without structural mapping failures. Fresh indexed untracked source files and exact source renames map as whole files. Incomplete analysis forces risk.level:"unknown". Deleted source files are analyzed from retained last-index definitions when available; deletion_analysis reports completeness and test actions precede reindexing.
codemap_dependencies	Direct inbound dependency evidence for a file, grouped and capped by dependent file and calls/references/imports. Every sample carries confidence/confidence_reason; confirmed/candidate totals, file-vs-package scope, truncation, freshness/call_graph, and domain coverage stay explicit.
codemap_file_impact	File-level impact — returns confidence-aware dependency_evidence, blast/tests, and a conservative delete_verdict. Only fresh confirmed file-scoped evidence proves unsafe; name-fanout candidates, stale snapshots, Go package imports, and missing evidence remain unknown. Legacy safe_to_delete stays false.
codemap_required_keys	Least-privilege key set — for an entrypoint, the candidate secret key NAMES its transitive call tree actually reads. Supply keys directly or use via_vault plus optional prefix; operates on names only, never values. Candidate input is capped at 256 unique names, 256 bytes per name
codemap_secret_impact	Secret-key rotation blast radius — for each key NAME, the symbols that read it (os.Getenv/os.environ/process.env), the transitive callers affected, and covering tests (untested:true warns a key no test reaches). Operates on key NAMES only — never reads/returns values. Pairs with tinyvault; via_vault fetches names from it. Each request is capped at 256 unique names, 256 bytes per name. Name-based unless the index is --precise
codemap_hotspots	Most-referenced symbols (top), with project-wide call_graph/resolution so incomplete rankings are explicit
codemap_risk	Change-risk score for a symbol or exact selector — untested coverage + fan-in + cross-package spread + name ambiguity combined into a 0..1 score + level (unknown/low/medium/high), with the factors behind it. An unavailable call graph is unknown, never a reassuring low
codemap_orphans	Dead-code candidates (top), with project-wide call_graph/resolution so an unresolved graph never reads as proven dead code
codemap_coverage	Per-file precise call-graph coverage — rollups by language/directory (worst-covered first) always included; prefix/language/uncovered filters or files:true add the bounded per-file list (top, default/max 200/2000; files_total/files_truncated disclose the real count). Each file reports resolver/resolved_at/stale. Complements the per-query call_graph enum — use it to calibrate trust per package before asking a symbol question.
codemap_read_order	Where to start reading — ranks entrypoints (main(), cmd/, module index files, exported API) + call-graph hubs into a reading guide, each with a reason and score. Optional query narrows it. Run on first contact with an unfamiliar repo, then drill the top entries with codemap_context
codemap_map	Architecture overview (full profile) — bounded source-path subsystems, directed cross-subsystem bridges with edge type/provenance, likely entrypoints, and hubs. Independent top_subsystems/top_bridges/top_hubs/top_entrypoints caps; response carries totals/truncation plus freshness and call-graph honesty.
codemap_explore	Intent to exact neighborhoods — accepts query plus bounded seeds, edges, and depth; searches semantically when embeddings exist (name fallback otherwise), joins usable hits to durable selectors, and returns compact context neighborhoods without source bodies. Limits: seeds 1–10, edges per context 1–20, depth 1–10. Unjoined hits and optional failures remain explicit.
codemap_traverse	Typed heterogeneous graph walk (full profile) — requires selector:{file,start_line,fqn,kind} and never accepts an ambiguous name union. direction is outgoing, incoming, or both; edge_types is a list drawn from calls, references, imports, implements, overrides, depends_on, tests, and defines; depth is 1–10 and limit is 1–500 nodes. Each hop returns durable child/parent selectors, edge provenance, and confirmed/candidate confidence; the report is cycle-safe, bounded, and exposes truncation/domain totals.
codemap_path	Shortest call path (from, to, or paired from_selector/to_selector), with endpoint-scoped call_graph/resolution distinguishing disconnected from unresolved. Unique FQNs are exact endpoints too
codemap_related_files	Files structurally related to a file via the call/test graph — its callers', callees', and covering-test files, each with a reason (caller/callee/test) and confidence. Graph-accurate alternative to import-text heuristics
codemap_symbols	List the symbols defined in a file (structured alternative to reading it)
codemap_symbol_at	Resolve a file:line position to its enclosing symbol (FQN, kind, range) — join external file:line results (search hits, stack traces, diffs) onto the graph. resolution is exact/enclosing/none. The indexed field is false when the project hasn't been indexed yet, so an agent knows to call codemap_index before concluding "no symbol". Pass positions:[{file,line}] instead of file/line to resolve several positions — e.g. every frame of a pasted stack trace — in one call (up to 25; each self-reports its own resolution)
codemap_find	Find symbols by name (offline; no embeddings). In no-Ollama/structure-only degraded mode it tokenizes the query on whitespace/camelCase and matches symbol/FQN or docstring; each hit carries matched_in ("symbol", "fqn", or "docstring") explaining the match
codemap_grep	Exact text search (pattern, regex, ignore_case, top) over indexed file content — each hit resolved to its enclosing symbol (symbol/fqn/kind/selector). Offline, no embeddings. Distinct from codemap_semantic (meaning) and codemap_find (name)
codemap_source	Return source code by symbol, or exactly one body by selector. brief:true drops each match's source (keeping signature/doc/location) and sets source_omitted:true
codemap_context	Everything about a symbol in one call — definition (with source), callers, callees, value-reference wiring, covering tests + test_commands, blast-radius size, and annotations. selector keeps the full bundle on one definition; lists are capped with *_total counts (test_commands is derived from the full, uncapped test list). Uses the indexed graph only; optional component failures are explicit in partial_errors. brief:true drops each definition's source (keeping signature/doc/location) and sets source_omitted:true — everything else in the bundle is unchanged; follow up with codemap_source for the one body you actually need
codemap_context_batch	Context for several symbols in one call — each symbol's bundle (including its own test_commands) plus combined_blast_radius and common_callers (callers that reach two or more of them — a shared entrypoint/coupling). Build a component's mental model without N round-trips; deduped and capped at 25. Aggregate source bodies are capped at 64 KiB with source_budget and per-definition source_truncations metadata — or pass brief:true to drop every body up front (source_omitted:true per definition) instead of spending that budget
codemap_projects	List all registered projects and their index sizes
codemap_docs	Return the agent guide (topic: overview/workflow/commands/annotations/accuracy/ecosystem) so a harness can learn the tool
codemap_annotate	Pin a note / opaque data to a symbol or a from→to path (source label). Automated writers should pass a stable external_id; retries upsert within project + source and return the same annotation id with action:"created|updated|unchanged".
codemap_annotations	List annotations: all, for a symbol, or for a from→to path
codemap_unannotate	Remove an annotation by id — prune/correct the knowledge layer
codemap_branch_status	Read-only git branch/commit state + the stable repo/branch keys used to key per-branch index snapshots
codemap_branch_switch	Switch the code index to a git branch — snapshot the old branch into fcheap, restore/reindex the new one. Defaults to to the current git branch; a non-git dir or detached HEAD is a no-op
codemap_cache_save	Save the current index (graph + vectors) to the fcheap stash vault, keyed by a tree hash — two identical working trees share one entry
codemap_cache_restore	Restore a matching fcheap cache entry (same tree hash + embedding profile), skipping extraction + embedding entirely; a miss is a no-op
codemap_cache_list	List cached indexes for a project (stash IDs, tree hashes, dates)
codemap_cache_drop	Drop a cached index by stash_id or tree_hash (from codemap_cache_list), or all cached indexes for the project

The two an agent reaches for first: codemap_context bundles everything about a symbol (definition, callers, callees, covering tests, blast radius) in one call instead of four, and codemap_status reports index freshness so the agent reindexes before trusting a stale answer. codemap_impact remains the deep change-analysis query — definition sites, callers, the transitive blast radius, and which tests cover those paths, replacing many file reads.

Exact source selectors

A name-only query stays backward-compatible: if six methods are named Close, it returns their union and says so. Precise indexing makes the stored edges exact; to choose one definition, project the fields already present on any symbol result:

{
  "selector": {
    "file": "internal/graph/store.go",
    "start_line": 91,
    "fqn": "graph.Store.Close",
    "kind": "method"
  }
}

The same shape works on source, context, callers, callees, references, impact, and risk; path accepts from_selector and to_selector. File+FQN+kind is the preferred identity and start_line disambiguates/falls back, so inserting lines above the declaration does not break the selector after reindex. A move or rename can invalidate it and returns found:false rather than selecting an arbitrary node. Database node IDs are deliberately absent from the public contract.

Honesty signals (stable machine contract)

The analysis tools carry three kinds of signal so a consumer can act on confidence instead of guessing:

• candidates — on codemap_callers/codemap_callees/codemap_impact/codemap_risk/codemap_source/codemap_context, an ambiguous name-only query returns its merged result and candidates:[{selector,signature,file,start_line}] — the exact same merged set, already shaped as selectors. Re-query with candidates[i].selector to pin one definition without a separate codemap_find/codemap_symbols round-trip.

• matched_in — on codemap_find in no-embeddings/degraded mode, each hit reports whether it matched the query on "symbol", "fqn", or "docstring", so a docstring-only hit (ranked below a name match) is distinguishable from an exact name hit.

• fusion — on codemap_semantic, the hybrid vector/BM25 weighting profile actually used ("identifier", "natural_language", or "balanced"), chosen adaptively from the query's shape unless the server is configured with semantic.fusion: balanced (or CODEMAP_SEMANTIC_FUSION=balanced).

• next — at most two executable {tool,args,why} follow-ups on context, context_batch, impact, risk, file_impact, and review. These are conditional recommendations, not a generic tool list: reindex when resolution is weak, run selected tests after a diff, or inspect risk for an untested hub.

• partial_errors — non-fatal optional-component failures on context/context_batch (callers, callees, references, impact, or memory_recall) and on the composed map/explore orientation reports. Hard prerequisites still fail the tool; otherwise usable sections are returned alongside bounded error entries.

• source_budget / source_truncations — explicit context-batch body budgeting. The aggregate source limit is 64 KiB; signatures, docs, and locations remain complete when bodies are shortened.

• source_omitted — on codemap_source/codemap_context/codemap_context_batch, set per definition when brief:true dropped its source body. Signature/doc/location stay; call codemap_source (without brief) for the one definition you actually need the body of. Pass brief:true any time a hub symbol's response feels heavy — it's the response-side counterpart to mcp.profile (which trims the tool list, not individual response bodies).

• Structured errors — MCP failures preserve stable {code,message,hint} metadata when the service returns a CodedError, while the visible text includes the remediation hint for clients that only render text.

• call_graph — a stable enum on codemap_impact/codemap_callers/codemap_callees/codemap_references/ codemap_review/codemap_context/codemap_hotspots/codemap_orphans/codemap_path/ codemap_map/codemap_traverse that a consumer switches on (no prose parsing):

  • resolved — every matched definition file has precise coverage (go/types for Go, language-server callHierarchy for TS/JS/Python/Vue)
  • name — name-based call graph (the Go/Ruby/Lua default; same-named symbols may over-match)
  • unresolved — plain calls in the language have no name-based edges and the index isn't precise (TS/JS/Python/Vue) — callers/blast/tests are incomplete, not absent (TS/JS may still carry name-based JSX component-usage candidates); reindex with codemap_index precise:true
  • none — no matching symbol / nothing to classify

  The free-form resolution sentence stays for humans. Map resolved→high, name→medium, unresolved/none→low confidence.

• codemap_coverage — the project-wide, per-file view behind call_graph: which files have a persisted precise-resolution row, when it was recorded, and whether that file's on-disk content has since drifted (independent of codemap_status's aggregate stale/staleness counts, which describe the whole index, not one file). Use it to find out WHICH packages to trust before a call_graph:"name" on a broad query forces a worst-file assumption.

• Reference honesty — codemap_references and the embedded context.references list carry separate coverage, confidence, and stale signals. These describe stored callback/value wiring; call_graph:"resolved" never upgrades them, and empty partial/unavailable coverage is not proof of no registration.

• risk on codemap_review — one band for the whole diff (level unknown/low/medium/high, score 0..1, factors), folded from every changed symbol so a harness can gate verification on a single call instead of fanning codemap_risk out per symbol. unknown means at least one changed symbol lacks a usable call graph or analysis_complete is false, including mapping failures with zero safely identified symbols. It is absent for a complete zero-symbol diff and early no-repository/no-index degradation.

• stale / staleness on codemap_review (and codemap_status) — index drift since the last index. Normally refresh before trusting snapshot-based impact. A deleted file is the intentional exception: when its old nodes remain, deletion_analysis identifies source:"last_index" and selected tests come before the reindex action that will prune those nodes.

• confidence on dependency samples — confirmed means fresh precise or exact same-package evidence; candidate covers qualified name fan-out, package-scoped imports, and stale snapshots. Additive confirmed_total/candidate_total fields remain available when samples are capped.

• blast_radius / covering_tests element shape — both are ImpactNode objects (symbol, fqn, kind, file, start_line, depth, …; no end_line). depth is the blast-radius hop distance. This is the stable element contract.

• test_commands — codemap_review, codemap_impact, codemap_context, and each codemap_context_batch result carry a test_commands array: the same covering-test list turned into copy/paste-ready go test -run/bun test/pytest invocations by one shared helper, deduped and capped at 10. The same symbol yields identical commands on every surface, so a pre-edit codemap_impact/codemap_context call is just as directly runnable as post-edit codemap_review. Omitted (not an empty array) when there are no covering tests.

• schema_version on codemap_review — every successful review emits version 1 and conforms to schemas/codemap.review.v1.schema.json (Draft 2020-12, urn:codemap:review:v1). Consumers may accept an absent version as legacy v1, but must reject unknown future versions rather than treating contract drift as an authoritative empty radius.

Branches & caching

Six tools keep the index aligned with the working tree and make reindexing cheap — both best-effort over the sibling fcheap stash vault, degrading to a normal index when fcheap isn't on $PATH (see Branches & caching for the concepts):

• codemap_branch_status / codemap_branch_switch — a git checkout switches the code index too: snapshot the branch you're leaving into fcheap, restore the target branch's snapshot (or reindex when stale/absent). Keyed on the branch tip sha + embedding profile, so a restore only lands when it's still valid.
• codemap_cache_save / codemap_cache_restore / codemap_cache_list / codemap_cache_drop — content-addressed index caching: a tree hash of all indexed (path, content_hash) pairs keys each entry, so two identical working trees share one. A restore skips extraction + embedding entirely. codemap_index does this automatically around a --reindex (auto-restore before, auto-save after) unless cache: false is set.

All six are no-ops on a non-git directory or detached HEAD and never fail the index.

Transport

codemap's MCP server uses newline-delimited JSON-RPC over stdio (what Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode expect). codemap also speaks LSP to language servers, which uses Content-Length framing — the two transports are kept strictly separate.