Attocode Code Intelligence

attocode-code-intel

Local code search and navigation for coding agents and for people. It runs as an MCP server for Codex, Claude Code, Cursor and other MCP clients, and as a command in your terminal. It needs no model, no API key and no network.

Status: beta. We measured the search quality (see What we measured). We have not shown that it makes agents faster or more accurate.

Quickstart

You need Python 3.12 or later and Git.

uv tool install attocode-code-intel

cd /path/to/your/project attocode-code-intel init

Then restart your agent. init configures Codex, Claude Code and Cursor. Use --client claude, --client codex or --client cursor for one client. Codex needs a trusted project for a project configuration. Claude Code can ask you to enable the project MCP server.

To check the setup, run attocode-code-intel doctor. It starts the configured server, calls two tools and shows the result for each client. The probe also reports the executable and server version returned by that new probe. An already running client session must be checked separately.

For other clients (VS Code, Zed, Windsurf, Claude Desktop and more), run attocode-code-intel install . attocode-code-intel commands lists the targets.

To run the server without an installation, use uvx. This is a configuration for any MCP client that starts a local command:

{

"mcpServers": { "attocode-code-intel": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["attocode-code-intel", "--project", "/absolute/path/to/your/project"] } } }

You can omit --project if the client sends one workspace root. Otherwise the server looks for a repository marker such as .git in the working folder and its parents, but never selects your home folder. If it finds no repository, it stops with an error.

To use the latest source, install from a clone of this repository: uv tool install /path/to/attocode/packages/code-intel.

What your agent gets

Version 0.1.35 adds an optional stdio-to-HTTP client bridge that manages a live cancellation context and forwards tool cancellation using the actual upstream SDK request ID. init --http-cancellation configures the bridge with a named token environment variable. Authentication and the server's cancellation opt-in are still required; notification enqueueing is best effort. See the release notes for setup, verification and transport limits.

Version 0.1.34 corrects gateway cancellation and workspace-worker ownership, and adds optional authenticated HTTP tool-call cancellation. HTTP cancellation stays off by default and requires a per-client UUID4 context and one server process or context affinity. See the release notes for setup, verification and remaining limits.

Version 0.1.33 makes remote-settings saves atomic and private, preserves old config bytes on failed writes, and refuses symlink redirects or invalid and oversized data. The existing Perl roots and TOML values survive successful saves. See the release notes for the Linux/macOS contract, refusal behavior and remaining limits.

Version 0.1.32 adds explicit Perl module roots in .attocode/config.toml, refreshes dependencies after config-only edits, and preserves valid TOML when saving remote settings. File-discovery exclusions and unresolved module ambiguity remain conservative. See the release notes.

Version 0.1.31 retains prior vectors during failed live refresh, fences superseded queued writes, and commits file vectors and metadata together. Go receiver identities agree across keyword, body and vector search; optional fusion keeps distinct source spans and preserves vector text when only keyword metadata is available. Future cache formats are refused before journal or permission changes. See the release notes for validation and bounds.

Version 0.1.30 preserves Java, C and Go signature metadata, Go type and receiver ownership, and imports inside declared Go standard modules. Parameter and body-only edits update cached metadata and callers, while startup checks parser and indexer identity before reusing persisted symbols. See the release notes for source-pinned validation and limits.

Version 0.1.29 recognizes Perl .t test scripts in both parser entry points, making native test imports and callers available when a Perl grammar is installed or cached. Source-pinned Carp checks cover real cross-file navigation and scoped inclusion through refresh/restart. See the release notes.

Version 0.1.28 summarizes duplicate compact-search metadata diagnostics after evidence fitting. Full lexical-index details remain at data.ranking.index, with readiness and coverage hints in metadata.ranking.index. Results and source excerpts are unchanged. See the release notes.

Version 0.1.27 fixes a dictionary-size error during symbol inspection when AST hydration changes the cache concurrently. Namespace resolution snapshots cached file membership; later changes appear in the next build. See the release notes.

Version 0.1.26 gives Rust precision lookups a shared five-second budget and fixes cancelled startup cleanup when a child retains inherited pipes. Other languages keep two seconds; longer reloads still return partial evidence.

Version 0.1.25 uses OpenAI embeddings only when you set ATTOCODE_EMBEDDING_MODEL=openai. Before, an OPENAI_API_KEY in the environment was enough to send code chunks to OpenAI at index time. Rust references are also more reliable while rust-analyzer loads.

Version 0.1.24 adds ATTOCODE_INTEL_RANKING_PROVIDER=openrouter, a preset for the opt-in hosted rerank. In a frozen trial with 24 short questions, the rerank found 24 of 26 labeled files in the first five results, against 20 without it; see Hosted rerank. Rerank stays off by default, because it sends source excerpts to OpenRouter.

Version 0.1.23 is listed in the official MCP Registry and documents a uvx quick start. The opt-in hosted rerank now accepts the dated model ID that OpenRouter returns; see Hosted rerank. Rerank stays off by default.

Version 0.1.22 adds an opt-in discovery budget of up to 100,000 files (ATTOCODE_INTEL_DISCOVERY_MAX_FILES; the default stays 50,000). It also packages the LLM client, so ATTOCODE_FLAG_CONFIDENCE=llm and LLM rule synthesis work from a PyPI install when an OpenRouter or Anthropic key is set.

Version 0.1.21 includes configured search-discovery coverage, OCaml interface parsing and more conservative Go/Rust fallback evidence. The existing 100 ms native budget and 50,000-file discovery safety ceiling remain; bounded fallback is heuristic.

Version 0.1.20 improves native OCaml/Perl call candidates and conservative workspace import candidates for OCaml, Perl and Crystal. Physical paths and ambiguity remain guarded; native limits, ranking and dependencies are unchanged. Optional grammars must be explicitly available before analysis; navigation never downloads them.

Version 0.1.19 restores source text into spare space after fitting a complete compact search page. Existing hits, visible text, source lines and continuations remain protected within the same response budget; ranking and retrieval are unchanged.

Version 0.1.7 also provides changes and trace commands: investigate a diff, follow source-backed caller paths, export JSON/Markdown, and check or refresh saved evidence. MCP equivalents change_context and trace_flow are local full-profile tools. Version 0.1.8 adds exact file/symbol selection and bounded changed-class summaries, with --class-mode expand for class-wide callers. Version 0.1.9 keeps Python docstrings and parameter types, and lists impact results nearest first. Version 0.1.10 shows the best test hit second for "tested" searches, and counts Swift Tests/ folders as tests. Version 0.1.11 counts more test file names as tests, such as _test.dart and Perl .t scripts and t/ modules. Version 0.1.12 makes doctor --client claude read the local-scope entry that claude mcp add writes to ~/.claude.json. Version 0.1.13 fills compact search pages within their budget, offers bounded deeper searches, and repairs stale navigation indexes after successful restart parsing. Version 0.1.18 restores the ready phase after a failed snapshot load is followed by a complete fallback rebuild. Incomplete recovery stays guarded.

Version 0.1.17 lets a later explicit inspection retry a failed selected-file parse after a one-second cooldown, preserving immediate-repeat and source guards. Version 0.1.16 stabilizes tied symbol pages and reduces the Docker image while preserving runtime contracts. It adds bounded online maintenance evidence; the preview and restart experiments did not justify product changes. Version 0.1.15 adds parser ownership by thread, one language-server stderr reader, bounded native recovery without static callers and release install verification on GitHub runners. Version 0.1.14 adds bounded selected-file recovery, safe navigation publication, guarded Elixir definitions and doctor probe identity. See the change investigation guide.

The agent sees 16 tools (the daily profile):

• When the agent knows a symbol, inspect_symbol(symbol_name="...", task_hint="...") gives the definition, the source, the references and candidate tests in one call.
• In an unfamiliar repository, bootstrap(task_hint="...") finds the relevant code and gives a map.
• impact_analysis and suggest_tests help plan the checks for a change.

For all tools (about 140: rules, security scans, history, snapshots and more), add --profile full to init. The tool catalog lists them. The search details page describes ranking, the response format and the experimental rerankers.

Explicit Perl module roots are available from 0.1.32 for static resolution over discovered workspace files.

For an experimental local seven-tool surface (0.1.5 or later), use init --profile lean and restart your client. It advertises bootstrap, search_symbols, inspect_symbol, semantic_search, impact_analysis, suggest_tests and capabilities, with conditional routing instructions and 2,000-token responses. Without file watching, notify_file_changed is an eighth tool. Advanced tools require a full-profile session. This opt-in profile has no demonstrated completion benefit; see the [completed pilot](https://github.com/eren23/atto