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

Tool	Purpose
get_file_skeleton(file_path)	Classes, functions, methods with line numbers + doc comments
get_symbol(file_path, symbol_name)	Full source of a function or class
get_skeletons(file_paths)	Batch skeletons for multiple files
get_symbols(symbols)	Batch source for multiple symbols
get_imports(file_path)	Import statements with line numbers

Navigate Relationships

Tool	Purpose
find_references(symbol_name)	All usages of a symbol across the repo
get_call_graph(file_path, function_name)	What a function calls + what calls it
get_blast_radius(file_path, symbol_name)	Transitive impact — what breaks if you change this

Analyze Quality

Tool	Purpose
get_complexity(file_path, function_name)	Cyclomatic complexity breakdown
find_dead_code(file_path?)	Symbols defined but never referenced
detect_clones(file_path?, min_lines?)	Duplicate / near-duplicate functions

... View full README on GitHub