AgentsBestFriend (abf)

A local MCP server that gives AI coding agents fast, token-efficient tools for navigating, searching, and understanding codebases — including monorepos.

Works with VS Code Copilot, Cursor, Claude Desktop/Code, Windsurf, and any other MCP-compatible agent.

Why?

AI coding agents waste tokens re-reading files, searching blindly, and losing context. ABF provides purpose-built tools that return exactly what the agent needs in compact, structured responses:

• Fast search — ripgrep-powered exact search, keyword-scored file ranking, and embedding-based semantic search
• Code intelligence — AST-based symbol extraction for TS/JS/Python, import/dependency mapping, impact analysis
• Project awareness — auto-detected tech stack, conventions, folder structure
• LLM enrichment — optional Ollama-powered file summaries and embeddings for semantic navigation
• Zero config — auto-initializes on first use; agents just call tools

Features

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥ 20
• ripgrep — brew install ripgrep (macOS) / apt install ripgrep (Linux)
• git (for git tools & file discovery)
• Ollama (optional) — for summaries & semantic search: ollama.com

Install & Run

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/yourname/AgentsBestFriend.git
cd AgentsBestFriend

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build all packages
npx turbo build

# Check system health
node packages/cli/dist/index.js doctor

Connect to Your Agent

Add ABF as an MCP server in your agent's config:

VS Code Copilot (.vscode/mcp.json):

{
  "servers": {
    "abf": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/AgentsBestFriend/packages/cli/dist/index.js", "start"],
      "env": {
        "ABF_PROJECT_ROOT": "${workspaceFolder}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abf": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/AgentsBestFriend/packages/cli/dist/index.js", "start"],
      "env": {
        "ABF_PROJECT_ROOT": "/path/to/your/project"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abf": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/AgentsBestFriend/packages/cli/dist/index.js", "start"],
      "env": {
        "ABF_PROJECT_ROOT": "/path/to/your/project"
      }
    }
  }
}

The server auto-initializes an .abf/ directory with a SQLite index on first tool call.

CLI

abf start        Start MCP server (stdio mode — used by agents)
abf init [path]  Initialize index for a project
abf index [path] Re-index a project
abf status [path] Show index status
abf config       Interactive configuration editor
abf doctor       System health checks
abf portal       Interactive terminal dashboard

Architecture

AgentsBestFriend/
├── packages/
│   ├── core/         Shared logic — DB, config, search, analysis, indexer, LLM
│   ├── server/       MCP server with all 11 tools
│   ├── cli/          Commander.js CLI + interactive TUI portal
│   └── portal/       (placeholder — UI logic lives in CLI TUI)
├── turbo.json        Turborepo build config


... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/TheRealFloatDev/AgentsBestFriend#readme)