Context MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server providing intelligent context management and code structure extraction for AI assistants like Claude.

Features

• FTS5 Full-Text Search - BM25-ranked search (220x faster than grep!)
• Tree-Sitter Code Structure - Extract signatures from 40+ languages
• File Search - Path pattern search with .gitignore support
• Selection Management - Track which files are in context
• Token Counting - GPT-4 tokenization with tiktoken
• File Reading - Full files or specific line ranges
• Workspace Context - Comprehensive snapshots of selected content

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone <your-repo>
cd context-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

Note: You'll see TypeScript warnings from Continue's node_modules during build - these are expected and safe to ignore. See Build Guide for details.

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/context-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "WORKSPACE_DIR": "/absolute/path/to/your/project"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage with Claude Code

  "mcpServers": {
    "context-helper-code": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/context-helper-mcp/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WORKSPACE_DIR": "/path/to/workspace/millstonehq/cc-templates/"
      }
    },
    "context-helper-docs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/context-helper-mcp/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WORKSPACE_DIR": "/path/to/workspace/millstonehq/synapse/"
      }
    }
  },

Important:

• Use absolute paths! Relative paths will not work.
• After updating the config, restart Claude Desktop completely (quit and reopen)

Quick Start

1. Search for files: Use file_search tool
2. Add to selection: Use manage_selection with op: "add"
3. Review selection: Use manage_selection with op: "get"
4. Preview before sending: Use manage_selection with op: "preview"
5. Get context: Use workspace_context tool

Available Tools

1. file_search

Search files by path pattern or content.

Example:

{
  "pattern": "SelectionManager",
  "mode": "content",
  "filter": {
    "extensions": ["ts"]
  }
}

2. get_file_tree

Get workspace file structure.

3. read_file

Read file contents with optional line ranges.

4. manage_selection

Manage context selection - the KEY feature for context management!

Operations:

• get - Get current selection
• add - Add files to selection
• remove - Remove files from selection
• set - Replace entire selection
• clear - Clear all selections
• preview - Preview what would be sent to LLM
• promote - Upgrade codemap_only to full content
• demote - Downgrade full to codemap_only

5. get_code_structure

Extract code structure using tree-sitter.

6. workspace_context

Get comprehensive workspace context including selection, code structures, files, and token counts.

Development

# Watch mode
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Test
npm test

Documentation

• Build Guide - Build process and troubleshooting
• Bundling Solution - How Continue integration works
• Testing Guide - Testing procedures and verification
• Verification - System verification steps

Architecture

Uses esbuild bundling to integrate Continue's advanced features:

• Bundles Continue's FTS5 and tree-sitter modules automatically
• Polyfills __dirname for ESM compatibility
• Externalizes native modules (sqlite3, tree-sitter)
• Zero manual maintenance - just run npm run build

See Bundling Solution for technical details.

Performance

| Operation | Traditional (Grep) | FTS5 Search | Improvement | |-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------| | Content search (1000 files) | ~2s | ~9ms | 220x faster | | Code structure extraction | N/A | ~5ms | New feature |

Troubleshooting

"MCP server not found"

• Ensure you used absolute paths in config
• Check that dist/index.js exists after building
• Restart Claude Desktop completely

"Permission denied"

chmod +x dist/index.js

"Module not found"

rm -rf dist node_modules
npm install
npm run build

Debug logging

The server logs to stderr. To see logs:

WORKSPACE_DIR=/path/to/project node dist/index.js

Comparison to Other Tools

vs RepoPrompt

• ✅ Integrates directly with Claude via MCP (no copy/paste)
• ✅ 220x faster search with FTS5 instead of grep
• ✅ Selection tracking with token budgeting
• ✅ Tree-sitter code structure for 40+ languages

vs Continue Extension

• ✅ Works with Claude Desktop (not just VS Code)
• ✅ Uses Continue's FTS5 and tree-sitter via bundling
• ✅ Focused on context management (not autocomplete)
• ✅ Simpler setup - just one MCP server

License

MIT

Credits

• Inspired by RepoPrompt
• Uses Continue's indexing features via bundling
• Built on Model Context Protocol