Codevira

One memory layer for every AI coding tool you use. Switch between Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Antigravity without losing context, decisions, or progress.

Built for solo developers working on local projects with AI agents. Codevira gives every AI tool you use access to the same persistent project memory — so you stop re-explaining your codebase every session, stop losing carefully-made decisions, and stop burning tokens on re-discovery.

Works with: Claude Code · Claude Desktop · Cursor · Windsurf · Google Antigravity · any MCP-compatible AI tool

The Problem (Four Pains Codevira Solves)

If you code with AI agents on a project longer than a week, you've felt all of these:

1. Re-explaining your codebase every session

Every new chat starts from zero. The AI doesn't know your architecture, your conventions, your "we don't do it that way" decisions. You waste the first 10 minutes (and thousands of tokens) catching it up — only to do it again tomorrow.

2. AI undoing your careful decisions

Last week you debugged a tricky retry policy for 3 hours. Today's AI session refactors it to a simpler version because it has no idea why the complexity exists. Now it's broken again.

3. Cross-tool amnesia

You started planning in Claude Code. Switched to Cursor for autocomplete. Opened Antigravity to run tests. Three different agents, three different blind copies of your project state. Nothing carries over.

4. Token budget burned on re-discovery

Your AI agent reads the same 12 files every session before doing any actual work. You're paying API costs for the same lookups, over and over.

Codevira is a persistent memory layer that fixes all four — for every AI tool, on every project, on your local machine.

How It Works

Codevira is a Model Context Protocol server that runs locally and gives any AI tool a structured, queryable memory of your codebase:

Token-efficient by design

Codevira is built around the principle that AI agent context windows are precious. Tools return summaries by default with opt-in full data:

• get_node(path) — ~100 tokens by default (counts + flags). Pass full=true for the entire rules array.
• get_impact(path) — 10 affected files. Pass summary_only=true for just counts (~80 tokens) before deciding to dig deeper.
• search_codebase(query) — file/symbol pointers only. Pass include_content=true to inline source.
• search_decisions(query) — 5 truncated matches. Pass full=true for verbatim text.

The agent always asks for what it needs, in the size it needs.

Quick Start

1. Install

# Recommended: global install via pipx (isolated, works everywhere)
pipx install codevira

# Alternative: pip install
pip install codevira

Installs the full toolkit (23 AI-facing MCP tools + 12 admin/CLI tools) out of the box. Semantic search downloads a ~90MB embedding model on first use.

2. Register with your AI tools

codevira register

This one-time global command injects Codevira's MCP config into all detected AI tools — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Desktop, and Google Antigravity. Run it from anywhere; no project directory needed.

3. Start using

Open any project in your AI tool. On the first MCP tool call, Codevira auto-initializes:

• Detects language, source directories, and file extensions from project markers
• Creates the context graph and roadmap
• Installs a post-commit git hook for automatic reindexing

No explicit codevira init needed — everything happens on demand.

Note: codevira init is still available for explicit per-project setup with custom settings.

4. Verify

Ask your AI agent to call get_roadmap() — it should return your current phase and next action.

Note: Restart your AI tool after running codevira register to pick up the new MCP config.

Customizing what's indexed

Codevira tries to auto-detect your project's source layout, but monorepo or non-standard layouts sometimes slip through — you'll notice when codevira index --full reports 0 chunks indexed and prints a hint pointing you here.

cd your-project
codevira configure

Scans your project (gitignore-aware), shows discovered directories and extensions with file counts, and lets you pick which to watch via a numbered-list prompt. It writes your choices back to .codevira/config.yaml and offers to rebuild the index.

Non-interactive (useful in scripts or CI):

codevira configure --dirs src,packages,apps --extensions .py,.ts,.tsx --no-reindex

After changing watched directories, restart your AI tool — running watchers snapshot the dir set at boot.

Manual config (only if auto-inject didn't detect your tool)

Codevira supports two transports. Use the right one for your client:

Stdio transport — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf (.claude/settings.json / .cursor/mcp.json / .windsurf/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codevira": {
      "command": "codevira",
      "args": [],
      "cwd": "/path/to/your-project"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codevira": {
      "command": "/path/to/codevira",
      "args": ["--project-dir", "/path/to/your-project"]
    }
  }
}

Tip: find the full binary path with which codevira

HTTP/HTTPS transport — Preview in v1.7, single-project only. The HTTP server binds to one project at startup and cannot switch contexts per request. Multi-project HTTPS is planned for v1.8. For multi-project work today, use stdio via codevira register (above).

First start the HTTP server in a terminal:

codevira serve --port 7007 --project-dir /path/to/your-project
# For HTTPS (required by some clients):
codevira serve --https --port 7443 --project-dir /path/to/your-project

Then register the URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codevira": {
      "url": "https://localhost:7443/mcp"
    }
  }
}

HTTPS note: Claude Code uses Node.js, which requires a trusted CA for HTTPS.
Run once to trust the mkcert CA:

brew install mkcert && mkcert -install
launchctl setenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS "$(mkcert -CAROOT)/rootCA.pem"
echo 'export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS="$(mkcert -CAROOT)/rootCA.pem"' >> ~/.zshrc

Then restart Claude Code.

Auto-start on login (macOS):

codevira serve --install-service    # start server automatically on login
codevira serve --uninstall-service  # remove auto-start

Google Antigravity (~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codevira": {
      "$typeName": "exa.cascade_plugins_pb.CascadePluginCommandTemplate",
      "command": "codevira",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Codevira data layout (v1.6)

~/.codevira/                         <- global Codevira home
├── global.db                        <- cross-project intelligence
├── projects/
│   └── <project-key>/               <- per-project data (keyed by path)
│       ├── config.yaml
│       ├── metadata.json
│       ├── graph/
│       │   ├── graph.db
│       │   └── changesets/
│       ├── codeindex/               <- semantic search (optional)
│       └── logs/
└── certs/                           <- HTTPS certs (if using --https)

Legacy .codevira/ directories inside project repos are auto-migrated to centralized storage on first server start.

Configuration

Each project has a config.yaml at ~/.codevira/projects/<project-key>/config.yaml. It's auto-generated on first use with sensible defaults, but you can edit it to customize what Codevira indexes:

project:
  name: my-project
  language: python
  collection_name: my_project
  # Which directories to scan for source files
  watched_dirs:
    - src
    - tests
    - scripts
  # Which file extensions count as "source" for indexing + change detection
  file_extensions:
    - .py
    - .ts
    - .tsx
  # Directories to skip even if inside watched_dirs
  skip_dirs:
    - node_modules
    - .venv
    - __pycache__
    - dist
    - build
logs:
  # 0 = keep sessions/decisions forever (default).
  # Only set > 0 if you have privacy reasons to time-bound history.
  retention_days: 0

Common gotchas:

• file_extensions must be a proper YAML list — each extension on its own line. This is wrong:

  file_extensions:
    - .py, .md, .html    # ❌ one item containing commas, not three extensions
  

  This is correct:

  file_extensions:
    - .py
    - .md
    - .html
  

  Or inline:

  file_extensions: [.py, .md, .html]
  

• file_extensions is intended for source code (Python, TypeScript, Go, Rust, etc.). Codevira uses tree-sitter AST parsing — putting .md or .html here may produce malformed graph nodes since tree-sitter parsers for those languages are different.

• Files are only scanned if they live inside watched_dirs. Adding an extension alone isn't enough — make sure the directory is listed too.

After editing the config, run codevira index --full to rebuild the graph from scratch, or codevira index for incremental changes.

Uninstall / Reset

codevira clean              # remove global data + IDE configs + launchd service
codevira clean --all        # also remove per-project artifacts
codevira clean --dry-run    # preview what would be removed

How It Works

Setup Flow

flowchart LR

A["pipx install codevira"] --> B["codevira register"]
B --> C["Open project in\nClaude Code / Cursor /\nWindsurf / Antigravity"]
C --> D["First MCP tool call\ntriggers auto-init"]
D --> E["✓ Config written\n✓ Graph built\n✓ Roadmap created\n✓ Ready"]

Agent Session Lifecycle

flowchart TB

Start([Start Session])

subgraph "Orientation (single call)"
A["get_session_context()\nroadmap + changesets +\ndecisions + global intelligence"]
end

subgraph "Work"
B[get_node / get_impact\nbefore touching files]
C[Plan + Implement + Test]
D[refresh_index\nafter changes]
end

subgraph "Session End"
E[update_node — record changes]
F[write_session_log — decisions]
G[update_next_action — handoff]
end

Start --> A
A --> B
B --> C
C --> D
D --> E
E --> F
F --> G

Architecture

flowchart TB

A[Source Code\n15+ languages]

subgraph "Indexing Pipeline"
B[Tree-sitter AST Parser]
C[Function / Class / Call Extraction]
D[Background File Watcher\nauto-reindex on save]
end

subgraph "Centralized Storage — ~/.codevira/"
E[(Context Graph + Call Graph\nSQLite DB)]
F[(Semantic Index\nChromaDB — optional)]
G[(Global Memory\ncross-project intelligence)]
H[(Session Logs + Decisions\nsearchable history)]
end

subgraph "Adaptive Learning"
I[Outcome Tracking]
J[Rule Inference]
K[Preference Learning]
end

subgraph "MCP Server"
L[36 Tools + 5 Prompts\nstdio or HTTP transport]
end

M[AI Coding Agent\nClaude Code · Cursor · Windsurf · Antigravity]

A --> B
B --> C
C --> E
C --> F
D --> B

E --> L
F --> L
G --> L
H --> L

I --> G
J --> G
K --> G

E --> I

L --> M

Session Protocol

Every agent session follows a simple protocol. Set it up once in your agent's system prompt — then your agents handle the rest.

Session start (mandatory):

list_open_changesets()      -> resume any unfinished work first
get_roadmap()               -> current phase, next action
search_decisions("topic")   -> check what's already been decided
get_node("src/service.py")  -> read rules before touching a file
get_impact("src/service.py") -> check blast radius

Session end (mandatory):

complete_changeset(id, decisions=[...])
update_node(file_path, changes)
update_next_action("what the next agent should do")
write_session_log(...)

This loop keeps every session fast, focused, and resumable.

MCP Tools + 5 Prompts

23 tools exposed to AI agents (token-optimized, summary-first). The remaining 12 tools are admin/dashboard tools that work via dispatch but aren't advertised in list_tools() — humans access them via the CLI or via specific MCP prompts. Tools marked (admin) below.

Graph Tools

Roadmap Tools

Changeset Tools

Search Tools

Adaptive Learning Tools

Code Reader Tools

Playbook Tool

MCP Workflow Prompts (v1.5)

Language Support

Supported languages: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Go, Rust, Java, Kotlin, C#, Ruby, PHP, C, C++, Swift, Solidity, Vue.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• ~500MB install (includes ChromaDB + sentence-transformers for semantic search)
• ~90MB model download on first search_codebase() call

pip install codevira includes the full toolkit out of the box — graph, roadmap, changesets, code reader, learning, call graph, and semantic search.

Minimal install (no semantic search)

If you want to skip the ML stack and use only graph-based tools (semantic search disabled), install without the search deps:

pip install codevira --no-deps
pip install pyyaml mcp watchdog tree-sitter tree-sitter-language-pack rich uvicorn starlette pathspec

The search_codebase tool will be hidden from your AI agent; all other tools work normally.

Background

Want to understand the full story behind why this was built, the design decisions, what didn't work, and how it compares to other tools in the ecosystem?

Read the full write-up: How We Cut AI Coding Agent Token Usage by 92%

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide.

Reporting a bug? Open a bug report
Requesting a feature? Open a feature request
Found a security issue? Read SECURITY.md — please don't use public issues for vulnerabilities.

Testing a release candidate locally? See docs/local-pypi-https.md for setting up a Docker-based HTTPS PyPI registry that mirrors the real PyPI install flow without touching public PyPI.

FAQ

Common questions about setup, usage, architecture, and troubleshooting — see FAQ.md.

Roadmap

See what's built, what's next, and the long-term vision — see ROADMAP.md.

Star History

If Codevira saves you tokens or sanity, a star helps other developers find it. Tracking growth keeps me focused on what's working.

License

MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute.