CRASH helped significantly for this specific task:

Where CRASH helped:
- Systematic analysis: Forced me to break down the issue methodically
- Solution exploration: Explored multiple approaches before settling on the best one
- Planning validation: Each step built on the previous one logically

The key difference:
CRASH forced me to be more thorough in the analysis phase. Without it, I might have
rushed to implement the first solution rather than exploring cleaner approaches.

Verdict: CRASH adds value for complex problems requiring systematic analysis of
multiple solution paths. For simpler tasks, internal planning is sufficient and faster.

npm install crash-mcp

npx crash-mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crash": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "crash-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crash": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "crash-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crash": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "crash-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CRASH_STRICT_MODE": "false",
        "MAX_HISTORY_SIZE": "100",
        "CRASH_OUTPUT_FORMAT": "console",
        "CRASH_SESSION_TIMEOUT": "60",
        "CRASH_MAX_BRANCH_DEPTH": "5"
      }
    }
  }
}

FROM node:18-alpine
WORKDIR /app
RUN npm install -g crash-mcp
CMD ["crash-mcp"]

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crash": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "crash-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

{ "command": "bunx", "args": ["-y", "crash-mcp"] }

{
  "command": "deno",
  "args": ["run", "--allow-env", "--allow-net", "npm:crash-mcp"]
}

{
  "step_number": 1,
  "estimated_total": 3,
  "purpose": "analysis",
  "context": "User requested optimization of database queries",
  "thought": "I need to first understand the current query patterns before proposing changes",
  "outcome": "Identified slow queries for optimization",
  "next_action": "analyze query execution plans",
  "rationale": "Understanding execution plans will reveal bottlenecks"
}

{
  "step_number": 3,
  "estimated_total": 3,
  "purpose": "summary",
  "context": "Analyzed queries and tested index optimizations",
  "thought": "The index on user_id reduced query time from 2s to 50ms",
  "outcome": "Performance issue resolved with new index",
  "next_action": "document the change",
  "rationale": "Team should know about the optimization",
  "confidence": 0.9,
  "is_final_step": true
}

{
  "step_number": 4,
  "estimated_total": 5,
  "purpose": "correction",
  "context": "Previous analysis missed a critical join condition",
  "thought": "The join was causing a cartesian product, not the index",
  "outcome": "Corrected root cause identification",
  "next_action": "fix the join condition",
  "rationale": "This is the actual performance issue",
  "revises_step": 2,
  "revision_reason": "Overlooked critical join in initial analysis"
}

{
  "step_number": 3,
  "estimated_total": 6,
  "purpose": "exploration",
  "context": "Two optimization approaches identified",
  "thought": "Exploring the indexing approach first as it's lower risk",
  "outcome": "Branch created for index optimization testing",
  "next_action": "test index performance",
  "rationale": "This approach has lower risk than query rewrite",
  "branch_from": 2,
  "branch_id": "index-optimization",
  "branch_name": "Index-based optimization"
}

npm install        # Install dependencies
npm run build      # Build TypeScript
npm run dev        # Run with MCP inspector
npm start          # Start built server

{ "command": "bunx", "args": ["-y", "crash-mcp"] }

{ "args": ["-y", "--node-options=--experimental-vm-modules", "crash-mcp"] }