Code Explainer MCP
by BillDuke13
README.md
# Code Explainer MCP
A Cloudflare Worker that explains source code. Given a snippet and its language, it returns a Markdown report containing an ASCII architecture diagram, a core-functionality summary, and a breakdown of the main classes and functions.

Analysis runs entirely inside the Worker using regex and pattern matching — there are **no LLM calls and no external runtime dependencies**. All logic lives in a single file, [`src/index.ts`](src/index.ts).
## Features
- **Architecture diagram**: Generates an ASCII diagram showing classes (with inheritance), standalone functions, call relationships, and imported dependencies.
- **Core-functionality analysis**: Infers the primary and secondary purpose of the code (network, UI, data processing, database, authentication, testing, algorithm, file system) from weighted pattern matches.
- **Component breakdown**: Lists the main classes and functions, each with a short generated description.
- **Multi-language support**: Tailored class/function/import patterns for JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, and C#, with a generic fallback for other languages.
- **Documentation extraction**: Reuses existing JSDoc, Python docstrings, and line comments when describing a component.
- **Bearer-token auth**: The POST endpoint is protected by a shared secret.
## How it works
`explainCode(code, language)` orchestrates four helpers and assembles their output into a Markdown report:
1. `generateArchitectureDiagram` — extracts classes, functions, and imports with language-specific regexes and renders an ASCII diagram, including `inherits`/`calls` relationships.
2. `extractCoreFunctionality` — counts matches across purpose categories and produces a prose summary of the primary (and secondary) purpose.
3. `extractComponents` — collects the main classes and functions; `extractBlock` finds each declaration's body by brace matching (or by indentation for Python).
4. `generateComponentDescription` — prefers an existing doc comment for each component and otherwise infers a description from code patterns.
### A note on "MCP"
The project is named for the Model Context Protocol and keeps `workers-mcp` in its deploy pipeline (`workers-mcp docgen` runs before `wrangler deploy`). However, the current `src/index.ts` does **not** use `workers-mcp` at runtime and does not implement the MCP JSON-RPC wire protocol. It serves a plain HTTP JSON endpoint with a custom `{ method, params }` body, handled directly by the Worker's default `fetch` export. Clients call it as a regular HTTP API (see [Usage](#usage)).
## Prerequisites
- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) 22 or higher
- [Wrangler](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/wrangler/get-started/) (installed locally via `devDependencies`)
- A Cloudflare account (for deployment)
## Setup
1. Clone the repository:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/BillDuke13/code-explainer-mcp.git
cd code-explainer-mcp
```
2. Install dependencies:
```bash
npm install
```
3. Configure the shared secret. For production, store it as a Worker secret (recommended):
```bash
wrangler secret put SHARED_SECRET
```
The `vars.SHARED_SECRET` entry in `wrangler.jsonc` is only the placeholder `"YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE"`; never commit a real secret there. The Worker **fails closed** — while the secret is unset or still the placeholder, every POST returns `503`, so a real secret must be set before the endpoint will serve. For local development, put the secret in `.dev.vars` (gitignored) instead — see [Local development](#local-development).
4. Deploy to Cloudflare Workers:
```bash
npm run deploy
```
## Usage
### Endpoint
Send a `POST` request to your Worker URL with a JSON body:
```json
{
"method": "explainCode",
"params": ["your code here", "programming language"]
}
```
Include the bearer token in the `Authorization` header:
```
Authorization: Bearer <SHARED_SECRET>
```
A `GET` request to the same URL returns a small HTML info page instead of running an analysis.
### Response
On success the response is a JSON object whose `result` field holds the Markdown report:
```json
{
"result": "# Code Analysis for javascript Code\n\n## Architecture Diagram\n...\n\n## Core Functionality\n..."
}
```
### Status codes
| Status | When | Body |
| ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| `200` | Valid POST, or a `GET`/`HEAD` | `{ "result": "<markdown>" }` / HTML |
| `401` | POST with a missing or incorrect `Authorization` header | `Unauthorized` |
| `503` | `SHARED_SECRET` is unset or still the placeholder (the Worker fails closed) | `Service not configured: …` |
| `400` | `method` is not `explainCode`, fewer than two `params`, or non-string `params` | `Invalid method or parameters` |
| `413` | The code (`params[0]`) exceeds the maximum length (100,000 characters) | `Code exceeds the maximum length …` |
| `405` | A request method other than `POST`, `GET`, or `HEAD` | `Method Not Allowed` |
| `500` | Request body is not valid JSON, or another error occurs | `Error processing request` |
### Examples
#### JavaScript (browser)
```javascript
async function explainCode(code, language) {
const response = await fetch('https://your-worker-url.workers.dev', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
Authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE',
},
body: JSON.stringify({
method: 'explainCode',
params: [code, language],
}),
});
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
}
const data = await response.json();
return data.result;
}
const jsCode = `function add(a, b) { return a + b; }`;
explainCode(jsCode, 'javascript')
.then((explanation) => console.log(explanation))
.catch((error) => console.error('Error:', error));
```
#### Python (requests)
```python
import requests
def explain_code(code, language, api_url, secret_key):
headers = {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
'Authorization': f'Bearer {secret_key}',
}
payload = {
'method': 'explainCode',
'params': [code, language],
}
response = requests.post(api_url, headers=headers, json=payload)
response.raise_for_status()
return response.json()['result']
code = "def hello():\n print('Hello, world!')"
explanation = explain_code(code, 'python', 'https://your-worker-url.workers.dev', 'YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE')
print(explanation)
```
#### Node.js (axios)
```javascript
const axios = require('axios');
async function explainCode(code, language) {
const response = await axios.post(
'https://your-worker-url.workers.dev',
{ method: 'explainCode', params: [code, language] },
{
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
Authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_SECRET_KEY_HERE',
},
},
);
return response.data.result;
}
```
## Local development
1. Install dependencies (`npm install`) if you have not already.
2. Provide the local secret. Create a `.dev.vars` file (gitignored) so `wrangler dev` injects it:
```
SHARED_SECRET=your-local-secret
```
The Worker fails closed, so `.dev.vars` must hold a real secret: with the `wrangler.jsonc` placeholder (or no secret at all), every POST returns `503`.
3. Start the dev server (http://localhost:8787):
```bash
npm run dev
```
4. Send a request:
```bash
curl -X POST http://localhost:8787 \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer your-local-secret" \
-d '{"method":"explainCode","params":["function hello() { return \"Hello World\"; }","javascript"]}'
```
### Quality checks
- **Tests** (Vitest on `@cloudflare/vitest-pool-workers`): `npm test`. The suite in `test/` drives the Worker through `SELF.fetch`, covering the GET info page, auth failures, the `explainCode` contract for JavaScript and Python, empty input, and request validation.
- **Lint** (ESLint flat config): `npm run lint`, or `npm run lint:fix` to auto-fix.
- **Type-check**: `npx tsc --noEmit` checks `src/`. The root `tsconfig.json` excludes `test/`, so type-check the tests separately with `npx tsc -p test/tsconfig.json --noEmit`.
- **Regenerate binding types**: after changing bindings or vars in `wrangler.jsonc`, run `npm run cf-typegen` to rewrite `worker-configuration.d.ts`.
Formatting is owned by Prettier (`.prettierrc`: tabs, single quotes, semicolons, `printWidth` 140) — run `npx prettier --write .`.
## Project layout
```
src/index.ts Worker entry point and all analysis logic
test/index.spec.ts Vitest suite exercising the HTTP contract
docs/index.html Browsable HTML documentation
wrangler.jsonc Worker configuration
```
## Documentation
Detailed, browsable documentation lives in [`docs/index.html`](docs/index.html) — open it in a browser for the architecture overview, the analysis pipeline, the full API reference, and known limitations.
## Security
- The POST endpoint is protected by `Authorization: Bearer <SHARED_SECRET>`.
- The Worker fails closed: it returns `503` until `SHARED_SECRET` is set to a real value (not the placeholder), so a misconfigured deploy refuses requests instead of accepting the public default.
- Store the secret with `wrangler secret put SHARED_SECRET` for production and in `.dev.vars` for local development; never commit a real value to `wrangler.jsonc`.
- The token is checked by comparing SHA-256 digests in constant time, leaking neither the secret's content nor its length through response timing. For higher-assurance deployments, add rate limiting in front of the Worker.
- Request size is bounded: oversized bodies are rejected with `413` (via `Content-Length`), and code longer than 100,000 characters is rejected before any analysis runs.
## License
This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 — see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.
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