Code DNA Tracker

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that tracks the complete lineage and DNA of every line of code — who wrote it, when, why, what PRs modified it, what bugs it introduced/fixed, and how it has evolved over time.

Features

• Lineage Tracking: Complete history of every line of code

• Impact Analysis: Blast radius and dependency analysis

• Code Archaeology: Find zombie code, abandoned code, hot spots, and orphan code

• Bug Risk Prediction: Predict which lines are likely to cause bugs

• Incremental Updates: Only re-process files that changed since last analysis

• Multi-Platform: Works with Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Cline, and any MCP-compatible host

• Deterministic: No LLMs, no API keys, no external costs — works fully offline

Related MCP server: code-intel

Installation

pip install code-dna-tracker

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/sebachriss/code-dna-tracker.git
cd code-dna-tracker
pip install -e .

Requirements:

• Python 3.10+

• Git repository to analyze

Usage

As MCP Server

Code DNA Tracker works with any MCP-compatible host. Configure it once and use it everywhere.

Claude Code (~/.config/claude-code/mcp_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "code-dna-tracker": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "code_dna_tracker.mcp.server"],
      "env": {
        "CODE_DNA_REPO_PATH": "/path/to/your/repository"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor (Settings → MCP):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "code-dna-tracker": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "code_dna_tracker.mcp.server"],
      "env": {
        "CODE_DNA_REPO_PATH": "/path/to/your/repository"
      }
    }
  }
}

See MCP_CONFIG_EXAMPLES.md for configuration examples for OpenCode, Cline, and other platforms.

CLI Usage

# Initialize tracking for a repository
code-dna init ./my-repo

# Update tracking incrementally (only changed files)
code-dna update ./my-repo

# Get line DNA
code-dna get-line-dna ./my-repo path/to/file.py 42

# Get file DNA summary
code-dna get-file-dna ./my-repo path/to/file.py

# Calculate blast radius of a line change
code-dna blast-radius ./my-repo path/to/file.py 42

# Predict bug risk of a line
code-dna bug-risk ./my-repo path/to/file.py 42

# Find zombie code (files not modified in over 1 year)
code-dna zombie-code ./my-repo --days 365

# Analyze overall code health
code-dna code-health ./my-repo

# Launch web dashboard
code-dna web ./my-repo

MCP Tools

Lineage Tools

• get_line_dna: Get complete DNA of a specific line including author, commit, function context, and modification history

• get_file_dna: Get DNA summary for a file including commit history and structure

• init_repository: Initialize tracking for a repository (parses all files and builds database)

• update_repository: Update tracking incrementally — only re-parses files that changed since last analysis

Impact Analysis Tools

• get_blast_radius: Calculate what other code is affected if a specific line changes

• predict_bug_risk: Predict bug risk for a line based on modification history and complexity

Code Archaeology Tools

• find_zombie_code: Find files that haven't been modified in a long time (default: 365 days)

• find_abandoned_code: Find functions whose original authors have been inactive (default: 180 days)

• find_hot_spots: Find files that change frequently and may be unstable

• find_orphan_code: Find functions/classes that are never called or imported

• analyze_code_health: Get overall code health score with recommendations

Architecture

code_dna_tracker/
├── core/                    # Core analysis engine
│   ├── git_analyzer.py      # Git operations and blame analysis
│   ├── ast_parser.py        # Tree-sitter based code parsing
│   ├── lineage_builder.py   # Combines git and AST data
│   ├── impact_calculator.py # Dependency and blast radius analysis
│   ├── code_archaeologist.py # Code health and archaeology
│   └── file_utils.py        # Code file discovery with exclusions
├── storage/                 # Data persistence
│   └── database.py          # SQLite storage layer
├── mcp/                     # MCP server
│   └── server.py            # MCP tools and protocol implementation
├── web/                     # Web UI dashboard
│   ├── app.py              # FastAPI backend
│   └── static/             # Frontend (HTML/CSS/JS)
└── cli.py                   # Command-line interface

Components

• Git Analyzer: Extracts commit history, blame information, and file modifications from Git

• AST Parser: Parses code using Tree-sitter to extract functions, classes, imports, and variables

• Lineage Builder: Combines Git and AST data to build the complete DNA of each line

• Impact Calculator: Builds dependency graphs and calculates blast radius and bug risk

• Code Archaeologist: Analyzes code for zombie code, abandoned code, hot spots, orphan code, and overall health

• Storage Layer: Persists analysis data in SQLite for fast queries

How It Works

1. Initialization: code-dna init parses all code files in a repository, extracts git blame for each line, and stores the data in SQLite

2. Incremental Update: code-dna update detects files changed since the last analyzed commit and only re-processes those, keeping updates fast

3. Query: The MCP server reads from the database and runs real-time analysis when tools are called

4. Analysis: Combines git history, AST structure, and graph algorithms to provide insights

Supported Languages

• Python (.py)

• JavaScript (.js, .jsx)

• TypeScript (.ts, .tsx)

• Go (.go)

• Rust (.rs)

• Java (.java)

More languages can be added by including additional Tree-sitter grammars.

Cost

Code DNA Tracker is a deterministic tool that does not use LLMs. The only cost is local computation time.

• No API keys required

• No LLM costs

• Works offline

Development

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

Roadmap

• Core lineage tracking

• Impact analysis

• Code archaeology

• Incremental updates

• Multi-language support (Python, JS, TS, Go, Rust, Java)

• Web UI dashboard

• IDE extensions

License

MIT