code-intel

code-intel is a persistent MCP bridge for code exploration and diff-aware review. It keeps one CodeGraph MCP connection alive for the lifetime of the outer MCP server and exposes a deliberately small interface:

• explore: relevant source, call paths, and blast radius.

• review: diff parsing, changed-symbol mapping, impact collection, explainable risk scoring, and a structured report.

The npm package is @team-harness/code-intel. It installs CodeGraph as an exact dependency; end users do not need a separate global CodeGraph installation.

Install

npm install -g @team-harness/code-intel
code-intel install --target codex,claude
cd /path/to/project
code-intel init

install registers the code-intel MCP server globally for the selected agents. It also adds a marker-delimited guidance block to Codex ~/.codex/AGENTS.md and Claude ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, directing both agents to use explore for code discovery and review before finalizing changes. Claude receives the mcp__code-intel__* permission in ~/.claude/settings.json.

The installer preserves unrelated configuration, backs up each changed existing file as <file>.code-intel.bak, and is idempotent. It does not initialize any repository. Run code-intel init inside each project to create its local index; run the same command again to incrementally refresh an existing index. The MCP process keeps the connection warm and CodeGraph watches indexed source changes after startup.

Related MCP server: graphward

MCP configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "code-intel": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@team-harness/code-intel",
        "mcp",
        "--path",
        "/absolute/path/to/project"
      ]
    }
  }
}

The agent sees only explore and review. Internally, the review module also uses CodeGraph's node and impact tools; they are not exposed on the outer MCP surface.

Review modes

Review the current working tree, including staged, unstaged, and untracked files:

code-intel review /path/to/project

Review a branch or pull-request range:

code-intel review /path/to/project --base origin/main --head HEAD

Get the structured report:

code-intel review /path/to/project --json

The MCP review tool accepts the same base and head, or a caller-supplied unified diff. With no diff or range it reviews the target project's current working tree.

Architecture

Agent / MCP host
      |
      | stdio MCP: explore, review
      v
code-intel (long-lived process)
      |
      +-- CodeGraphBridge ---- persistent MCP client ---- CodeGraph MCP
      |
      +-- ReviewAnalyzer
            +-- structured unified-diff parser
            +-- hunk -> current symbol mapping
            +-- node / impact / explore queries
            +-- deterministic risk scorer
            +-- Markdown + structured JSON report

The bridge lazily starts CodeGraph on the first tool call, reuses that connection for later calls, and reconnects once if the child exits during a read-only request. CodeGraph may additionally share its own per-project daemon across MCP clients.

Review semantics

Risk scores are deterministic and explainable. Signals currently cover sensitive paths, missing test-file changes, graph impact width, diff size, file count, and deleted files. They prioritize review effort; they are not claims that a bug exists.

Changed hunks are mapped to the nearest preceding symbol in the current CodeGraph index. Deleted files and symbols can be absent from that index, so deletion findings are explicitly treated as uncertain. A future base-revision index can remove that limitation.

Library use

import { CodeIntelClient } from '@team-harness/code-intel';

const codeIntel = new CodeIntelClient({ projectPath: process.cwd() });
try {
  const context = await codeIntel.explore('AuthService login');
  const report = await codeIntel.review();
} finally {
  await codeIntel.close();
}

CodeIntelClient is the public library boundary. Its explore() and review() methods share one persistent CodeGraph connection; the bridge and analyzer are internal implementation details.

Development

npm install
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build

Upstream

This project is powered by @colbymchenry/codegraph, licensed under MIT. code-intel is an independent Team Harness integration and is not an official CodeGraph package.