Read a known symbol or file from the user's project without dumping the whole tree. AST extract — signature plus body — cheaper than opening a 2,000-line file. ALWAYS call when find_code just returned a name or path, when the user named a function to inspect, or before you edit a large file. If they named Zephex or MCP and asked you to open or explain a function, this is the tool. Prefer this over native Read on files over ~50 lines. mode=symbol — extract by name (target or targets[]). mode=file — batch 1–20 paths. mode=outline — table of contents + plain-English overview before drilling a 300+ line file. mode=scan/smell — keywords or bug smells across files[] you already have. Works on any local project on their machine. Local/stdio: omit path to use editor cwd, or pass path as their project folder. No disk: inline_files. Call-graph modes (callers, blast_radius, dead_code) need local disk only. Returns summary, data.symbols or data.files, next_calls. Follow next_calls if truncated. Not for unknown location (find_code first). Not for stack/scripts (get_project_context). Example: read_code({ mode: "symbol", target: "validateToken" }) or read_code({ mode: "outline", files: ["src/auth.ts"] }). After find_code, do not re-search — pass the symbol as target or the path in files[]. detail_level=signature is enough to decide; body when you will edit. compact:true drops line numbers. Batch files[] instead of opening one path at a time.