code_nav MCP
AI-native deterministic code navigation MCP server for Codex / CodeCLI.
code_nav gives coding agents compact, structured repo context without makingthem dump files into chat. It works in any git repo by detecting the repo rootand using git-visible files.
There is no semantic search, no embeddings, no vector database, no graph index,no Qdrant, no CocoIndex, and no Zoekt.
Repository:
https://github.com/ARQAWA/code-nav-mcp
Install Prompt
Use INSTALL_AGENT_PROMPT.md with Codex / CodeCLI on the target machine.
The prompt installs one shared user-level code_nav MCP:
$HOME/.local/share/code-nav-mcp/app
$HOME/.local/bin/code-nav-mcp
It also installs/checks Probe, ast-grep, ripgrep, and RTK, configures CodexMCP globally, installs Code Navigation Rules, and verifies the MCP tools.
Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
code_nav.health |
Check repo detection and dependency health. |
code_nav.search |
Main deterministic code discovery workflow. |
code_nav.find_file |
File/path discovery. |
code_nav.exact_search |
Ranked exact text search, not proof. |
code_nav.extract_context |
Compact code context extraction. |
code_nav.structural_search |
AST search with ast-grep. |
code_nav.exact_audit |
Exhaustive proof using raw rg/git grep. |
code_nav.coverage |
File coverage and no-semantic-index status. |
Local Development
npm install
npm run build
npm test
npm run doctor
npm run self-test
Run the MCP server locally:
node dist/cli.js mcp
Optional Repo Config
No per-repo config is required. Rare overrides can use .code-navrc.json:
{
"max_file_bytes": 2097152,
"extra_exclude": [],
"extra_include": [],
"markdown": "normal",
"result_limit": 12
}
