codesift

# CodeSift -- Token-efficient code intelligence for AI agents

CodeSift indexes your codebase with tree-sitter AST parsing and gives AI agents 160 MCP tools (47 core + 113 discoverable) via CLI or MCP server. It uses 61-95% fewer tokens than raw grep/Read workflows on typical code navigation tasks.

**Works with:** Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Cursor CLI, Zed, Aider, Continue — any MCP client.

## Install

```bash
npm install -g codesift-mcp
```

Then configure your AI coding tool (pick one, or use `all`):

```bash
codesift setup cursor    # Claude Code — config + rules + hooks
codesift setup codex     # Codex CLI — config + AGENTS.md rules
codesift setup cursor    # Cursor IDE — config + .cursor/rules
codesift setup cursor    # Cursor CLI — config + CLAUDE.md rules
codesift setup antigravity # Google Antigravity — config only
codesift setup all       # All platforms at once
```

**What `setup` installs (all by default):**

| Component | What it does | Opt-out |
|-----------|-------------|---------|
| **MCP config** | Registers codesift-mcp server | (required) |
| **Rules file** | Tool mapping, hints, ALWAYS/NEVER rules for your AI agent | `--no-rules` |
| **Hooks** (where supported) | Auto-index after Edit/Write, redirect large Read/Bash flows to CodeSift | `--no-hooks` |

Additionally, every MCP client receives ~800 tokens of compact guidance automatically via the MCP `instructions` field — zero setup needed.

## Update

```bash
npm update -g codesift-mcp
codesift setup all              # Updates rules files to latest version
codesift setup all --force      # Force-update even if you modified rules
```

If you use `npx -y codesift-mcp` (the default), each platform automatically picks up the latest published version on next session start. Re-run `setup` to update rules files to the latest version.

## Quick start

```bash
# Index a project
codesift index /path/to/project

# Search for a function
codesift symbols local/my-project "createUser" --kind function --includ