# Kivgraph
[![kivgraph MCP server](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/Luqueee/kivgraph/badges/score.svg)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/Luqueee/kivgraph)
> [!NOTE]
> **Kivgraph began as a research project.** It explored whether a local semantic
> code graph could reduce the amount of context coding agents need to inspect.
>
> The resulting tool remains useful for structured code navigation,
> cross-repository relationships, and impact analysis. However, the research
> **did not demonstrate a reliable net token saving over long, end-to-end agent
> conversations**. While some isolated queries can use substantially fewer
> tokens than `grep` plus file reads, those savings did not consistently
> translate into lower token usage across realistic long-running agent
> workflows.
>
> The benchmark results and their limitations are preserved in
> [`benchmarks/`](benchmarks/), including the
> [end-to-end agent benchmark](benchmarks/agent-e2e/report.md).

Kivgraph is a local **cross-repository code intelligence MCP server for AI
coding agents**. It builds a canonical semantic code graph across multiple
registered repositories and answers questions about symbols, repository
relationships, callers, dependencies and change impact.

[![Kivgraph graph viewer preview](docs/assets/kivgraph-viewer.png)](docs/assets/kivgraph-ui-demo.mp4)

[Watch the Kivgraph UI demo video](docs/assets/kivgraph-ui-demo.mp4)

<p align="center">
  <em><code>kivgraph ui</code> — read-only 3D view of the published graph.</em>
</p>

It indexes a corpus once and serves an immutable graph: the edges are resolved
by `go/types`, the TypeScript checker and `rust-analyzer`, not by matching
names. That is the difference from a search tool, and it is what makes an empty
answer worth something — an empty reference list means **nobody calls it**, not
that nothing was found, and `grep` cannot tell those apart.

Kivgraph is focused on semantic code relationships, not automatic discovery of
every HTTP, gRPC, Kafka or database runtime flow between services.

## Documentation

Read the [Kivgraph user documentation](https://kivgraph.dev/) for installation,
MCP clients, code intelligence, repository relationships and workspace code
graphs. The same pages are the source of `landing/src/content/docs` in this
checkout, which is what a reader on a fork or without a network still has.

## What each tool answers

| the question | the tool |
| --- | --- |
| who calls this, what references this | `find_references` |
| who implements a type or method | `find_implementations` |
| what breaks if I change it | `get_blast_radius` |
| what does this reach outward | `trace_dependencies` |
| who uses it from another repository | `find_cross_repo_consumers` |
| where is it declared | `find_symbol` |
| I don't know what it is called, what files to open | `find_by_intent` |
| what is declared in this package | `get_file_outline` |
| give me the code of these symbols | `get_source` |
| everything about this one symbol | `get_symbol` |
| what is indexed, and is the graph current | `list_repositories`, `graph_status` |
| how is an asynchronous index progressing | `get_index_status` |

Thirteen read-only tools, plus two consent-gated mutations (`index_project` and
`start_index_project`) that a client has to authorize before either can register
a repository or publish a generation.

Every row that names a symbol carries its repository, path, qualified name and
line range, so it can be opened without a second call, and every tool accepts
that triple in place of an opaque key.

**Where it loses.** A rare name in one small repository is cheaper with `grep`,
and indexing a small file costs more than reading it. It wins on common names,
on transitive impact, on consumers in another repository, and on proving an
absence. Measured over 29 questions against a 37-repository corpus
(`benchmarks/graph-tools-comparison/results-all.json`, commit `954b9eb`,
tokenizer `o200k_base`): `35,961` tokens for Kivgraph against `267,980` for
`grep` plus reading, both exact on 28 of the 29, median `5.95x` per question in
Kivgraph's favour. `grep` is cheaper on 5 of those 29, all of them at full
recall on both sides: `T1_go_trivial` asks for a name the corpus declares
twice, and there `grep` costs `0.53x` what Kivgraph does.

A second harness, `benchmarks/mcp-token-cost`, compares against the host's own
tool output captured verbatim, but it runs on Kivgraph's own single repository
of 13,222 symbols: `7.64x` on the answers themselves and `1.60x` over a whole
session, against a `2.41x` floor set by the source bodies both arms pay for.

## Status

Released and in use. `kivgraph version` reports the published release; the
backlog and the acceptance gate of every phase are in [`TASKS.md`](TASKS.md).

- **Languages:** Go, TypeScript, Rust, Python and Dart. Python uses the
  bundled AST worker in fallback mode; those inferred references are
  `CANDIDATE`, never `EXACT`. Exact Python mode uses the bundled Pyright LSP
  adapter with an installed Pyright/BasedPyright server. Dart uses the Dart
  Analysis Server supplied by the Dart or Flutter SDK.
- **Semantic dependencies:** Python and Dart imports can publish a package
  dependency when exactly one registered provider owns the requested package;
  symbol-level cross-repository edges require an explicit provider identity.
- **Surface:** thirteen read-only tools over STDIO, plus two consent-gated
  mutations (`index_project` and `start_index_project`). The contract is
  [docs/protocol/mcp-surface-v3.md](docs/protocol/mcp-surface-v3.md).
- **Storage:** LadybugDB is canonical; queries are served from an immutable
  HotSnapshot published atomically, never from the database.
- **Platforms:** `linux/amd64`, `darwin/arm64` and `windows/amd64`.
- **Viewer:** `kivgraph ui` serves a read-only 3D view of the published graph.

## Installation

### Install the MCP with one script

The installer detects the platform, downloads the latest published MCP release
for it, verifies both the release archive and the bundle checksums, and
installs it without requiring Go or pnpm. The release contains the Go server,
the pinned LadybugDB library, the TypeScript worker, the bundled Python AST
worker, the pinned `rust-analyzer`, the grammar manifest and the web viewer,
whose assets are 2.3 MB of the bundle. `scripts/build-bundle.sh --mcp-only`
produces a bundle without the viewer for anyone who wants one. `--slim` goes
further for anyone packaging an `.mcpb`: it leaves out the pinned
`rust-analyzer` and every symbol a debugger would read, which is 46.3 MB
packaged against 24.9 MB. It downloads nothing later, so that bundle reads
Rust only where the machine already has an analyzer on its `PATH`.

Published bundles: Linux `amd64`, macOS `arm64` and Windows `amd64`.

Runtime requirements: Bash on Linux and macOS or PowerShell `5.1` or later on
Windows, Node.js `22` or later, Python 3.10 or later when indexing Python, and
on the POSIX platforms `curl`, `tar`, and `sha256sum` or `shasum`. The bundle
carries its own `rust-analyzer`; indexing Rust repositories additionally needs
`cargo` on the `PATH`, and indexing Dart needs the Dart or Flutter SDK. On
Windows the installer also installs the Visual C++ redistributable, without
which `kivgraph.exe` does not start.

On macOS the binaries are not notarized. A release downloaded with `curl` is
not quarantined and runs; a copy downloaded with a browser needs `xattr -dr
com.apple.quarantine`. See
[docs/development/macos.md](docs/development/macos.md).

Install the latest release in one command. On Linux and macOS the same line
covers both, because the installer reads `uname` and picks its own archive:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://kivgraph.dev/install.sh | bash
```

On Windows, where `install.sh` cannot run because there is no POSIX shell:

```powershell
irm https://kivgraph.dev/install.ps1 | iex
```

`install.ps1` is a second implementation of the same pre-extraction checks, and
`internal/release/install_parity_test.go` fails when either script grows a check
the other lacks. Piping it into `Invoke-Expression` turns its
`#Requires -Version 5.1` into a comment; download it to a file and run it as one
to keep that guard.

From a checkout, either installer can be run directly:

```bash
./scripts/install.sh
```

To install a specific release instead of the latest one:

```bash
KIVGRAPH_VERSION=v0.9.10 ./scripts/install.sh
```

The script installs the bundle in `~/.local/opt/kivgraph` and puts launchers
in `~/.local/bin`; on Windows it is `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\kivgraph` and
`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\kivgraph-bin`. It never modifies a registered
repository, creates an index, or replaces configuration files. To use a
different location, set `KIVGRAPH_INSTALL_ROOT` and `KIVGRAPH_BIN_DIR`.

Add the launcher directory to the current shell and verify both runtimes:

```bash
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
kivgraph version
kivgraph-ts-worker <<'EOF'
hello
EOF
```

Check for a newer release or update the installed bundle:

```bash
kivgraph update --check
kivgraph update
```

Bundle replacement is atomic, preserves the configuration and graph state,
verifies the release and bundle checksums, and replaces the installed bundle.
The post-install runtime refresh may partially complete, fail, and make the
command exit non-zero. It also restarts an installed supervised daemon and
refreshes Kivgraph-managed user hooks, skills and MCP registrations. A stale
supervisor returns an error and is not restarted. Missing, foreign and
project-scoped
integrations are left alone. Client-owned `serve` and `ui` processes still
need a restart, or `--stop`, to use the new binary.

Development builds use a separate prerelease channel. Install one explicitly,
then select that channel for later checks:

```bash
release=vX.Y.Z-dev.N
curl -fsSL \
  "https://github.com/Luqueee/kivgraph/releases/download/$release/install.sh" |
  KIVGRAPH_VERSION="$release" bash
kivgraph update --channel dev
```

For a prerelease binary, omitting `--channel` already follows `dev`; stable
installations continue to follow the stable channel. `KIVGRAPH_UPDATE_CHANNEL`
can be used instead of the flag, including for the interactive update notice.

To remove the installed bundle and launchers without deleting configuration,
repository registrations or graph state:

```bash
uninstall_url=https://github.com/Luqueee/kivgraph/releases/latest/download/uninstall.sh
curl -fsSL "$uninstall_url" -o /tmp/kivgraph-uninstall.sh
bash /tmp/kivgraph-uninstall.sh
```

Use `bash /tmp/kivgraph-uninstall.sh --yes` for a non-interactive removal.
Windows users can run the corresponding `uninstall.ps1` with PowerShell.

When `kivgraph` is invoked without a command from an interactive terminal, it
checks for a newer release with an 800 ms timeout and a 24-hour cache in the
platform cache directory (`$XDG_CACHE_HOME` on Linux and
`$HOME/Library/Caches` on macOS), under `kivgraph/update-check.json`.
The optional check never blocks the command when the network is unavailable.

Interactive command output uses semantic ANSI colors when the destination is a
terminal. Set `NO_COLOR` or redirect output to keep it plain.

### Configure Kivgraph and its coding agents

After an interactive release installation, the installer asks whether it should
run this same guided setup. Run it later, or run it directly from a checkout:

```bash
kivgraph configure
```

`configure` opens one selector for the coding agents detected on this machine
and installs each user-scoped surface that the selected agent supports. It
also adds user-level Kivgraph instructions for every selected agent. It
initializes the empty Kivgraph configuration when needed, but it does not
register a repository or run an index. Repeat `--target TARGET` for scripted
setup; omit it to open the selector.

Use `↑`/`↓` (or `j`/`k`) to move, `space` to toggle an agent, `a` to select all,
`n` to select none, `Enter` to confirm, and `q` or `Esc` to cancel. The daemon
is offered once after the selection; `--daemon` requires it without asking and
`--stdio` keeps one `serve` process per client. `--dry-run` previews every
surface without writing.

Supported MCP targets are `claude-code`, `claude-desktop`, `codex`, `opencode`,
and `oh-my-pi`. Supported skill targets are `claude-code`, `codex`, `opencode`,
and `oh-my-pi`; Claude Desktop has no local skill target. The standalone
commands use `user` by default; use `--scope project` for project-local
configuration. Use `--dry-run` to inspect a plan without writing. Existing
incompatible entries stop with an error; `--force` is required to replace or
remove one. Existing files are written atomically with mode `0600` and receive
`*.kivgraph.bak` backup before replacement or removal.

The pre-tool-use gate supports `claude-code`, `claude-desktop`, `codex`,
`opencode`, and `oh-my-pi`. Oh My Pi receives a native extension under
`~/.omp/agent/extensions/` for user scope or `.omp/extensions/` for project
scope. The gate is fail-open when its graph query cannot be answered.
Searches wrapped as `rtk rg ...` or `rtk proxy rg ...` are classified by their
inner command, while RTK's own commands are left alone.

### Add Kivgraph to user agent instructions

Add the Kivgraph navigation rules to the user context loaded by a coding
agent:

```bash
kivgraph instructions install
# The selector can install one or more coding-agent destinations.
kivgraph instructions install --agent codex
kivgraph instructions install --agent claude
kivgraph instructions install --agent omp
```

With no `--agent` or `--file`, the interactive selector lets you choose one or
more coding agents. Each installation owns a `KIVGRAPH.md` prompt beside the
client configuration. Codex (`~/.codex/AGENTS.md`), Claude Code/Desktop
(`~/.claude/CLAUDE.md`), and Oh My Pi (`~/.omp/agent/AGENTS.md`) receive only a
small managed absolute-path reference to `KIVGRAPH.md`. OpenCode instead adds
its canonical path to `~/.config/opencode/opencode.json`'s native `instructions` list; it
does not modify OpenCode's `AGENTS.md`. The selector deduplicates shared
destinations. Existing instructions are preserved, the managed reference is
idempotent, and `--dry-run` previews the change. An edited Kivgraph prompt or
reference requires `--force` to replace. `--file` is retained for compatibility
and selects every matching global client; prefer `--agent` for new automation.
The command never changes repository instructions. Use `configure` when you
want these instructions and the compatible client integrations in one flow; the
individual commands remain available for explicit changes.

When set, `CODEX_HOME` replaces `~/.codex` and `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` replaces
`~/.omp/agent`, matching the configuration roots those clients use.

Inspect or remove a registration explicitly:

```bash
kivgraph mcp status --target claude-code --scope user
kivgraph mcp remove --target claude-code --scope user
kivgraph skill status --target claude-code --scope user
kivgraph skill remove --target claude-code --scope user
kivgraph hook status --target claude-code --scope user
kivgraph hook remove --target claude-code --scope user
```

Initialize and publish a graph before starting the MCP server:

```bash
kivgraph init \
  --repository project=/absolute/path/to/project \
  --languages go,typescript,rust
kivgraph doctor
kivgraph index --full
```

`init` writes a self-contained configuration: with `--config` pointing
elsewhere, its state, cache and registry hang off that directory, so a throwaway
index never touches the real one. `index --full` republishes atomically — a
failure at any stage leaves the previous generation serving. A server already
running follows the new generation on its own.

When you are inside one project, `kivgraph index` detects its supported
languages, creates or reuses `.kivgraph/`, registers the current project as
`project` in its local registry, and runs the same full rebuild. With neither
`--config` nor `--repositories`, it does not alter the shared user registry;
those overrides intentionally select the configuration and registry to update.
Use `kivgraph index --full` when you want the explicit registered-repositories
workflow; both forms preserve the full-indexing contract.
The command does not install language toolchains implicitly; `kivgraph doctor`
reports any prerequisite that is missing on the host. Optional analyzers can be
managed explicitly by Kivgraph:

```bash
kivgraph toolchain status
kivgraph toolchain install pyright
kivgraph index --full
```

`toolchain install pyright` pins and installs Pyright under Kivgraph's state,
then activates exact Python analysis in the selected configuration. For a
project-local configuration, pass `--config .kivgraph/config.yaml`. Removing
it requires an explicit confirmation and restores the bundled Python fallback
when the selected configuration uses the managed analyzer:

```bash
kivgraph toolchain remove pyright --yes
```

The first install requires npm and network access. Later status checks and
reusing an installed version work offline.

The command family is intentionally language-agnostic; more managed analyzers
can use it without making `index` mutate the host or a repository.

Day to day:

```bash
kivgraph graph status      # what is published, and whether a tree has moved
kivgraph doctor            # toolchains, storage, and the type-checking ceiling
kivgraph ui                # read-only 3D viewer, default 0.0.0.0:7777
kivgraph logs --follow     # aligned history of what it indexed, served and queried
kivgraph tool-stats        # per-tool cost, calls, and failures
kivgraph stop              # terminate this user's serve and ui, never an index
kivgraph clean --keep-active
```

`kivgraph ui` binds a non-loopback address by default, because the graph is
indexed where the repositories are and looked at from elsewhere; there is no
authentication, so it logs exactly what it exposes and `--addr` restricts it.

`logs` and `tool-stats` read an append-only record in the state directory
rather than asking a server, which is why they can answer at all: the per-tool
counters a `serve` keeps are minted when it starts and gone when it stops.
Reading the file also makes the answer span every server that ever ran.

`logs` renders a fixed-column table. Tool rows include a bounded, allow-listed
query summary: `find_by_intent` records its exact `intent` and any `keywords`,
while opaque cursors, consent flags, stable keys, and absolute project paths
stay out of the record. `--json` preserves the individual append-only records.
`SYMBOL_NOT_FOUND` renders as the neutral `NOT_FOUND` status with zero results,
not as an operational failure.

Configure any MCP client to start the server over STDIO:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kivgraph": {
      "command": "/home/user/.local/bin/kivgraph",
      "args": [
        "serve",
        "--config",
        "/home/user/.config/kivgraph/config.yaml"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

`kivgraph serve` starts before a graph exists: with no published generation it
completes the handshake, publishes no query tool and puts the rebuild command in
`instructions`. A client launches the process itself, so exiting would read as a
crash. It writes MCP framing exclusively to `stdout` and logs to `stderr`.

## Requirements

- Go 1.26 or later to build from source. The indexer type-checks with the
  `go/types` linked into the binary, so it can only read repositories and
  dependencies written for its own language version or older; `kivgraph doctor`
  reports that ceiling.
- Indexing Rust needs `cargo` and `rust-analyzer`. The release bundle carries
  the analyzer; it does not carry a Rust toolchain.
- Indexing TypeScript needs Node.js 22 or later for the worker.
- Indexing Python needs Python 3.10 or later for the bundled worker. It is a
  syntax-aware fallback and reports dynamic or unresolved names explicitly;
  exact mode additionally requires a Pyright-compatible language server.
- Indexing Dart needs the `dart` executable; a Flutter installation supplies
  it. The loader uses the Analysis Server protocol and does not modify the
  Flutter project.

## What the graph carries, and what it refuses to

An edge is `EXACT` only with sufficient evidence and the right provenance. It is
never created from a name, a path, an alias or a single candidate, and a
reference that cannot be resolved is published as `UNRESOLVED` with its reason,
repository and language rather than dropped. `graph_status` reports both, broken
down.

That is why some answers are absences rather than edges. With the Rust standard
library indexed, `impl Add for u32` is generated by a macro and exists in no
source range, so every use of it is declared `PROVIDER_DEFINITION_NOT_INDEXED`
once per symbol instead of becoming an edge nobody could open.

The providers Kivgraph derives from the machine — today the Rust standard
library, named `rust:1.96.1` after the toolchain — are withheld from read
results by default: one toolchain is around twenty thousand symbols, and a
search for `Clone` would answer with `core`. `include_derived` asks for them, and
`graph_status` breaks out what they contribute so the totals stay readable.

## Development

```bash
make build
make test
make semantic-coverage
make test-ladybug
```

`make test-ladybug` is the only supported way to run the tag that links the
pinned native library. Contributing conventions are in
[AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md), which `CLAUDE.md` links to.

`make semantic-coverage` is the release gate for Go, TypeScript, Python and
Dart. It validates the machine-readable matrix in
`testdata/semantic-coverage/manifest.json`, runs the exact TypeScript, Go and
Dart suites, and requires a Pyright-compatible language server for the exact
Python suite. A language is not considered complete when a capability has a
fixture but no executable regression test.

### Storage and graph benchmarks

The LadybugDB qualification, the synthetic corpus generator, the load and query
benchmarks, and the `doctor`, `rebuild`, `rollback` and `snapshot` commands are
documented in
[docs/development/storage-benchmarks.md](docs/development/storage-benchmarks.md).
It concludes with `ACCEPT_LADYBUGDB_WITH_LIMITS`.

### The public site

`landing/` carries the landing page and the user documentation. It ships in no
release bundle, is verified with `make landing-check` and `make landing-build`,
and is served on port `6767`. What it publishes, how the MCP reference was
captured, and what is still open are recorded in
[docs/development/landing-site.md](docs/development/landing-site.md).

## Structure

```text
cmd/kivgraph/   Main executable.
internal/        Kivgraph internal packages.
ts-worker/        TypeScript worker.
web/              Graph viewer served by `kivgraph ui`.
landing/          Landing page and documentation site (not part of any release).
testdata/         Test fixtures and corpora.
benchmarks/       Benchmark results.
docs/             Documentation and ADRs.
scripts/          Auxiliary automation.
```

## License

Kivgraph is distributed under the [Apache License 2.0](LICENSE).

## Third-party licenses

Notices and licenses for dependencies distributed with Kivgraph are recorded in [`THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md`](THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md). The list is updated whenever a dependency is added to the distributable product.