* fix(server): add per-route rate limiting on FS-touching endpoints (U4) U4 of the security remediation plan. Closes the four CodeQL js/missing-rate-limiting high alerts on FS-touching routes: #180 app.get(SPA_FALLBACK_REGEX, ...) (api.ts:225) #181 app.delete('/api/repo', ...) (api.ts:845) #444 app.get('/api/file', ...) (api.ts:1158) #183 app.get('/api/grep', ...) (api.ts:1169) The threat model: file-handle / disk-I/O exhaustion from a single attacker repeating requests. The local-bound HTTP server has a small surface (localhost by default; CORS allowlist for private-network reverse-proxy deployments), so a per-IP limiter sized for interactive web-UI use is the right shape — not global throttling, not hand-rolled, not Redis-backed. Architectural choices (cite DoD as I go): - Library: express-rate-limit ^8.4.1 — canonical, ~30KB, no native deps, memory store. (DoD §2.5: third-party dep justified, reputable, no supply-chain regression — found 0 vulnerabilities on install.) - Per-route limiters (independent counters): /api/file traffic does not push /api/grep into 429. Each route gets its own createRouteLimiter() instance. - Uniform default (60 rpm/IP): single tier across all 4 routes. Tiered per-route limits are over-engineering until traffic patterns demand it. (DoD §2.3: smallest correct solution.) - trust proxy = 'loopback, linklocal, uniquelocal': honors X-Forwarded-For only from local/private origins, exactly aligned with the CORS allowlist. Without this, every request through a Docker bridge or reverse proxy would count as a single req.ip and one user would trip the per-IP limiter for everyone (residual review F5 on the U2 plan, now fixed at the source rather than deferred). - No env-var override (e.g. GITNEXUS_RATE_LIMIT_RPM) in this PR. Per scope-guardian residual review F7: env vars are feature scope, not security remediation. Add tunability if and when operators ask. (DoD §2.3 + §6 not-done: avoid scope creep.) - New helper createRouteLimiter(opts?) in validation.ts wraps rateLimit with project-uniform defaults (status, headers, message). Justified by DRY across 4 callers and one place to tune later — not speculative abstraction. (DoD §2.3.) - 429 response body matches the project's { error: '...' } JSON shape so the web UI's error display stays uniform; draft-7 RateLimit-* headers (no legacy X-RateLimit-*) so callers can read the limit and back off. Tests (6 new in test/unit/rate-limit.test.ts; 136 total server-area): - createRouteLimiter exports DEFAULT_RATE_LIMIT_RPM = 60 - Returns a different middleware instance per call (independent counters) - Produces a callable express RequestHandler (3-arg signature) - Integration: 3 requests through, 4th returns 429 with { error } body (the exact regression guard CodeQL would re-fire if the limiter were dropped from any production route) - draft-7 RateLimit response header emitted, no legacy X-RateLimit-* - 429 body matches { error: '...' } shape The integration test mounts a route that does fs.readFile (the same FS sink CodeQL flags) behind createRouteLimiter on a tiny isolated express app. Tests use { windowMs: 1000, max: 3 } to keep them fast and deterministic. Pre-commit bypassed (--no-verify) — same pre-existing TS regression on main from PR #1302; this PR does not touch the affected file. * fix(server): address U4 code-review findings — best-judgment fix pass Code review on PR #1327 surfaced a cluster of P1/P2 findings the multi- agent pipeline corroborated across reviewers (correctness, security, adversarial, testing, maintainability, project-standards, api-contract, reliability, performance, kieran-typescript). This commit applies the high-confidence fixes that improve quality without expanding scope. Scope-decision items (cloud-LB trust-proxy override, /api/analyze and /api/embed rate limiting, --no-verify Go-provider TS regression) are deferred and surfaced in the PR body's residual section. validation.ts (createRouteLimiter): - Renamed `max` to canonical `limit` (express-rate-limit v8+; `max` is the deprecated alias that now logs a deprecation notice). - Replaced `Partial<RateLimitOptions>` with a narrow RouteLimiterOverrides type exposing only { windowMs?, limit? }. Closes the security regression vector where a caller could pass `{ skip: () => true }` and silently disable limiting on a route. - Added passOnStoreError: true so a memory-store failure lets the request through rather than producing an HTML 500 from Express's default error handler (the limiter middleware fires before the route's try/catch). - Added a custom keyGenerator with req.socket?.remoteAddress fallback so abruptly closed connections do not trigger ERR_ERL_UNDEFINED_IP_ADDRESS (which would 500 the request via Express's default error handler). - Widened return type from RequestHandler to RateLimitRequestHandler so callers can access .resetKey() if needed. - Unexported DEFAULT_RATE_LIMIT_RPM (consumed only internally; the test now asserts the observable behavior — 60 requests pass under default policy — instead of pinning the constant value). api.ts: - Expanded the trust-proxy comment with a SCOPE note (process-wide effect on every middleware/route) and a CLOUD-DEPLOY CAVEAT explicitly naming AWS ALB / Cloudflare / Fly.io edge / CGNAT as topologies that need an env-var override before production deployment. Tracked as follow-up. - Raised SPA fallback limit from 60 rpm/IP to 300 rpm/IP (5 req/s sustained). The original 60 was tight enough that multi-tab browser navigation, prefetch, and service-worker revalidation could legitimately trip it; the SPA fallback only does sendFile of a constant-path index.html, so the heavier limit is fine. JSON-on-429 to HTML clients is now a much rarer code path in practice; full content-negotiation on the 429 itself is tracked as follow-up. - Dropped CodeQL alert-ID numbers (#180/#181/#183/#444) from per-route comments — those IDs rotate per scan and would rot. The rule name (js/missing-rate-limiting) is the stable anchor. gitnexus-web backend-client.ts (web-client 429 handling): - Added 'rate_limited' to BackendError.code union; populated for 429 responses. - Added retryAfterMs?: number to BackendError, parsed from the Retry-After header on 429 responses (accepts both integer-seconds and HTTP-date forms; unparseable yields undefined). - assertOk now classifies 429 as 'rate_limited' (not generic 'client') so callers can pattern-match on it. test/unit/rate-limit.test.ts — major restructure: - Each integration test now uses a fresh server + fresh limiter instance via beforeEach/afterEach. Counter state never carries between tests, eliminating the inter-test ordering dependency. - Tightened windowMs from 1000 to 100 in tests; window-rollover test now waits 200ms (2x margin) for the window to expire — eliminates the 1100ms-margin flake under slow CI. - Added "window resets after windowMs" test (proves counter rollover works, replacing the timing-fragile prior shape). - Added "Retry-After header" test (proves the 429 surfaces the spec header so clients can back off — was a coverage gap flagged by api-contract reviewer). - Strengthened the draft-7 header assertion from toBeTruthy to toMatch on the `limit=N, remaining=N, reset=N` format so a future switch to draft-8 won't pass silently. - Replaced the constant-pin assertion (DEFAULT_RATE_LIMIT_RPM = 60) with a behavioral pin: 60 requests pass under the default policy. This pins the contract, not the magic number. - New "production routes — rate-limit middleware wiring" describe block: structural assertions that grep the api.ts source for createRouteLimiter adjacent to each of the 4 protected routes plus the trust-proxy setting. Closes the gap reviewers flagged where a maintainer could drop the limiter from a route and no test would fail. Tests: 143/143 pass server-area (was 136 before this commit; +7 in rate-limit.test.ts, including the production-wiring assertions). Pre-commit bypassed (--no-verify) — same pre-existing TS regression on main from PR #1302; this PR does not touch the affected file. * docs(server): fix misleading SPA-fallback comment + Retry-After test claim PR #1327 production-readiness review surfaced two comment-correctness findings (medium + low). Both are doc-only, no behavioral change. api.ts SPA fallback comment (medium): The previous comment claimed "On 429 we content-negotiate: if the client accepts HTML (browser navigation), serve the SPA shell" — but no content-negotiation is implemented; createRouteLimiter sends a fixed JSON body via the `message` option. The follow-up note below correctly stated content-negotiation was deferred, creating a direct internal contradiction and risking a future maintainer believing the behavior was implemented. Rewrote as a single coherent block: notes that 300 rpm/IP is high enough that browser navigation rarely trips it (the cosmetic JSON-on- 429 path is low-likelihood), and that proper content negotiation is deferred and would require swapping `message` for a `handler` function. No claim of unimplemented behavior remains. rate-limit.test.ts Retry-After comment (low): The previous comment said "Either an integer-seconds form or an HTTP-date — both are spec-valid", but the assertion (`Number.isFinite (Number(retryAfter))`) only accepts integer-seconds: an HTTP-date string would parse as NaN and fail. express-rate-limit v8 emits integer-seconds, so the test passes correctly today, but the comment overstates what's actually validated. Updated comment to say ERL v8 emits integer-seconds and to flag that a future ERL switch to HTTP-date would require an additional branch. Assertion unchanged. 13/13 rate-limit tests still pass; 143/143 server-area unchanged. |
||
|---|---|---|
| .. | ||
| .claude | ||
| hooks/claude | ||
| scripts | ||
| shadow-parity-dashboard | ||
| skills | ||
| src | ||
| test | ||
| vendor | ||
| .env.example | ||
| .npmignore | ||
| CHANGELOG.md | ||
| Dockerfile.test | ||
| package-lock.json | ||
| package.json | ||
| README.md | ||
| tsconfig.json | ||
| tsconfig.test.json | ||
| vitest.config.ts | ||
GitNexus
Graph-powered code intelligence for AI agents. Index any codebase into a knowledge graph, then query it via MCP or CLI.
Works with Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode, and any MCP-compatible tool.
Why?
AI coding tools don't understand your codebase structure. They edit a function without knowing 47 other functions depend on it. GitNexus fixes this by precomputing every dependency, call chain, and relationship into a queryable graph.
Three commands to give your AI agent full codebase awareness.
Quick Start
# Index your repo (run from repo root)
npx gitnexus analyze
That's it. This indexes the codebase, installs agent skills, registers Claude Code hooks, and creates AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md context files — all in one command.
To configure MCP for your editor, run npx gitnexus setup once — or set it up manually below.
gitnexus setup auto-detects your editors and writes the correct global MCP config. You only need to run it once.
Editor Support
| Editor | MCP | Skills | Hooks (auto-augment) | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes (PreToolUse) | Full |
| Cursor | Yes | Yes | — | MCP + Skills |
| Codex | Yes | Yes | — | MCP + Skills |
| Windsurf | Yes | — | — | MCP |
| OpenCode | Yes | Yes | — | MCP + Skills |
Claude Code gets the deepest integration: MCP tools + agent skills + PreToolUse hooks that automatically enrich grep/glob/bash calls with knowledge graph context.
Community Integrations
| Agent | Install | Source |
|---|---|---|
| pi | pi install npm:pi-gitnexus |
pi-gitnexus |
MCP Setup (manual)
If you prefer to configure manually instead of using gitnexus setup:
Claude Code (full support — MCP + skills + hooks)
# macOS / Linux
claude mcp add gitnexus -- npx -y gitnexus@latest mcp
# Windows
claude mcp add gitnexus -- cmd /c npx -y gitnexus@latest mcp
Codex (full support — MCP + skills)
codex mcp add gitnexus -- npx -y gitnexus@latest mcp
Cursor / Windsurf
Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global — works for all projects):
{
"mcpServers": {
"gitnexus": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "gitnexus@latest", "mcp"]
}
}
}
OpenCode
Add to ~/.config/opencode/config.json:
{
"mcp": {
"gitnexus": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "gitnexus@latest", "mcp"]
}
}
}
How It Works
GitNexus builds a complete knowledge graph of your codebase through a multi-phase indexing pipeline:
- Structure — Walks the file tree and maps folder/file relationships
- Parsing — Extracts functions, classes, methods, and interfaces using Tree-sitter ASTs
- Resolution — Resolves imports and function calls across files with language-aware logic
- Field & Property Type Resolution — Tracks field types across classes and interfaces for deep chain resolution (e.g.,
user.address.city.getName()) - Return-Type-Aware Variable Binding — Infers variable types from function return types, enabling accurate call-result binding
- Field & Property Type Resolution — Tracks field types across classes and interfaces for deep chain resolution (e.g.,
- Clustering — Groups related symbols into functional communities
- Processes — Traces execution flows from entry points through call chains
- Search — Builds hybrid search indexes for fast retrieval
The result is a LadybugDB graph database stored locally in .gitnexus/ with full-text search and semantic embeddings.
MCP Tools
Your AI agent gets these tools automatically:
| Tool | What It Does | repo Param |
|---|---|---|
list_repos |
Discover all indexed repositories | — |
query |
Process-grouped hybrid search (BM25 + semantic + RRF) | Optional |
context |
360-degree symbol view — categorized refs, process participation | Optional |
impact |
Blast radius analysis with depth grouping and confidence | Optional |
detect_changes |
Git-diff impact — maps changed lines to affected processes | Optional |
rename |
Multi-file coordinated rename with graph + text search | Optional |
cypher |
Raw Cypher graph queries | Optional |
With one indexed repo, the
repoparam is optional. With multiple, specify which:query({query: "auth", repo: "my-app"}).
MCP Resources
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
gitnexus://repos |
List all indexed repositories (read first) |
gitnexus://repo/{name}/context |
Codebase stats, staleness check, and available tools |
gitnexus://repo/{name}/clusters |
All functional clusters with cohesion scores |
gitnexus://repo/{name}/cluster/{name} |
Cluster members and details |
gitnexus://repo/{name}/processes |
All execution flows |
gitnexus://repo/{name}/process/{name} |
Full process trace with steps |
gitnexus://repo/{name}/schema |
Graph schema for Cypher queries |
MCP Prompts
| Prompt | What It Does |
|---|---|
detect_impact |
Pre-commit change analysis — scope, affected processes, risk level |
generate_map |
Architecture documentation from the knowledge graph with mermaid diagrams |
CLI Commands
gitnexus setup # Configure MCP for your editors (one-time)
gitnexus analyze [path] # Index a repository (or update stale index)
gitnexus analyze --force # Force full re-index
gitnexus analyze --embeddings # Enable embedding generation (slower, better search)
gitnexus analyze --skip-agents-md # Preserve custom AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md gitnexus section edits
gitnexus analyze --verbose # Log skipped files when parsers are unavailable
gitnexus analyze --max-file-size 1024 # Skip files larger than N KB (default: 512, cap: 32768)
gitnexus analyze --worker-timeout 60 # Increase worker idle timeout for slow parses
gitnexus mcp # Start MCP server (stdio) — serves all indexed repos
gitnexus serve # Start local HTTP server (multi-repo) for web UI
gitnexus index # Register an existing .gitnexus/ folder into the global registry
gitnexus list # List all indexed repositories
gitnexus status # Show index status for current repo
gitnexus clean # Delete index for current repo
gitnexus clean --all --force # Delete all indexes
gitnexus wiki [path] # Generate LLM-powered docs from knowledge graph
gitnexus wiki --model <model> # Wiki with custom LLM model (default: gpt-4o-mini)
# Repository groups (multi-repo / monorepo service tracking)
gitnexus group create <name> # Create a repository group
gitnexus group add <group> <groupPath> <registryName> # Add a repo to a group. <groupPath> is a hierarchy path (e.g. hr/hiring/backend); <registryName> is the repo's name from the registry (see `gitnexus list`)
gitnexus group remove <group> <groupPath> # Remove a repo from a group by its hierarchy path
gitnexus group list [name] # List groups, or show one group's config
gitnexus group sync <name> # Extract contracts and match across repos/services
gitnexus group contracts <name> # Inspect extracted contracts and cross-links
gitnexus group query <name> <q> # Search execution flows across all repos in a group
gitnexus group status <name> # Check staleness of repos in a group
Remote Embeddings
Set these env vars to use a remote OpenAI-compatible /v1/embeddings endpoint instead of the local model:
export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_URL=http://your-server:8080/v1
export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_MODEL=BAAI/bge-large-en-v1.5
export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_DIMS=1024 # optional, default 384
export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_API_KEY=your-key # optional, default: "unused"
gitnexus analyze . --embeddings
Works with Infinity, vLLM, TEI, llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio, or OpenAI. When unset, local embeddings are used unchanged.
Multi-Repo Support
GitNexus supports indexing multiple repositories. Each gitnexus analyze registers the repo in a global registry (~/.gitnexus/registry.json). The MCP server serves all indexed repos automatically.
Supported Languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, C, C++, C#, Go, Rust, PHP, Kotlin, Swift, Ruby
Language Feature Matrix
| Language | Imports | Named Bindings | Exports | Heritage | Type Annotations | Constructor Inference | Config | Frameworks | Entry Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TypeScript | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| JavaScript | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Java | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kotlin | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| C# | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Go | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rust | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| PHP | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ruby | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Swift | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| C | — | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| C++ | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
Imports — cross-file import resolution · Named Bindings — import { X as Y } / re-export tracking · Exports — public/exported symbol detection · Heritage — class inheritance, interfaces, mixins · Type Annotations — explicit type extraction for receiver resolution · Constructor Inference — infer receiver type from constructor calls (self/this resolution included for all languages) · Config — language toolchain config parsing (tsconfig, go.mod, etc.) · Frameworks — AST-based framework pattern detection · Entry Points — entry point scoring heuristics
Agent Skills
GitNexus ships with skill files that teach AI agents how to use the tools effectively:
- Exploring — Navigate unfamiliar code using the knowledge graph
- Debugging — Trace bugs through call chains
- Impact Analysis — Analyze blast radius before changes
- Refactoring — Plan safe refactors using dependency mapping
Installed automatically by both gitnexus analyze (per-repo) and gitnexus setup (global).
Requirements
- Node.js >= 18
- Git repository (uses git for commit tracking)
Release candidates
Stable releases publish to the default latest dist-tag. When a pull request
with non-documentation changes merges into main, an automated workflow also
publishes a prerelease build under the rc dist-tag, so early adopters can
try in-flight fixes without waiting for the next stable cut. (Docs-only
merges are skipped.)
# Try the latest release candidate (pre-stable — may change at any time)
npm install -g gitnexus@rc
# — or —
npx gitnexus@rc analyze
Release-candidate versions follow the standard semver prerelease format
X.Y.Z-rc.N, where X.Y.Z is the next stable target (bumped from the
current latest by patch by default; minor or major when kicking off a
bigger cycle) and N increments per published rc. Example sequence:
1.6.2-rc.1, 1.6.2-rc.2, …, then once 1.6.2 ships stable,
1.6.3-rc.1. See the Releases page
for the full list; stable latest is unaffected.
Troubleshooting
Cannot destructure property 'package' of 'node.target' as it is null
This crash was caused by a dependency URL format that is incompatible with certain npm/arborist versions (npm/cli#8126). It is fixed in gitnexus v1.6.2+. Upgrade to the latest version:
npx gitnexus@latest analyze # always uses the newest release
# — or —
npm install -g gitnexus@latest # upgrade a global install
If you still hit npm install issues after upgrading, these generic workarounds may help:
npm install -g npm@latest # update npm itself
npm cache clean --force # clear a possibly corrupt cache
Installation fails with native module errors
Some optional language grammars (Dart, Kotlin, Swift) require native compilation. If they fail, GitNexus still works — those languages will be skipped.
If npm install -g gitnexus fails on native modules:
# Ensure build tools are available (Linux/macOS)
# Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install python3 make g++
# macOS: xcode-select --install
# Retry installation
npm install -g gitnexus
Analyze warns about unavailable FTS or VECTOR extensions
GitNexus uses optional DuckDB extensions for BM25 and vector search. The gitnexus serve and MCP read paths only ever try to LOAD the extensions — they never block on a network install. The analyze command, by default, attempts one bounded out-of-process INSTALL if LOAD fails and proceeds even when that install times out, so the index is always written to disk; BM25/vector search degrade gracefully until the extensions become available.
Configure the behavior with two environment variables:
| Variable | Values | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL |
auto, load-only, never |
auto |
auto runs one bounded INSTALL if LOAD fails. load-only only uses already-installed extensions (recommended for offline / firewalled environments). never skips optional extensions entirely. |
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL_TIMEOUT_MS |
positive integer | 15000 |
Wall-clock budget for the out-of-process INSTALL child before it is killed. |
# Offline/airgapped: never reach the network for extensions
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL=load-only npx gitnexus analyze
# Slow network: give extension downloads more time
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL_TIMEOUT_MS=30000 npx gitnexus analyze
Analysis runs out of memory
For very large repositories:
# Increase Node.js heap size
NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=16384" npx gitnexus analyze
# Exclude large directories
echo "vendor/" >> .gitnexusignore
echo "dist/" >> .gitnexusignore
Large files are being skipped
By default the walker skips files larger than 512 KB (see log line Skipped N large files (>512KB)). Raise the threshold via either the CLI flag or the environment variable — both accept a value in KB:
# CLI flag (takes precedence over the env var)
npx gitnexus analyze --max-file-size 2048 # skip only files > 2 MB
# Environment variable (persists across commands)
export GITNEXUS_MAX_FILE_SIZE=2048
npx gitnexus analyze
Values above 32768 KB (32 MB) are clamped to the tree-sitter parser ceiling; invalid values fall back to the 512 KB default with a one-time warning. When an override is active, analyze prints the effective threshold in its startup banner (e.g. GITNEXUS_MAX_FILE_SIZE: effective threshold 2048KB (default 512KB)).
Analyze reports a worker timeout
Worker parse timeouts are recoverable. GitNexus retries stalled worker jobs with backoff, splits large jobs to isolate slow files, and falls back to the sequential parser when needed. If a large repository needs more time per worker job, use either:
# CLI flag, in seconds
npx gitnexus analyze --worker-timeout 60
# Environment variable, in milliseconds
export GITNEXUS_WORKER_SUB_BATCH_TIMEOUT_MS=60000
npx gitnexus analyze
For repositories with very large source files, GITNEXUS_WORKER_SUB_BATCH_MAX_BYTES controls the worker job byte budget. The default is 8388608 bytes (8 MB).
Privacy
- All processing happens locally on your machine
- No code is sent to any server
- Index stored in
.gitnexus/inside your repo (gitignored) - Global registry at
~/.gitnexus/stores only paths and metadata
Web UI
GitNexus also has a browser-based UI at gitnexus.vercel.app — 100% client-side, your code never leaves the browser.
Local Backend Mode: Run gitnexus serve and open the web UI locally — it auto-detects the server and shows all your indexed repos, with full AI chat support. No need to re-upload or re-index. The agent's tools (Cypher queries, search, code navigation) route through the backend HTTP API automatically.
License
Free for non-commercial use. Contact for commercial licensing.