GitNexus/gitnexus
Gergő Magyar 9f3416377d fix(mcp): close MCP server timeout — stdout discipline + cold-start friction (#1383)
* fix(lbug): route diagnostic logs to stderr to avoid MCP stdio corruption

Replace console.log/console.warn with console.error in core/lbug so
diagnostic messages reach stderr and never corrupt the JSON-RPC stream
on MCP stdio. Per spec, the server MUST NOT write anything to stdout
that is not a valid MCP message.

- lbug-adapter.ts:367 - schema creation warning (MCP-reachable via lazy
  DB init from tool handlers)
- lbug-adapter.ts:1047,1054 - legacy embedding fallback diagnostics
  (currently HTTP-only, but covered by upcoming no-console lint rule)
- extension-loader.ts:191 - default warn handler fallback used during
  DuckDB extension loading

* feat(mcp): add stdout sentinel via AsyncLocalStorage transport-write tagging

Untagged process.stdout.write calls now redirect to stderr with a
[mcp:stdout-redirect] prefix instead of corrupting the JSON-RPC frame
stream. Identification is correctness-by-construction: the transport
wraps every send() in withMcpWrite() (AsyncLocalStorage) and the
sentinel checks isMcpWrite() per call. A byte-shape heuristic would
have falsely rejected Content-Length frames (start with C, end with })
and misclassified multi-chunk writes.

- gitnexus/src/mcp/stdio-context.ts: AsyncLocalStorage helpers + factory
- gitnexus/src/mcp/server.ts: install sentinel in safeStdout Proxy,
  flush summary at process exit
- gitnexus/src/mcp/compatible-stdio-transport.ts: wrap send() write in
  withMcpWrite so transport frames pass through cleanly
- gitnexus/test/unit/mcp-stdout-sentinel.test.ts: 17 cases covering
  pass-through, redirect, prefix, truncation (default 200 / custom),
  rate limit (default 10), one-shot warning, summary, mixed sequences

* feat(eslint): forbid console.log/warn and process.stdout.write in MCP-reachable code

Add a narrow ESLint override for gitnexus/src/mcp/**, gitnexus/src/core/lbug/**,
gitnexus/src/core/embeddings/**, and gitnexus/src/cli/mcp.ts that:
  - sets no-console: ['error', { allow: ['error'] }] — only console.error
    survives, since stderr is the only spec-safe channel for diagnostics
    while the MCP stdio transport owns stdout for JSON-RPC frames
  - adds no-restricted-syntax matching MemberExpression and CallExpression
    forms of process.stdout.write to close the bypass path that the
    AsyncLocalStorage sentinel cannot guarantee

Migrates 18 pre-existing console.log/warn call sites in core/embeddings/
(embedder.ts, embedding-pipeline.ts) to console.error; these are reached
from gitnexus_query semantic search and would have polluted MCP stdio
once a query triggered the embedding pipeline.

Adds eslint-disable-next-line comments in pool-adapter.ts at the four
legitimate process.stdout.write sites — they ARE the captured-real-write
infrastructure used by the sentinel and the silenceStdout/restoreStdout
mechanism.

The override is forward-compatible with feat/pino-logger (PR #1336)
which adds a broader no-console rule for gitnexus/src/; the narrow rule
here is a strict subset and rebases trivially when #1336 lands.

* feat(setup): pin setup-generated MCP config to installed version, keep static configs on @latest

The user-facing MCP config that 'gitnexus setup' writes into editor configs
now references gitnexus@<installed-version> instead of gitnexus@latest, read
dynamically from gitnexus/package.json#version at module load. This skips
the npm-registry metadata roundtrip on every MCP connect and stays
reproducible until the user explicitly upgrades.

Static example configs and quickstart docs intentionally keep @latest:
  - .mcp.json, gitnexus-claude-plugin/.mcp.json
  - gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/*/mcp.json (6 files)
  - README.md / gitnexus/README.md MCP examples
Pinning these would create per-release version-bump churn for marginal
(~100-500ms) savings. The dominant cold-cache cost is the native rebuild
addressed separately by the GITNEXUS_SKIP_OPTIONAL_GRAMMARS env var.

README adds a one-line steer above the @latest quickstart pointing
repeated users at 'gitnexus setup' for the absolute-path config that
bypasses npx entirely.

Tests refactored to assert against the dynamic version (createRequire of
package.json) so they don't break on every release bump:
  - gitnexus/test/unit/setup.test.ts
  - gitnexus/test/unit/setup-jsonc.test.ts
  - gitnexus/test/unit/setup-codex.test.ts
  - gitnexus/test/integration/setup-skills.test.ts (regex match)

* feat(install,mcp): GITNEXUS_SKIP_OPTIONAL_GRAMMARS opt-out + missing-grammar warnings

Postinstall scripts (build-tree-sitter-dart.cjs, build-tree-sitter-proto.cjs)
gain a strict 'process.env.GITNEXUS_SKIP_OPTIONAL_GRAMMARS === "1"'
early-exit so users without a C++ toolchain (or anyone wanting fast
'npm install gitnexus') can skip the native rebuild. Strict '=1' only —
'true', 'yes', '0' and any other value fall through to the rebuild.

Add gitnexus/src/cli/optional-grammars.ts: cheap require.resolve probe for
each optional grammar, with a stderr warning helper. The warning surfaces:
  - At MCP server start (cli/mcp.ts) — unconditional, since the server
    serves any indexed repo and we cannot pre-filter by language.
  - At 'gitnexus analyze' start (cli/analyze.ts) — conditional on the
    target repo containing .dart/.proto files (cheap glob), so users with
    no relevant code don't see noise.

README documents the env var with the strict '=1' value and the trade-off
(faster install, no Dart/Proto parsing until reinstalled).

* test(mcp): child-process integration test asserts end-to-end stdout discipline

Spawns 'node dist/cli/index.js mcp' as a child, drives the MCP stdio
handshake (initialize -> initialized -> tools/list), reassembles every
stdout chunk into Content-Length-framed JSON-RPC messages, and asserts
zero stray bytes. Any byte outside a valid header-then-body window is
captured and surfaced in the failure message alongside the server's
stderr — this is the regression gate for U1 (no console.log/warn in
MCP-reachable code) and U3 (AsyncLocalStorage stdout sentinel).

Time budget: 5s local / 15s CI for first frame; 10s/30s total. Asserts
the published GitNexus tool surface (list_repos, query, context, impact,
detect_changes, rename) is reported by tools/list.

Adds 'pretest:integration': 'node scripts/build.js' so 'npm run
test:integration' rebuilds dist before the spawn — closes the
'stale dist masks regression' DX gap.

* fix(mcp): address PR #1383 review — sentinel scope, grammar detection, lint, contract

Blockers:
- B2: detectMissingOptionalGrammars now actually require()s each grammar
  instead of require.resolve(). For 'file:' optional dependencies the
  package directory is always installed regardless of postinstall outcome,
  so resolve() never threw and the missing-grammar warning never fired
  for the exact target users (those who set GITNEXUS_SKIP_OPTIONAL_GRAMMARS=1
  or whose native rebuild soft-failed). require() loads the entry, which
  triggers node-gyp-build and throws if .node is absent. Result memoized.

Should-fix:
- S1: Removed duplicate uncaughtException/unhandledRejection handlers from
  cli/mcp.ts. server.ts:startMCPServer already registers handlers with
  full stack traces; cli/mcp.ts handlers fired first with worse output and
  never got a chance to exit because server.ts shuts down immediately.
- S2: Sentinel is now actually global. New setActiveStdoutWrite() in
  pool-adapter so silenceStdout/restoreStdout cycles preserve a
  registered wrapper instead of unwinding to raw realStdoutWrite. At
  startMCPServer: install sentinel.write as process.stdout.write AND
  register it as the active handler. Direct process.stdout.write calls
  from anywhere (console.log, dependency banners, etc.) now route through
  the sentinel instead of bypassing it. The transport's _safeStdout Proxy
  remains as belt-and-suspenders.
- S3: ESLint no-restricted-syntax now also forbids destructuring of
  process.stdout (covers both 'const { write } = process.stdout' shapes
  and rest patterns).

Minor:
- M1: chunkToBuffer now handles plain Uint8Array (Buffer.from(u8)) instead
  of falling through to String(chunk) which produced '1,2,3,...' garbage.
- M2: Untagged-write callbacks are now invoked on next tick per the
  Node Writable.write contract — both within and beyond the rate-limit cap.
  extractCallback handles the (chunk, cb) and (chunk, encoding, cb) overloads.
- M3: setup.ts throws early if package.json#version is missing/non-string
  instead of emitting 'gitnexus@undefined'.
- M4: parser-loader.ts console.warn → console.error; ESLint scope extended
  to gitnexus/src/core/tree-sitter/** so future violations are caught.

New tests cover:
- Plain Uint8Array redirect (asserts no String(chunk) garbage).
- Writable callback fired async (next-tick) for both normal and
  past-rate-limit redirects.

Validation: cd gitnexus && npx tsc --noEmit clean; vitest run 7863 passed,
11 skipped; eslint clean on MCP-reachable scope; integration test green
against rebuilt dist/.

* fix(mcp): close pre-sentinel stdout window + tighten contracts

Address ce-code-review findings on PR #1383:

P1 — Sentinel install order (was: stdout corruption window during
mcpCommand pre-startup):
- Add idempotent installGlobalStdoutSentinel() to mcp/stdio-context.ts.
  It captures realStdoutWrite/realStderrWrite, replaces process.stdout.write,
  and registers with pool-adapter's setActiveStdoutWrite — exactly once.
- cli/mcp.ts now installs the sentinel as the FIRST line of mcpCommand,
  before warnMissingOptionalGrammars (which after the B2 fix actually
  require()s each native grammar binding and could emit node-gyp-build
  banners to raw stdout in the pre-sentinel window).
- mcp/server.ts startMCPServer keeps a safety-net call to the same helper;
  the second invocation is a no-op.

P1 — WriteFn type erasure:
- WriteFn now declared as  instead of
  , so the assignment
   and the
  setActiveStdoutWrite(sentinel.write) call don't silently cross a
  type boundary.

P1 — extractCallback fragility:
- Replaced backward-scan-with-undefined-break heuristic with a strict
  'last arg if function' check matching the documented Writable.write
  contract. No longer breaks on a future (chunk, options, cb) overload.

P2 — _detectionCache premature memoization:
- Removed the explicit cache. Node's module cache already memoizes
  require() — calling detectMissingOptionalGrammars multiple times is
  cheap. Removing the module-level mutable state makes the helper
  trivially testable (no need for a reset hatch).

P2 — Misleading 'reinstall' message on broken (not missing) grammars:
- detectMissingOptionalGrammars now distinguishes MODULE_NOT_FOUND /
  node-gyp-build 'no native build' patterns from other errors
  (SyntaxError, EACCES, native crash). Broken bindings get an
  actionable stderr line naming the real failure instead of the
  misleading 'reinstall to enable' hint.

Other:
- mcp/core/lbug-adapter.ts updated with a KEEP-THIS-FILE note. Tests
  use the path as a vi.mock seam (calltool-dispatch.test.ts and 7
  others); new non-test code may import core/lbug/pool-adapter.js
  directly. The maintainability finding flagging the shim as
  self-contradictory was incorrect — the shim has a real test purpose.

Validation: tsc clean, vitest 7863 passed (no regressions), eslint
clean on MCP-reachable scope, integration test green against rebuilt
dist/.

* fix(mcp): close import-time stdout corruption window

Codex's adversarial review on PR #1383 found that even though cli/mcp.ts
is loaded lazily by Commander, ITS static imports (startMCPServer,
LocalBackend, installGlobalStdoutSentinel, warnMissingOptionalGrammars)
evaluate synchronously when the module loads — well before mcpCommand's
function body runs. Three of those four imports transitively pulled in
core/lbug/pool-adapter.ts, which imports @ladybugdb/core at module top
level. The native binding's init can write to raw stdout in that
pre-sentinel window and corrupt the JSON-RPC frame stream.

Fix: shrink cli/mcp.ts's static-import closure to a single zero-dep
chain (mcp/stdio-context.js -> mcp/stdio-capture.js, both leaf-clean),
install the sentinel as the first executable statement of mcpCommand,
then dynamically import the heavy backend modules in parallel via
await Promise.all.

Per the plan at docs/plans/2026-05-06-002-fix-import-time-stdout-window-plan.md:

- U1: New leaf module gitnexus/src/mcp/stdio-capture.ts owns the
  stdout-capture singleton state (realStdoutWrite, realStderrWrite,
  activeStdoutWrite + setActiveStdoutWrite/getActiveStdoutWrite).
  Zero non-node: imports — adding any would re-introduce the hazard.

- U2: pool-adapter.ts re-exports the relocated symbols under the
  existing names so the test mock seam (8+ files use vi.mock on
  mcp/core/lbug-adapter.ts which re-exports * from pool-adapter)
  keeps working without churn. restoreStdout and the watchdog now
  read the active handler via getActiveStdoutWrite(). stdio-context.ts
  imports from stdio-capture directly.

- U3: cli/mcp.ts's static imports collapse to one
  (installGlobalStdoutSentinel). startMCPServer / LocalBackend /
  warnMissingOptionalGrammars become parallel await import()
  inside mcpCommand, after the sentinel install.

- U4: New regression test gitnexus/test/integration/mcp/import-closure.test.ts
  spawns a child Node process that imports dist/cli/mcp.js (without
  invoking mcpCommand), inspects the CJS module cache via createRequire,
  and asserts @ladybugdb/core (and tree-sitter native bindings) are
  NOT in the static-import closure. Characterization-first: this test
  was authored to fail against the pre-fix code and confirmed to do so
  before U1-U3 landed.

Validation: tsc clean; vitest 7865 passed / 11 skipped (2 new U4 cases);
eslint clean on MCP-reachable scope; integration server-startup test
green against rebuilt dist/.

* fix(mcp): drop dead ESLint selector + suppress redundant grammar warning

Two minor PR #1383 review findings:

1. eslint.config.mjs: removed Selector 3 (`Property[key.name='write'].properties:has(...)`).
   `.properties` is not a valid attribute on a Property node in the ESTree
   AST, so the :has clause never matched — dead code. Selector 4 covers
   the canonical `const { write } = process.stdout` shape; tightened its
   comment to make that explicit.

2. cli/mcp.ts: removed the unconditional warnMissingOptionalGrammars call
   at MCP startup. The analyze path already emits this warning at index
   time with relevantExtensions filtered to the repo's actual file types,
   and a repo can only be served by MCP after analyze has run. Repeating
   the warning unconditionally on every MCP session was pure noise on
   machines whose indexed repos don't use .dart/.proto.

* chore(mcp): address PR #1383 review nits

Three minor hygiene findings from the production-readiness review:

- cli/mcp.ts: rewrite stale comment that described
  warnMissingOptionalGrammars as living inside mcpCommand. The call was
  removed in ca617552 — this path no longer invokes it at all.
- test/integration/mcp/import-closure.test.ts: same comment drift fixed.
  Test assertion is unchanged and still passes for the right reason
  (cli/mcp.js's static-import closure is leaf-only).
- mcp/server.ts: rename _safeStdout to safeStdout. The leading underscore
  conventionally signals "intentionally unused" but the Proxy is passed
  to CompatibleStdioServerTransport on the next line.

No behavior change. Typecheck clean; ESLint MCP-reachable scope still 0
errors.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-07 09:14:33 +01:00
..
.claude feat: configure prettier with pre-commit hook (#563) 2026-03-28 14:58:04 +00:00
hooks/claude fix(hook): resolve canonical repo root + guard read-only FTS ensure (#1226) 2026-04-30 18:12:03 +01:00
scripts fix(mcp): close MCP server timeout — stdout discipline + cold-start friction (#1383) 2026-05-07 09:14:33 +01:00
shadow-parity-dashboard feat(ingestion): shadow-mode parity harness + static dashboard (#923, RFC #909 Ring 2 PKG) (#972) 2026-04-18 21:30:43 +01:00
skills docs: clarify PostToolUse hook is notification-only, not auto-reindex (#1070) 2026-04-26 06:06:15 +01:00
src fix(mcp): close MCP server timeout — stdout discipline + cold-start friction (#1383) 2026-05-07 09:14:33 +01:00
test fix(mcp): close MCP server timeout — stdout discipline + cold-start friction (#1383) 2026-05-07 09:14:33 +01:00
vendor fix(swift): use official prebuilt parser runtime (#1130) 2026-04-28 09:57:42 +01:00
.env.example feat: add .env.example, empty batch guard, dimension mismatch warning 2026-03-20 20:15:59 -04:00
.npmignore fix: add preinstall cleanup to prevent ENOTEMPTY on global upgrade (#843) 2026-04-15 14:10:49 +01:00
CHANGELOG.md chore: release v1.6.3 (#1064) 2026-04-24 16:33:59 +01:00
Dockerfile.test fix(swift): use official prebuilt parser runtime (#1130) 2026-04-28 09:57:42 +01:00
package-lock.json chore(deps)(deps): bump express-rate-limit in /gitnexus (#1397) 2026-05-06 22:36:56 +01:00
package.json fix(mcp): close MCP server timeout — stdout discipline + cold-start friction (#1383) 2026-05-07 09:14:33 +01:00
README.md fix(lbug): prevent DuckDB extension install hangs (#1129) 2026-04-27 23:09:17 +01:00
tsconfig.json feat: configure prettier with pre-commit hook (#563) 2026-03-28 14:58:04 +00:00
tsconfig.test.json test: add test suite with vitest (unit + integration + fixtures) 2026-03-01 20:07:02 +05:30
vitest.config.ts test(ci): isolate native LadybugDB and CLI e2e flakes 2026-04-30 19:45:26 +01:00

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.

npm version License: PolyForm Noncommercial


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:

  1. Structure — Walks the file tree and maps folder/file relationships
  2. Parsing — Extracts functions, classes, methods, and interfaces using Tree-sitter ASTs
  3. 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
  4. Clustering — Groups related symbols into functional communities
  5. Processes — Traces execution flows from entry points through call chains
  6. 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 repo param 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

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0

Free for non-commercial use. Contact for commercial licensing.