searchcode.com — Code intelligence for LLMs

Approach	Tool calls	Tokens
Raw file reads (clone + cat)	~30+	~50,000
searchcode_analyze	1	~500

Capabilities

Six specialized tools.

Each tool returns structured, pre-computed data—so LLMs spend tokens on reasoning, not parsing.

searchcode_analyze

Language breakdowns, complexity metrics, tech stack detection, code quality, and security scanning for any repository.

searchcode_search

Full-text code search with boolean queries, regex, and structural filters—declarations, usages, strings, comments.

searchcode_get_file

Retrieve full files, line ranges, or specific symbols by name. Include adjacent declarations for context in a single call.

searchcode_get_files

Batch retrieve up to 10 files in a single call—perfect for cross-file analysis.

searchcode_file_tree

Directory structure with language, path, and depth filters, plus optional file stats.

searchcode_get_findings

Drill into code quality and security findings filtered by severity and category.

Example

See it in action.

One tool call returns everything an LLM needs to understand a repository.

searchcode_analyze response

// searchcode_analyze({ "repository": "https://github.com/expressjs/express" })

{
  "repository": "https://github.com/expressjs/express",
  "overview": {
    "total_files": 186,
    "total_lines": 18547,
    "total_code_lines": 12832,
    "total_complexity": 1426
  },
  "languages": [
    { "name": "JavaScript", "files": 148, "code_lines": 11204, "percentage": 87.3 },
    { "name": "Markdown",   "files": 12,  "code_lines": 892,   "percentage": 7.0 }
  ],
  "tech_stack": [
    { "technology": "Node.js", "files_using": 148 },
    { "technology": "npm",     "files_using": 1 }
  ],
  "code_quality_summary": {
    "total_findings": 23,
    "by_severity": { "warning": 18, "info": 5 }
  }
}

One call. Languages, complexity, tech stack, quality findings—structured and ready for reasoning.

Use Cases

Hours of code research. One call.

The stuff that eats your afternoon—searchcode handles in seconds.

🔍

Understand a new codebase in one call

Skip cloning, skip setup. Get languages, complexity hotspots, tech stack, and quality issues for any repository instantly. The full picture in seconds, not hours of poking around.

🛡

Scan for secrets and security issues

Find hardcoded credentials, quality issues by severity, and security findings across any public repo. Check before you ship it or depend on it—no tooling setup required.

⚖

Compare projects with real data

Stack two libraries side by side with hard numbers: complexity, code quality, tech stack, and size. Make adoption decisions based on data, not GitHub stars.

📦

Evaluate dependencies beyond the README

READMEs lie. See if the code is actually well-maintained, what deprecated patterns exist, and where the complexity hides. Know what you're importing before it's in your dependency tree.

📋

Due diligence on inherited code

Acquisition, contractor handoff, or new team—get an honest picture of what you're walking into. Complexity distribution, quality findings, and tech stack, laid out in structured data.

🔧

Debug a dependency without cloning it

Search for a symbol, pull the exact function, see surrounding context. Fix the problem without git clone, IDE setup, or reading through a repo you'll never touch again.

🤖

Give AI agents structured code context

Purpose-built MCP tools that feed LLMs code intelligence in structured format. One call replaces dozens of file reads, saving thousands of tokens and giving agents what they actually need to reason.

📈

Assess engineering quality from public repos

Get an instant read on code quality, complexity patterns, and engineering decisions. More signal than a resume, more honest than a take-home test.

Built on a decade of code intelligence.

searchcode.com previously indexed over 75 billion lines of code across millions of repositories, serving millions of API requests daily. That hard-won experience in scaling code analysis is the foundation this MCP server is built on.

Under the hood: scc for code counting & complexity analysis, and cs for code search with BM25 ranking—two battle-tested open-source tools by the same author. Point it at any public git repo and get structured, pre-computed results that cut LLM token usage by 99%.

Feedback

What LLMs are saying.

“The tools saved 15–20 tool calls and several thousand tokens of HTML parsing overhead. The biggest win was direct access to source code in a structured format, which let me identify three specific bugs that would have been nearly impossible to find through web search or paper reading alone.”

“28–35 tool calls replaced by 7 analyze calls, with richer structured data in every case. Complexity numbers, quality finding counts, severity breakdowns, and tech stack lists are things I simply cannot derive from reading source files—they require running actual static analysis tools. The structured output format also mattered: each response came back as organized JSON, pre-computed and immediately comparable across repos.”

“searchcode’s combination of intelligent search, targeted symbol retrieval, and now adjacent context makes remote code analysis feel like a local IDE. I can dive from project overview to specific optimizations in seconds, not hours.”

Installation

Set up in under a minute.

No install, no API key. Just add the server URL to your MCP client.

Claude Code

Run in your terminal

claude mcp add searchcode \
  --transport http \
  https://searchcode.com/v1/mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searchcode": {
      "url": "https://searchcode.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "searchcode": {
      "url": "https://searchcode.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code / Copilot

Add to .vscode/settings.json

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "searchcode": {
        "url": "https://searchcode.com/v1/mcp"
      }
    }
  }
}

Works with any MCP client that supports remote servers via streamable HTTP. No dependencies to install—searchcode runs server-side.

Open Source

Built on proven tools.

searchcode is powered by battle-tested open-source projects.

scc

Fast, accurate code counter with complexity calculations. Supports 300+ languages.

github.com/boyter/scc

Code search with BM25 ranking, regex, and structural filters. Built for speed.

github.com/boyter/cs

MCP Protocol

Implements the Model Context Protocol for seamless LLM integration.

modelcontextprotocol.io

Code intelligence
for LLMs.

Six specialized tools.

See it in action.

Hours of code research. One call.

Built on a decade of code intelligence.

What LLMs are saying.

Set up in under a minute.

Built on proven tools.

Free during beta

Code intelligencefor LLMs.

Six specialized tools.

See it in action.

Hours of code research. One call.

Built on a decade of code intelligence.

What LLMs are saying.

Set up in under a minute.

Built on proven tools.

Free during beta

Code intelligence
for LLMs.