Searchable codebase wikis and context for coding agents

Point it at any repo, get a searchable Wiki and an MCP server for your coding agent.

Quickstart · Website · Discord · Documentation · News · CodeGraph · MCP · Agent Integrations · Languages

bash

python -m pip install "codenib[graph,mcp]"
codenib codegraph init /path/to/your/repo

That one command detects the repository languages, installs the pinned package-level graph providers it can manage, builds BM25 plus a source-linked symbol graph, and registers the resulting MCP server with installed Codex and Claude Code clients. It is local, open source, requires no model or cloud, and does not write configuration or indexes into the target repository.

System Architecture

Layer	Responsibility
View compiler	Chunk source and materialize BM25, dense, graph, and navigation views; reuse current artifacts and atomically rebuild affected views
View manifest	Record repository identity, source fingerprint, builder profile, capabilities, status, and artifact location independently for each view
Context serving	Execute lexical, semantic, hybrid, reranked, and structural query plans while preserving repository-relative source locations
Agent runtime	Expose capability-aware MCP and LSP-shaped tools, assemble bounded evidence, and return citations that agents and humans can inspect

text

repository change
  -> reuse current views or rebuild affected views
  -> publish a capability-bearing manifest
  -> plan repository queries
  -> deliver bounded, source-linked context

On a later commit, CodeNib reuses views whose source and builder identities are still current. A requested view affected by source or policy changes currently rebuilds in an isolated generation; file- and symbol-level delta repair remains disabled until it can use the same pinned source authority.

Quickstart

Requires Python 3.10+ and Git. For an agent-ready CodeGraph with no model or API key, install the graph and MCP extras and run one command:

bash

python -m pip install "codenib[graph,mcp]"
codenib codegraph init /path/to/repository

codegraph init detects Codex and Claude Code, installs only the detected languages' package-managed providers, builds reusable bm25 and symbol_graph views, and asks each native client CLI to own its configuration. Run codenib codegraph status /path/to/repository to diagnose the complete path or codenib codegraph uninstall /path/to/repository to remove only the managed client registrations. The index remains reusable.

Repositories can persist exact root-relative subtree exclusions when generated or vendored content should not be indexed:

bash

codenib codegraph init /path/to/repository \
  --exclude-dir ios/Pods \
  --exclude-dir generated/api

Paths use repository-relative POSIX spelling (/) and name exact subtrees, not globs. Repeat --exclude-dir to replace the complete custom exclusion set. Later init and index runs reuse that policy from the manifest; use --clear-exclude-dirs to return to the default source surface. CodeNib does not implicitly treat .gitignore as an indexing policy, because tracked and local ignored source can still be intentional input.

Zoekt supports the default source policy only when its fixed commit tree exactly matches the authenticated checkout and contains no tracked path that the default policy excludes. It does not currently support a non-empty custom exclusion set. A command that explicitly requests the zoekt view, including --preset full, fails closed when either condition is unmet; use the CodeGraph, fast, or semantic paths instead. Authenticated MCP serving for Zoekt currently requires Linux /proc; see the source-surface boundaries.

For a browser Wiki with hybrid BM25+dense retrieval, install the semantic extra:

bash

python -m pip install "codenib[semantic]"
codenib wiki /path/to/repository

Both paths keep reusable state under ~/.codenib/repositories and leave the target checkout unchanged. Set CODENIB_HOME to relocate state.

Preview the CodeGraph operations without installing, indexing, or configuring an agent:

bash

codenib codegraph init /path/to/repository --dry-run

For a structural view, CodeNib detects the repository languages and manages only their package-level providers; operating-system and project prerequisites remain explicit:

bash

python -m pip install "codenib[graph]"
codenib toolchain install /path/to/repository --scope graph
codenib doctor /path/to/repository --require graph

Export that indexed commit as a serverless Wiki when a live Ask backend is not needed:

server.ts

codenib export /path/to/repository --output /tmp/repository-wiki

The export contains a versioned provenance manifest, precomputed Wiki pages, source citations, and available page-level dependency data. It contains no provider credential; interactive Ask and runtime graph exploration remain on the local or MCP serving path.

For a repository-hosted Wiki, CodeNib also ships a reusable GitHub workflow that builds or reuses the same manifest, deploys the static site to Pages, and uploads the matching commit-addressed context artifact. Its default semantic route builds BM25 and vector views with a cached local Hugging Face model and needs no API key. An explicit fast route avoids the model download; a BYO OpenAI-compatible endpoint can replace local embedding. Query-time search remains in the local or MCP runtime. See GitHub Pages. The published BM25/vector artifact can then be verified against an exact local checkout and served through MCP without rebuilding the repository views.

See the Quickstart for ports, advanced indexing, and troubleshooting.

CodeNib Wiki showing the source-linked reverse proxy guide for Caddy

Serve An Agent

The recommended path configures installed Codex and Claude Code clients through their native CLIs:

bash

python -m pip install "codenib[graph,mcp]"
codenib codegraph init /path/to/repository

Ask the agent to start with explore_context for bounded, source-verified repository context and use dependency_subgraph for caller impact or callee dependencies. The MCP server also exposes ranked BM25, regex, definition, reference, route, and bounded source-read tools. See the CodeGraph guide for client scopes, diagnostics, uninstall behavior, and language prerequisites, and the MCP Server for the complete tool contract.

The same planner is available directly to Python agents:

server.ts

from codenib.agent import RepositoryContextExplorer

with RepositoryContextExplorer.from_repository(
    "/path/to/repository", policy="auto"
) as explorer:
    result = explorer.explore("where is request retry behavior implemented?", top_k=10)

Each result includes source-validated evidence plus the selected plan, capabilities, loaded views, fusion, graph, and reranking trace.

What CodeNib Provides

Surface	Purpose
View compiler	Build independently managed views, reuse current generations, and atomically rebuild changed views under one source identity
Agent context runtime	Plan capability-aware retrieval and navigation, then assemble bounded source-linked evidence
Retrieval	BM25, dense-vector, regex/trigram, Zoekt, fusion, and reranking paths; see the validated model matrix
Structural context	SCIP/LSP-backed symbol graphs with source locations and typed edges
MCP and LSP-shaped tools	Serve one manifest to coding agents without tying the runtime to one agent framework
Agent compatibility	Reuse one manifest across revision-pinned LocAgent, Agentless, CoSIL, and OrcaLoca contracts, plus the published RepoNavigator `jump` contract over SCIP/LSP definition signals; see the support matrix
Benchmark compatibility	Evaluate native exploration against pinned external datasets and scorers, including SWE-Explore; see the dataset and benchmark matrix
Local inspection	Audit the same context through Wiki pages, Ask answers, citations, and the Dependency Map
Evaluation harness	Measure retrieval, navigation, incremental maintenance, and context policies on the same artifacts

Language support varies by surface. The generated capability matrix records chunking, graph, incremental, and C++ decoder support.

Documentation

Build the documentation site locally with:

bash

python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
mkdocs serve

Development

bash

git clone https://github.com/sysevol-ai/CodeNib.git
cd CodeNib
make dev
make test

The test suite is split into unit, integration, serial integration, core, graph-consumer, and slow tiers. See CI/CD before running the credential- or toolchain-dependent tiers.

Status

CodeNib is currently in beta. The CLI and manifest format are usable, but public interfaces may still change before a stable release. Historical research artifacts retain their published dataset identifiers; the maintained package, import namespace, commands, and repository use CodeNib. See Naming.

Citation

If you use CodeNib in your research, please cite our arXiv paper:

bibtex

@misc{yu2026codenibmultiviewdataserving,
      title={CodeNib: A Multi-View Data System for Serving Repository Context to Coding Agents},
      author={Zhongming Yu and Hengjia Yu and Boqin Yuan and Shuting Zhao and Yizhao Chen and Aryan Dokania and Mihir Jagtap and Jiayu Chang and Yitong Ma and Yash Jayswal and Wentao Ni and Hejia Zhang and Zhaoling Chen and Gangda Deng and Jishen Zhao},
      year={2026},
      eprint={2607.25431},
      archivePrefix={arXiv},
      primaryClass={cs.SE},
      url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.25431},
}

Project

Website · Releases · Changelog · Contributing

License

CodeNib is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.