CLI Reference

The dev command-line interface provides local access to dev-agent’s code intelligence features.

Installation


npm install -g dev-agent

Commands

`dev index`

Index your repository for semantic search. Indexes code, git history, and GitHub issues/PRs.

Note: Initial indexing can take 5-10 minutes for large codebases (4k+ files).


dev index
dev index /path/to/repo

What gets indexed: Options:

Flag	Description
`-f, --force`	Force re-index even if unchanged
`-v, --verbose`	Show verbose output

`dev search`

Search your indexed code semantically.


dev search "authentication logic"
dev search "error handling" --verbose
dev search --similar-to src/auth.ts        # Find similar code

Options:

Flag	Description	Default
`-l, --limit <n>`	Maximum results	10
`-s, --similar-to <file>`	Find code similar to a file	—
`-v, --verbose`	Show detailed results	false
`--json`	Output as JSON	false

`dev clean`

Remove all indexed data.


dev clean --force

Options:

Flag	Description
`-f, --force`	Skip confirmation prompt

`dev storage`

Manage storage locations.


dev storage path     # Show storage path
dev storage size     # Show storage size

`dev compact`

Compact the vector database to reclaim space.


dev compact

MCP Commands

Commands for Model Context Protocol integration with AI tools.

`dev mcp start`

Start the MCP server for AI tool integration.


dev mcp start
dev mcp start --verbose

Options:

Flag	Description	Default
`-t, --transport <type>`	Transport type (stdio/http)	stdio
`-p, --port <port>`	Port for HTTP transport	3000
`-v, --verbose`	Verbose logging	false

`dev mcp install`

Install dev-agent as an MCP server in Claude Code or Cursor.


# Install for Claude Code
dev mcp install
 
# Install for Cursor
dev mcp install --cursor

Options:

Flag	Description
`-r, --repository <path>`	Repository path (default: cwd)
`--cursor`	Install for Cursor instead of Claude Code

`dev mcp uninstall`

Remove dev-agent MCP server from Claude Code or Cursor.


dev mcp uninstall
dev mcp uninstall --cursor

`dev mcp list`

List all configured MCP servers.


dev mcp list
dev mcp list --cursor

Configuration

The .dev-agent.json file configures the indexer:


{
  "repositoryPath": "/path/to/repo",
  "vectorStorePath": ".dev-agent/vectors",
  "embeddingModel": "BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5",
  "dimension": 384,
  "excludePatterns": [
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "**/dist/**",
    "**/.git/**"
  ],
  "languages": ["typescript", "javascript", "markdown"]
}

Examples

Basic Workflow


# Index everything (code, git history, GitHub)
dev index
 
# Search for code
dev search "user authentication"
 
# Find similar code
dev search --similar-to src/utils/helpers.ts

Integration with Cursor


# Index your project
dev index
 
# Install MCP server
dev mcp install --cursor
 
# Restart Cursor - tools are now available!

Scripting with JSON Output


# Get file paths from search
dev search "coordinator" --json | jq '.[].metadata.path' | sort -u

Exploratory Search


# Lower threshold for broader matches
dev search "architectural patterns" --limit 10
 
# Find similar code
dev search --similar-to src/utils/retry.ts