MCP Tools Overview

dev-agent provides five tools through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). These tools give AI assistants deep understanding of your codebase.

Available Tools

New in v0.8.5

• dev_patterns — Refactored for comprehensive pattern analysis (5 categories)
• Performance — 5-10x faster pattern analysis via batch scanning (500-1000ms)
• Accuracy — Semantic similarity using document embeddings, extension filtering
• Simplified API — Streamlined interface (no action parameter needed)

v0.5.0

• Enhanced indexing — Arrow functions, React hooks, and exported constants now extracted
• dev_search — Better coverage of modern JavaScript patterns (hooks, utilities, configs)

v0.4.0

• dev_map — Change frequency indicators (🔥 hot, ✏️ active, 📝 recent)

v0.3.0

• dev_refs — Query what calls what and what is called by what
• dev_map — Get codebase overview with hot paths and smart depth

How Tools Are Exposed

Tools are exposed via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a standard for AI tool integration:

AI Assistant (Cursor/Claude)
        │
        │ MCP Protocol (stdio)
        ▼
   dev-agent MCP Server
        │
        ├── SearchAdapter      → dev_search
        ├── RefsAdapter        → dev_refs
        ├── MapAdapter         → dev_map
        ├── InspectAdapter     → dev_patterns
        └── StatusAdapter      → dev_status (includes health checks)

Tool Response Format

All tools return structured responses with metadata:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "query": "authentication",
    "content": "1. [89%] class: AuthMiddleware..."
  },
  "metadata": {
    "tokens": 245,
    "duration_ms": 123,
    "results_total": 15,
    "results_returned": 10
  }
}

The metadata field helps AI assistants understand:

• Token cost of the response
• Performance metrics
• Result completeness (truncated or full)

Output Formats

Most tools support two output formats:

• compact (default) — Token-efficient, markdown output
• verbose — Full JSON with all details

Next Steps

• dev_search → — Semantic code search
• dev_refs → — Relationship queries
• dev_map → — Codebase overview