MCP Server

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AGPL-3.0

Synaptic Code Intelligence MCP Server

io.github.ColinVaughn/synaptic

Code intelligence platform that maps repositories into persistent knowledge graphs for impact analysis and change planning.

Repository Registry

What is the Synaptic Code Intelligence MCP server?

Synaptic Code Intelligence is an MCP server that builds a persistent, source-grounded knowledge graph of your codebase to enable intelligent code navigation, impact analysis, and change planning. It extracts code structure once locally (no database or API key required) and provides tools for understanding dependencies, forecasting change impact, selecting relevant tests, and maintaining repository memory across sessions.

Synaptic maps your repository into a queryable knowledge graph that your coding assistant can use to understand how systems work, trace what a change might break, and plan safe refactors. Instead of re-analyzing files each session, it maintains a persistent graph that compresses context by 27-38x compared to reading source files directly. Available as a CLI tool, desktop app, or MCP server for integration with Claude, Cursor, and other AI assistants.

How to install Synaptic Code Intelligence

Copy-paste configuration for popular MCP clients.

transport: http

Config generated by PluginBench — verify against the source before use.

Environment / auth

Authorization
required
secret
Bearer token from the Synaptic MCP dashboard, including the Bearer prefix

~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "synaptic": {
      "url": "https://synapticgraph.com/api/mcp/projects/{project_id}"
    }
  }
}

Tools & capabilities

Tools this server exposes to the agent.

query — Ask natural language questions about the codebase and get answers grounded in the code graph
affected — Trace reverse impact: find what could break if you change a specific symbol
predict — Forecast risk and select relevant tests for a set of file changes
speculate — Verify a change in an isolated worktree before committing
memory search — Find relevant repository history from commits, decisions, incidents, reviews, and previous attempts
chart — Generate a self-contained architecture map showing subsystems and symbol relationships
extract — Build or update the code graph from a repository
serve — Run the MCP server to expose graph tools to coding assistants

Use cases

Understand how authentication or other complex systems work by querying the code graph
Forecast what tests to run and what might break before making a change to a critical function
Find all callers and reverse dependencies of an API to plan safe refactors
Search repository history and past decisions to understand why code was written a certain way
Generate architecture diagrams and dependency visualizations for documentation or code review

Synaptic Code Intelligence MCP server FAQ

What is Synaptic Code Intelligence?

Synaptic is a code intelligence platform that builds a persistent knowledge graph of your repository. It extracts code structure once locally, then provides tools to query dependencies, trace change impact, select tests, and maintain engineering memory—all without requiring a database, account, or API key.

Is Synaptic free?

Yes. Synaptic is open-source under AGPL-3.0-or-later and ships as a single Rust binary with no runtime dependencies. A separate proprietary Synaptic Cloud service offers managed MCP hosting.

How do I use Synaptic with Claude or Cursor?

Install Synaptic locally, run `synaptic extract .` to build the graph, then use `synaptic install claude` or `synaptic install codex` to connect it to your assistant. Alternatively, use Synaptic Cloud for a managed MCP endpoint.

What languages does Synaptic support?

Synaptic supports dozens of languages for code extraction, including symbols, calls, imports, inheritance, resources, SQL, and cross-language boundaries. See the documentation for the complete list.

Does Synaptic require network access?

No. Code extraction is local and deterministic. Synaptic stays offline by default unless you explicitly enable network-backed features like Synaptic Cloud or GitHub automation.

Can Synaptic help with dependency and vulnerability management?

Yes. Synaptic tracks API contracts and provides vulnerability evidence with small, reviewable repair workflows for maintaining dependencies safely.

README (reference)

Source of truth, from the repository.

Synaptic

Give your coding assistant a map of the codebase, not a pile of files.

Synaptic maps a repository once so you and your coding assistant do not have to rediscover it every session. Ask how a system works, what depends on a symbol, or what a change may break. The answers come from a persistent, source-grounded knowledge graph, available from the CLI or through MCP. Synaptic can also remember past changes and plan small, reviewable API and dependency repairs.

Code extraction is local and deterministic. Synaptic ships as a single Rust binary with no runtime, database, account, or API key required.

Documentation | Quickstart | Benchmarks | Discord

Get started

Install the latest checksummed release:

# macOS / Linux
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ColinVaughn/Synaptic/main/install.sh | sh

# Windows PowerShell
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ColinVaughn/Synaptic/main/install.ps1 | iex

Then run Synaptic from a repository:

synaptic extract .                         # build synaptic-out/graph.json
synaptic query "how does authentication work?"
synaptic affected parse_config             # what could this change break?

Extraction honors .gitignore and .synapticignore, skips common secret files, and stays offline unless you explicitly enable a network-backed feature.

Connect your coding assistant

synaptic install claude                    # Claude Code
synaptic install codex                     # Codex CLI
synaptic install codex --global            # Codex desktop app

Claude and Codex load only a small set of tools at startup, then find the rest on demand. This keeps prompts smaller without hiding capabilities. Gemini, Cursor, Copilot, OpenCode, Kilo, and generic AGENTS.md clients are supported too. See Assistant Integration.

What it does

Need	What Synaptic provides
Understand the code	Symbols, calls, imports, inheritance, resources, SQL, and cross-language boundaries in one graph
Find impact	Callers, references, reverse dependencies, dynamic-dispatch hazards, and affected tests
Change code safely	Change forecasts, refactor plans, architecture diffs, and optional verification in an isolated worktree
Remember the past	Source-linked history from commits, decisions, incidents, reviews, CI, and previous attempts
Maintain dependencies	API contract tracking and vulnerability evidence with small, reviewable repair workflows

Synaptic supports dozens of languages, incremental updates, multi-repository federation, structural search, SQL auditing, graph-aware PR review, and exports for GraphML, Cypher, Graphviz, Obsidian, and Markdown. Detailed capabilities live in the documentation, keeping this page focused on getting started.

See the architecture

synaptic chart

This creates a self-contained architecture map from the graph. Open a subsystem, select a symbol, and follow its real incoming and outgoing relationships without a server.

Built to save context

Synaptic returns the relevant slice of a graph instead of loading whole source files into an assistant's context. In the checked-in token benchmark, full graph answers used 27-38x fewer tokens than reading the source files referenced by those answers. That is a context-compression measurement, not a promise about total task cost. The methodology and raw results are in BENCHMARKS.md.

Common commands

Command	Purpose
`synaptic extract .`	Build the graph
`synaptic update` / `synaptic watch`	Keep it current
`synaptic query "..."`	Find the relevant subgraph for a question
`synaptic affected <symbol>`	Trace reverse impact
`synaptic predict <files>`	Forecast risk and select tests
`synaptic speculate <files>`	Verify a change in a throwaway worktree
`synaptic memory search "..."`	Find relevant repository history
`synaptic serve`	Run the MCP server

Run synaptic <command> --help for flags or use the complete command reference.

Pick a workflow

CLI: the fastest path for local extraction, queries, automation, and MCP.
Desktop: run synaptic-ui for visual repository setup, federation, assistant connection, updates, and the complete command catalog.
Hosted: Synaptic Cloud provides a managed MCP service. See the GitHub automation guide for commit-triggered graph sync and verified repair workflows.

Update a release installation with synaptic self-update.

Documentation

Installation and Quickstart
Querying, languages, and output formats
MCP server and assistant integration
Repository memory, API maintenance, and vulnerability management
Workspaces and federation, configuration, and development

Build from source

The repository pins Rust 1.97.1.

cargo install --path bin/synaptic
cargo install --path bin/synaptic-ui       # optional desktop app

For development and architecture notes, see the development guide.

Community and license

Questions, ideas, or something you built? Join the Discord community.

Synaptic is licensed under AGPL-3.0-or-later; see LICENSE and NOTICE. If you modify Synaptic and make it available over a network, you must offer those users the corresponding source. The separately maintained Synaptic Cloud service is proprietary and is not covered by this repository's license.

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