Carve

Text Editor for AI Agents

Carve lets AI agents edit code structurally instead of rewriting entire files. It parses source code into a tree-sitter AST, exposes navigation and mutation tools over MCP or HTTP, and regenerates source files from the tree.

Install

pip install carve-server

Install with language grammars:

# Individual languages
pip install "carve-server[python]"
pip install "carve-server[javascript]"

# All supported languages
pip install "carve-server[all]"

Supported: Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, JSON, Markdown, TOML, YAML, Bash, Jinja.

Quick Start (MCP)

Add to Claude Code with one command:

claude mcp add carve -- carve serve --mcp

Or add to your MCP client config manually:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "carve": {
      "command": "carve",
      "args": ["serve", "--mcp", "--path", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Or run directly:

carve serve --mcp --path ./my-project

The agent can then navigate and edit code through Carve's tool interface.

Quick Start (HTTP)

carve serve --http --path ./my-project --port 8080

Import a file, explore its structure, make a surgical edit:

# See the tree structure
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/tree/subtree \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"node_id": "module", "depth": 2}'

# Inspect a specific function
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/tree/inspect \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"node_id": "module::MyClass::my_method"}'

# Update just that function
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/tree/update \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "node_id": "module::MyClass::my_method",
    "snippet": "def my_method(self, x):\n        return x * 2"
  }'

# Write changes to disk
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/project/serialize \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

How It Works

Source file → Tree-sitter AST → In-memory tree store → Tools → Regenerated source

Carve parses source files into a tree of named nodes with hierarchical IDs like module::Calculator::add. Agents navigate with subtree, search, and inspect, then make targeted edits with insert, update, and delete — down to individual statements. When done, project_serialize writes the tree back to disk.

This means an agent can change one line inside a method without seeing or rewriting the rest of the file.

Tools

Configuration

carvesettings.toml

Drop a carvesettings.toml in your project root to configure formatters, custom tools, and language mappings.

workspace = "."
sidecars = true

[formatters]
python = "ruff format --quiet {file}"
javascript = "prettier --write {file}"

[tools]
test = "uv run pytest {args}"
lint = "uv run ruff check carve/ {args}"
typecheck = "uv run mypy carve/"

[language_map]
".djhtml" = "jinja"
".j2" = "jinja"

[import_map]
jinja = "tree_sitter_jinja"

formatters — Run after every disk write. {file} is replaced with the file path. Keyed by language name.

tools — Custom shell commands exposed as MCP tools (prefixed with run_). Placeholders like {args} become tool parameters. Requires --allow-custom-tools to enable.

sidecars — When true (default), Carve writes .crv sidecar files (see below). Set to false to disable.

workspace — Default project path. Also settable via CARVE_WORKSPACE env var.

language_map — Map file extensions to language names, extending the built-in defaults.

import_map — Map language names to tree-sitter grammar module names.

.carveignore

Controls which files are included when importing a directory. Uses gitignore-style patterns. Without this file, all supported files are included.

# Common defaults
.git/
__pycache__/
*.egg-info/
.venv/
node_modules/
dist/
build/

# Carve metadata
*.crv

# Project-specific
*.db
*.png

.crv Sidecar Files

Every time Carve mutates a source file, it appends an entry to a .crv JSON file next to it (e.g. app.py.crv). This is an audit trail of AI-driven changes:

[
  {
    "operation": "update",
    "node_id": "Calculator::add",
    "timestamp": "2026-02-13T18:30:00+00:00",
    "model": "claude-opus-4-6",
    "prompt": "Simplify the add method",
    "notes": "Removed type annotations per user request"
  }
]

Each entry records what changed, when, which model did it, and why. This metadata is restored when you re-import the file, so inspect shows the prompt and model that last touched each node.

To disable: set sidecars = false in carvesettings.toml. To keep them out of version control, add *.crv to your .gitignore.

CLI Options

carve serve --mcp              # MCP server on stdio
carve serve --http             # HTTP server (default port 8080)
  --path DIR                   # Project directory or file to load
  --port 8080                  # HTTP port
  --host 127.0.0.1             # HTTP host
  --read-only                  # Block all mutations
  --no-create                  # Block new file creation
  --no-delete                  # Block file/directory deletion
  --allow-custom-tools         # Enable tools from carvesettings.toml

License

MIT