cerebrofy 2.3.2

AI-powered codebase intelligence CLI

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🧠 Cerebrofy

AI-powered codebase intelligence CLI.
Cerebrofy indexes your repository into a local graph + vector database, then exposes it to AI assistants via MCP — letting them navigate your codebase with surgical precision instead of reading entire files. Zero code uploaded to any server.

cerebrofy init && cerebrofy build
# → Parses, graphs, embeds — one local index, ready for AI tools
cerebrofy validate
# → clean

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The Problem: LLM Context Is Expensive

When you ask an AI agent to help with a feature in a real codebase, the naive approach is to dump files into the context window. That approach has three problems:

• Cost: a 20,000 LOC codebase is ~600,000 tokens per query
• Noise: the LLM reads code that is irrelevant to the task
• Hallucination: without structural grounding, the LLM guesses at call relationships and import paths

Cerebrofy solves this by pre-computing a structural + semantic index of your code. Instead of dumping files, it gives the LLM exactly what it needs:

What the LLM receives	Token count	How it's selected
10 matched Neuron signatures	~500 tokens	KNN cosine similarity search
Their depth-2 call graph	~800 tokens	BFS over the edges table
2–3 pre-written lobe summaries	~8,000 tokens	Affected lobe .md files
Total	~10,000 tokens	vs. ~600,000 for raw files

~97% token reduction on a typical mid-size codebase. The LLM gets a precise, grounded, zero-hallucination view of the code it actually needs — not a random 20-file dump.

How Cerebrofy Grounds the LLM

graph TD
    A[Your Codebase<br/>~600,000 tokens] -->|cerebrofy build| B[(cerebrofy.db)]

    B --> N[Neurons<br/>named functions · classes · modules]
    B --> G[Call Graph<br/>LOCAL_CALL · EXTERNAL_CALL · IMPORT]
    B --> V[Vector Embeddings<br/>semantic meaning per Neuron]
    B --> L[Lobe Summaries<br/>pre-written per-module Markdown]

    N & G & V & L -->|user description| H[Hybrid Search<br/>KNN cosine + BFS depth-2]

    H --> P[LLM Prompt<br/>~10,000 tokens<br/>real names · real paths · real call chains]
    P --> S[Grounded Spec]

The call graph answers the question an LLM cannot answer from code alone: "if I change this function, what else breaks?" Cerebrofy computes this once at build time with O(1) edge lookups — no approximation, no guessing.

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How It Works

Cerebrofy builds a structural + semantic index of your code in one SQLite file (.cerebrofy/db/cerebrofy.db):

1. Parse — Tree-sitter extracts named functions, classes, and modules as Neurons
2. Graph — Call relationships become typed edges (LOCAL_CALL, EXTERNAL_CALL, RUNTIME_BOUNDARY)
3. Embed — Each Neuron is embedded into a sqlite-vec vector table for semantic search
4. Query — Hybrid search (KNN cosine + BFS depth-2) finds affected code units for any description
5. Expose — An MCP stdio server lets AI clients trigger builds, run drift checks, and update the index

No cloud index. No code upload. One file, one connection.

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Platform Support

Cerebrofy runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. All commands (init, build, update, validate, viz, mcp) behave identically across platforms with one prerequisite difference:

Platform	Prerequisites	Notes
Linux / macOS	Python 3.11+, Git	No extra setup
Windows	Python 3.11+, Git for Windows	Required for git hook execution (MSYS bash)

Windows users: Install Git for Windows before running cerebrofy init. Git for Windows bundles MSYS bash, which is what runs the installed git hooks. Without it, cerebrofy init succeeds but the pre-commit / pre-push / post-merge hooks will not fire.

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Installation

Recommended: uv tool install

# Base install — includes local embeddings (BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5, offline)
uv tool install cerebrofy

# With MCP server support (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, etc.)
uv tool install "cerebrofy[mcp]"

Note: Embeddings are bundled in the base install via fastembed. No extra required for cerebrofy build or cerebrofy update. The only optional extra is [mcp].

Alternative installers

pip install cerebrofy
pipx install cerebrofy

# With MCP
pip install "cerebrofy[mcp]"
pipx install "cerebrofy[mcp]"

From source

git clone https://github.com/mm0rsy/cerebrofy
cd cerebrofy
uv sync --group dev

Run tests:

# Unit + integration tests (no MCP)
uv run pytest tests/unit/ tests/integration/test_update_command.py \
  tests/integration/test_validate_command.py tests/integration/test_migrate_command.py

# Full suite including MCP integration tests
uv sync --extra mcp --group dev
uv run pytest

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Quick Start

Three commands, then git handles everything automatically:

# Step 1 — one time per repo
cerebrofy init

# Step 2 — one time after init (takes ~30s on a typical codebase)
cerebrofy build

# Step 3 — optional: wire your AI client so it uses the index instead of reading files
cerebrofy init --ai claude      # writes navigation rules to CLAUDE.md
cerebrofy init --ai copilot     # writes rules to .github/copilot-instructions.md
cerebrofy init --ai opencode    # writes rules to .opencode/instructions.md

That's it. From here, cerebrofy update runs automatically on every git commit (via the installed pre-commit hook) and the index is validated before every git push. You never need to run cerebrofy update manually.

your workflow:
  code → git commit  →  index auto-updated  ✓
                ↓
           git push   →  index validated     ✓

First time on a new machine? After cloning a repo that already has cerebrofy:

cerebrofy init   # re-installs hooks
cerebrofy build  # builds your local index from scratch

Once the index is built, AI assistants with MCP configured can call all six tools directly — see MCP Tools.

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Commands

cerebrofy init

Scaffold .cerebrofy/, auto-detect Lobes, install git hooks, and register the MCP server.

cerebrofy init                           # Local MCP registration (default)
cerebrofy init --global                  # Register MCP globally (~/.config/mcp/servers.json)
cerebrofy init --no-mcp                  # Skip MCP registration
cerebrofy init --force                   # Re-initialize, overwrite MCP entry with current binary path
cerebrofy init --ai claude               # Also write AI navigation rules to CLAUDE.md
cerebrofy init --ai copilot              # Also write rules to .github/copilot-instructions.md
cerebrofy init --ai vscode               # Same as --ai copilot
cerebrofy init --ai opencode             # Also write rules to .opencode/instructions.md

What it creates:

.cerebrofy/
├── config.yaml          ← Lobe map, tracked extensions, embed model
├── db/                  ← cerebrofy.db lives here (gitignored)
└── queries/             ← Tree-sitter .scm files per language
.cerebrofy-ignore        ← Ignore rules (gitignore syntax)
.gitignore               ← .cerebrofy/db/ appended automatically
.git/hooks/pre-commit    ← Auto-runs cerebrofy update on every commit (silent, never blocks)
.git/hooks/pre-push      ← Validates index before push; auto-updates if drift detected
.git/hooks/post-merge    ← state_hash sync check after git pull

The --ai flag appends a fenced navigation rules block to the target instructions file. The block is idempotent — re-running replaces the existing block rather than appending a second copy.

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cerebrofy build

Full atomic re-index of the repository.

cerebrofy build

Writes to cerebrofy.db.tmp, swaps atomically to cerebrofy.db only on success. An interrupted build leaves no corrupted state. Runs 6 steps:

Step	Action
0	Create .tmp database, apply schema
1	Parse all tracked source files → Neurons
2	Build intra-file call graph (LOCAL_CALL edges)
3	Resolve cross-module calls (EXTERNAL_CALL, IMPORT, RUNTIME_BOUNDARY edges)
4	Generate embeddings for all Neurons (BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5, 384-dim, offline)
5	Commit file hashes + state_hash, atomic swap
6	Write per-lobe Markdown docs and cerebrofy_map.md

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cerebrofy update

Partially re-index only changed files — target latency < 2s for a single-file change.

cerebrofy update                        # Auto-detect via git
cerebrofy update src/auth/login.py      # Explicit file list

Detects changes via git diff (falls back to file hash comparison in non-git repos). Uses depth-2 BFS to find and re-index all affected neighbors. All writes are wrapped in a single BEGIN IMMEDIATE transaction — on failure, full rollback.

After a successful update that completes in under 2 seconds, the pre-push git hook is automatically upgraded from warn-only (v1) to hard-block (v2).

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cerebrofy validate

Classify drift between the index and current source.

cerebrofy validate

Exit codes:

Code	Meaning
0	Index is clean, or minor drift (whitespace/comments only)
1	Structural drift — function added, removed, renamed, or signature changed

This command is also invoked automatically by the pre-push git hook.

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cerebrofy mcp

Start the MCP stdio server. Used by AI tools (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, etc.) — not invoked manually.

cerebrofy mcp    # requires: uv tool install "cerebrofy[mcp]"

Exposes six fully operational tools: search_code, get_neuron, list_lobes, cerebrofy_build, cerebrofy_update, cerebrofy_validate. See docs/mcp-integration.md for full setup.

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cerebrofy viz

Launch an interactive 3D brain visualization of your codebase's call graph in the browser.

cerebrofy viz
# → Serving at http://localhost:7331

Each node is a function, class, or module. Color encodes its position in the call graph:

Color	Meaning
🔴 Red	Pure sources — entry points called by nothing (CLI commands, top-level scripts)
🟠 Orange / 🟡 Yellow	Mid-graph — both call and are called
🟢 Green	Pure leaves — utilities called by others, call nothing
🟤 Grey-gold	Isolated — no edges in the filtered graph

Nodes are distributed throughout the full brain interior using volumetric sphere sampling. Source nodes are placed at the cortex surface. Clicking any node shows its docstring and metadata in a side panel.

Works on any cerebrofy-indexed Python project — no project-specific configuration required.

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cerebrofy migrate

Run sequential schema migration scripts.

cerebrofy migrate

Scripts live in .cerebrofy/scripts/migrations/. Safe to run multiple times — already-applied migrations are skipped.

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MCP Tools

When configured via cerebrofy init, AI assistants can call these tools directly against your index:

Tool	Status	Description
cerebrofy_build	✅	Trigger a full atomic re-index from the AI client.
cerebrofy_update	✅	Trigger an incremental re-index. Pass path to target a specific file.
cerebrofy_validate	✅	Check for drift. Returns clean, minor_drift, or structural_drift. Zero writes.
search_code	✅	Hybrid KNN + BFS semantic search — primary navigation tool.
get_neuron	✅	Fetch a specific Neuron by name or file:line.
list_lobes	✅	List indexed lobes with summary file paths.

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Lobes

A Lobe is a named module group — typically one top-level directory in your repository. Cerebrofy auto-detects Lobes at cerebrofy init time. Each Lobe gets a Markdown summary at .cerebrofy/lobes/<name>_lobe.md.

Lobes are configured in .cerebrofy/config.yaml:

lobes:
  auth: src/auth/
  api: src/api/
  db: src/db/

The lobe name surfaces in MCP tool output ("lobe": "auth") and in lobe summary files used as AI context.

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Embedding Model

Cerebrofy uses BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5 via fastembed:

Property	Value
Dimensions	384
Format	ONNX (no PyTorch)
Size	~130 MB (cached after first cerebrofy build)
Offline	Yes — no API key, no network after first download
Extra required	None — bundled in base install

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Language Support

Cerebrofy uses Tree-sitter with .scm query files. Supported out of the box:

Python · JavaScript · TypeScript · TSX · JSX · Go · Rust · Java · Ruby · C++ · C

To add a new language, add a .scm query file to .cerebrofy/queries/ and add the extension to tracked_extensions in config.yaml. See docs/architecture.md for details.

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Git Hooks

Cerebrofy installs three hooks at cerebrofy init time:

Hook	Trigger	Behavior
pre-commit	After every git commit	Auto-runs cerebrofy update silently. Never blocks commits. Index is always fresh.
pre-push	Before git push	Validates the index. If drift slipped through, auto-runs cerebrofy update. Blocks only if update fails.
post-merge	After git pull / merge	Compares remote state_hash against local index; warns if out of sync.

All three hooks are installed by cerebrofy init. You should never need to run cerebrofy update manually — the pre-commit hook does it on every commit. The pre-push hook is a safety net for cases where the pre-commit hook wasn't installed or was bypassed.

Windows

Hooks are written as POSIX sh scripts and executed by the MSYS bash shell that ships with Git for Windows — no extra configuration needed. If hooks don't appear to run after cerebrofy init, confirm that git on your PATH comes from Git for Windows (not WSL or another distribution).

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Configuration

Full reference: docs/configuration.md

Quick example .cerebrofy/config.yaml:

lobes:
  auth: src/auth/
  api: src/api/

tracked_extensions:
  - .py
  - .ts
  - .go

embedding_model: local      # local | none

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Output Files

Path	Created by	Description
.cerebrofy/db/cerebrofy.db	cerebrofy build	Full index — graph + vectors
.cerebrofy/lobes/<name>_lobe.md	cerebrofy build / update	Per-lobe Neuron + call table
.cerebrofy/cerebrofy_map.md	cerebrofy build / update	Master index with state_hash

The lobe .md and map files are committed to git (not gitignored). They form the human-readable index of your codebase and serve as AI context when used with MCP tools.

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MCP Integration

Cerebrofy ships an MCP stdio server with six fully operational tools.

# Install with MCP support
uv tool install "cerebrofy[mcp]"

# Initialize — auto-registers the MCP entry with the absolute binary path
cerebrofy init

# Re-register if the binary moved (e.g. after reinstall)
cerebrofy init --force

See docs/mcp-integration.md for client-specific registration, manual setup, and per-tool schemas.

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Multi-Developer Workflow

cerebrofy.db is a local artifact — it is not committed to git (.cerebrofy/db/ is gitignored automatically by cerebrofy init). Each developer builds and maintains their own index. Synchronization uses state_hash in cerebrofy_map.md, which is committed.

Event	What happens
First clone	.cerebrofy/ missing → run cerebrofy init && cerebrofy build. Pre-push hook warns but does not block.
Daily development	Edit code → cerebrofy update syncs the index in < 2s. Pre-push hook validates automatically.
git pull / merge	Post-merge hook compares remote state_hash (from pulled cerebrofy_map.md) against local index. Warns if they differ — run cerebrofy build to resync.
Embedding model change	Change embedding_model in config.yaml → run cerebrofy build to rebuild the vector table at the new dimension.

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Performance Targets

Engineering targets validated against real repositories, not guaranteed results.

Metric	Target
Token reduction	~97% — 20k LOC (~600k tokens) → 10 matched Neurons + lobe context (~15k tokens)
Blast radius query	< 10ms — depth-2 BFS on 10,000-node graph via indexed SQLite
cerebrofy update latency	< 2s — single-file change, end-to-end including re-embedding
cerebrofy build	Linear in codebase size; local embedding model (~130MB, cached after first run)

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Contributing

• Architecture guide — module map, data flow, invariants, database schema
• Adding language support — .scm query file authoring
• Tests: uv run pytest after uv sync --group dev
• Lint: uv run ruff check src/ tests/
• Type check: uv run mypy src/

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License

MIT