flash-context
A lightweight, model-agnostic repository explorer for AI agents, available as a Python CLI and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. It combines deterministic lookup with search and reading delegated to a utility model through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, returning compact, validated file-line citations and source snippets.
CLI and MCP share a read-only core for exploring code, documentation, configuration, and other local text files with path safety and resource limits. See safety and evidence validation for details and limitations.
Inspired by FastContext, a now-withdrawn paper on separating repository exploration from task solving, using specialized models to return focused file-line evidence while reducing the coding agent's context and token overhead.
Quickstart
Requires Python 3.13+, uv, and an OpenAI-compatible model endpoint with tool
calling support.
uv tool install flash-context
export FLASH_CONTEXT_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1234/v1
export FLASH_CONTEXT_MODEL=your-model
flash-context explore --repo . --query "Find the request validation logic"
Replace the endpoint and model with your settings. Set FLASH_CONTEXT_API_KEY
if authentication is required. Installed commands use environment variables;
source checkouts also support project-root config.yaml and .env.
Default output is repository-relative citations:
src/api/validation.py:42-88
Use --format json for structured results with source snippets, or
--max-turns 6 to set the exploration limit. Exact path and unique symbol
lookups can resolve locally without an endpoint. See the
CLI contract for options,
output schemas, and exit codes.
For example, --query 'httpx/_client.py' returns a bounded file preview, while
--query 'BaseTransport' returns its definition if unique within a complete
Python source/stub scan. Local successes report turns_used: 0 in JSON.
Warnings go to stderr in both output formats. An empty result after scan-budget exhaustion exits 6 while preserving stdout; a complete empty search exits 0. For large repositories, see scan-budget tuning.
MCP
uvx --from 'flash-context[mcp]' flash-context mcp --transport stdio
Exposes explore_repository(query, repo_root?, max_turns?, citation?).
See MCP integration for editor configuration and source launches.
Documentation
- Configuration: endpoint settings, precedence, and limits.
- Architecture and scope: design, status, specs, and references.
- Contributing: development setup, tests, and pull requests.
- Changelog: release history and migration instructions.
- Releasing: package checks and tag-driven TestPyPI/PyPI publishing.
License
1 maintainer
Metadata
1 maintainer
Release files for flash-context 0.3.2
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Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | Provenance | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| flash_context-0.3.2.tar.gz | 33.5 kB | With provenance | Details for flash_context-0.3.2.tar.gz |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Actions Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| flash_context-0.3.2-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details for flash_context-0.3.2-py3-none-any.whl |
Total release size: 69.2 kB
Release files / flash_context-0.3.2.tar.gz
| Download URL | flash_context-0.3.2.tar.gz |
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| Size | 33.5 kB |
| Tags | Source |
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SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
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| Download URL | flash_context-0.3.2-py3-none-any.whl |
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| Size | 35.7 kB |
| Tags | Python 3 |
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SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
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Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Nov 1, 2026.
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Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Nov 1, 2026.
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