Understand, query, and guard your architecture. For you and your agent.

CodeExplorer compiles your repositories (C#, Java, Kotlin, TS/JS, Python, Go, Rust, SQL) into one fast local SQLite graph: giving you live architecture diagrams that never go stale, deterministic memory for your AI coding agents (MCP), and automated architectural rules in CI.

Installation Benchmarks Presentation

1. Understand It Yourself

VS Code

Always-real diagrams of microservices, REST/gRPC APIs, message queues, and SQL tables built straight from code. Never redraw stale schemas by hand when code changes.

2. Give Memory to Your AI

MCP Server

Attach ce mcp to Claude Code or Cursor. Your AI agent queries exact call chains and blast radius in milliseconds instead of burning tokens on blind grep.

3. Guard Architecture in CI

SIG + Ratchet

Enforce custom and built-in architectural rules on every PR. Freeze existing legacy tech debt as a baseline ratchet (ce gate ratchet) so CI stays green while blocking new violations.

VS Code Webview · all_services.png

CodeExplorer Interactive Architecture Cockpit in VS Code

Cross-Service Topology

L4 + L5

Automatically links outgoing HttpClient, Feign, axios, and gRPC calls to target API controllers, and connects RabbitMQ/Kafka publishers to consumer handlers.

CALLS_ENDPOINT, PUBLISHES, CONSUMES

Transitive Graph Contraction

Cockpit

Select any subset of services in VS Code and collapse intermediate pass-through nodes while preserving indirect dependency paths and edge provenance.

Interactive C1 to C4 drill-down

End-to-End SQL Data Lineage

Lineage

Extracts Dapper, Entity Framework, Hibernate, JDBC, and raw SQL queries to map exact READS_FROM and WRITES_TO edges down to database tables.

ce lineage <table-or-endpoint>

OpenCypher Query Engine

Cypher

Query your entire codebase in milliseconds using standard OpenCypher pattern matching, variable-length paths (*1..6), aggregations, and comprehensions.

ce query "MATCH (m:Method)..."

Semantic Invariant Gates

CI Gate

Codify architectural boundaries as declarative YAML rules. Block forbidden layer couplings, god classes, and unauthenticated endpoints before merge.

ce gate check --ratchet

Zero-Config MCP Server

stdio MCP

Exposes 20+ specialized graph intelligence tools over stdio to Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and GitHub Copilot with sub-10ms SQLite reads.

ce mcp

Query your architecture with OpenCypher.

Stop grepping through hundreds of files. Express structural, semantic, and cross-service questions in declarative OpenCypher and get deterministic tabular answers in milliseconds.

OpenCypher Editor blast_radius.cypher

Finds all upstream callers within 4 hops that can impact PaymentProcessor.ChargeAsync.

Execution Result (SQLite Graph Engine) 4 rows · 3.8 ms

One graph for engineers and AI agents.

CodeExplorer indexes your repository and stores the graph locally. Use the fast native CLI in your terminal, or attach the built-in MCP server to Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Antigravity.

Terminal CLI Workflow

ce scan, ce query, ce gate

Incremental file-hash caching re-parses only modified files in milliseconds. Output clean tables for humans or compact JSON/SARIF for automation.

# 1. Initialize and index polyglot workspace
$ ce init && ce scan
Indexed 452 modules, 18,420 types, 142,810 edges in 3.4s

# 2. Inspect cross-service blast radius
$ ce impact OrdersController.CreateOrder --depth 4

# 3. Enforce Semantic Invariant Gates
$ ce gate check --ratchet
PASS: 14 gates verified (0 net-new violations)

Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server

Add CodeExplorer to your agent’s mcpServers configuration. Gives agents get_architecture_map, find_symbol, get_call_chain, analyze_code_impact, and inspect_data_lineage.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "code-explorer": {
      "command": "ce",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Semantic Invariant Gates: deterministic guardrails for AI agents.

Linters check syntax inside a single file. Semantic Invariant Gates (SIG) verify architectural invariants across your entire 5-layer graph, accompanied by a cryptographic baseline ratchet so legacy debt only moves downward.

Boundaries

L2 / L3

Forbid Domain types from referencing Infrastructure, ORM, or transport assemblies.

Topology

L4 / L5

Prevent synchronous REST call chains deeper than N hops or shared-table coupling across services.

AST Visitor & CFG

L1 / L2

Detect async-over-sync deadlocks (.Result), missing cancellation tokens, or high cyclomatic complexity.

Baseline Ratchet

CI Lock

Fingerprint existing legacy violations so brownfield teams block new regressions on day one.

.codeexplorer/gates/domain-purity.yaml Dimension: Boundaries

Blocks any type inside a Domain module from depending on Infrastructure or EF Core types.

Gate Evaluation Output Exit Code 1 · 2 Violations

1. Author declarative YAML rules

Place invariant rules in .codeexplorer/gates/*.yaml or scaffold defaults with ce gate init.

2. Snapshot brownfield debt

Run ce gate baseline to record structural hashes of existing legacy violations in .codeexplorer/gate-baseline.json.

3. Block net-new violations in CI

ce gate check --ratchet passes when only baselined debt exists, and fails with exit code 1 if an AI agent introduces a new violation.

4. Auto-tighten as code heals

Whenever a baselined violation is fixed, the ratchet lowers the ceiling automatically so debt can never return.

GitHub Actions CI Pipeline .github/workflows/architecture-gates.yml

name: Architecture Invariant Gates
on: [pull_request]

jobs:
  invariant-gates:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Install CodeExplorer CLI
        run: dotnet tool install -g codeexplorer.cli
      - name: Build Graph & Verify Invariant Gates
        run: |
          ce scan
          ce gate check --ratchet --format sarif > results.sarif

Five-layer graph ontology across eight languages.

Every node and relationship in .codeexplorer/graph.db follows a strict 5-layer schema, bridging low-level AST control flow with high-level distributed system topology.

Layer 5

Distributed Topology

Maps deployable services, databases, message brokers, and cross-service runtime contracts.

Service · Database · MessageBroker · CALLS_ENDPOINT

Layer 4

Semantic & Domain Roles

Classifies REST, gRPC, GraphQL, and messaging endpoints, CQRS handlers, repositories, and SQL tables.

Endpoint · SqlTable · HANDLES · READS_FROM · WRITES_TO

Layer 3

Type & Call Graph

Captures inheritance, interface implementation, dependency injection wiring, and method-to-method call edges.

Class · Interface · Method · CALLS · IMPLEMENTS · INJECTS

Layer 2

Project & Module Boundaries

Models solution projects, packages, namespaces, binary entrypoints, and assembly reference graphs.

Project · Module · Namespace · EntryPoint · DEPENDS_ON

Layer 1

Syntax, CFG & Literals

Extracts Tree-sitter and Roslyn AST metrics, cyclomatic complexity, literal constants, and file hashes.

File · Parameter · Literal · CONTAINS · DECLARES

CS C# / .NET ASP.NET, gRPC, Wolverine, Hangfire, MassTransit, EF Core, Dapper

JV Java Spring Boot, Quarkus, Micronaut, Dubbo, MyBatis, jOOQ, Hibernate

KT Kotlin Spring, Ktor, Exposed, Room, SQLDelight, Coroutines, Retrofit

TS TypeScript & JS NestJS, Next.js, tRPC, Hono, Kysely, TypeORM, Prisma, BullMQ

GO Go Gin, Fiber, Fasthttp, gRPC-Gateway, Watermill, GORM, sqlx, Ent

PY Python FastAPI, Litestar, Django, Celery, Dramatiq, SQLAlchemy, Temporal

RS Rust Axum, Actix Web, Tonic gRPC, SQLx, SeaORM, Diesel, Tokio

SQL Database Schemas PostgreSQL, T-SQL, MySQL, SQLite, ClickHouse, BigQuery Lineage

Install in 30 seconds.

Run 100% locally with zero cloud telemetry. Choose the VS Code extension for visual exploration or the standalone ce binary for CLI and CI pipelines.

MIT License · Standalone Native Binary

Install the native ce binary via Homebrew on macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel) or Linux:

brew install vmikhailov/tap/ce

Install the official extension from VS Code Marketplace or Open VSX (automatically manages the ce CLI):

code --install-extension vmikhailov.code-explorer-vscode

Open Marketplace

Download and execute the standalone Windows installer in PowerShell:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://code-explorer.app/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1; .\install.ps1

Download and install the standalone binary directly to ~/.local/bin/ce:

curl -fsSL -O https://code-explorer.app/install.sh && sh install.sh

Install cross-platform via the NuGet global tool package (linux-*, osx-*, win-*):

dotnet tool install -g codeexplorer.cli

ce init && ce scan

Initialize workspace configuration and build the 5-layer SQLite architecture graph.

ce map

Render a complete C1/C2 system architecture overview with endpoints, brokers, and databases.

ce query "<cypher>"

Execute arbitrary OpenCypher queries against .codeexplorer/graph.db.

ce impact <symbol>

Compute upstream and downstream transitive blast radius across modules and services.

ce flow <method>

Trace end-to-end call chains from API controllers through handlers to SQL tables.

ce lineage <table>

Inspect every service and method that reads from or writes to a database table.

ce gate check --ratchet

Evaluate Semantic Invariant Gates against the graph and enforce the baseline ratchet.

ce gate baseline

Snapshot existing legacy violations into .codeexplorer/gate-baseline.json.

ce mcp

Start the Model Context Protocol server over stdio for AI coding agents.