HACKER Q&A
📣 fariswyatt

Is there a good code intelligence MCP server yet?


I'm looking for a good code intelligence MCP server (semantic search, symbol lookup, call graphs, etc.) to pair with an AI coding agent. The idea is to give the LLM structured access to the codebase instead of relying purely on grep and file reads.

Problem is, the space feels fragmented. There are a handful of options but no clear winner. Has anyone settled on one they're happy with? What sold you on it?

Mainly interested in: how well the agent actually uses the structured data, how painful setup/indexing is, and whether it's worth it over simpler approaches (ripgrep, good project docs, AGENTS.md).


  👤 acemarke Accepted Answer ✓
I've tried a few. Currently settled on `grepika` and `tilth`. They're not quite as comprehensive as I imagine I would want this kind of tool to be, but my agent has been able to use them very effectively and I've seen context usage drop considerably:

https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2026/05/ai-thoughts-part-2...