ripwire MCP Server: Setup for Claude, Cursor and Other Apps

• Gives you a task briefing in one call

  Takes a task in plain words and returns the relevant symbols, their source, their callers, notes and tests to run, within a size budget. It replaces several search and read calls.

  Try: “Brief me on how request parsing works before I change it.”

  Files · explore

• Lists building blocks that fit a task

  Returns a ranked list of existing functions and classes that match a task, shown as signatures only. Give an exact symbol name for an exact match.

  Try: “What helpers exist for parsing HTTP headers?”

  Files · for

• Shows who calls a symbol and what it calls

  Finds one symbol and returns its callers and callees together. Each result carries a handle you can use to fetch its source.

  Try: “Find parseConfig and show its callers.”

  Files · find_symbol

• Lists the direct callers of a symbol

  Returns only the code that calls or references a symbol, one hop out.

  Try: “Who calls parseConfig?”

  Files · find_referencing_symbols

• Fetches the full source of one symbol

  Returns the source of a symbol using a handle from an earlier call. It refuses if that file changed since.

  Try: “Show me the body of that function.”

  Files · fetch_body

• Searches for text and names the enclosing symbol

  Runs a literal text search across the repo and labels each hit with the function or class it sits in.

  Try: “Search for 'retry_limit' in the repo.”

  Files · grep

• Draws a ranked map of a codebase

  Returns a map of a directory: the symbols that matter most, with signatures and the call graph.

  Try: “Map the architecture of this repository.”

  Files · analyze

• Ranks the map a different way

  Returns the same map ranked by authority, hub score or a blend instead of plain PageRank.

  Try: “Rank the code by which functions are hubs.”

  Files · rank_by

• Shows how far a change would reach

  Returns every symbol that depends on a symbol, directly or through others, so you can judge whether a change is safe.

  Try: “How far does changing parseConfig reach?”

  Files · impact

• Lists where a symbol is used

  Returns the places that call, read, write, import or extend a symbol, not just the calls.

  Try: “Where is MAX_RETRIES used?”

  Files · uses

• Names the tests to run

  Lists the tests that reach changed files or symbols, directly or through other code.

  Try: “Which tests should I run for my changes?”

  Runs code · affected

• Summarises a diff's blast radius

  Reads your uncommitted diff and returns the blast radius, tests to run, files that usually change together with it and hotspots.

  Try: “What does my current diff touch?”

  Runs code · situational_awareness

• Shows only what your edit made worse

  Compares your working tree with the last commit or a saved baseline and lists new complexity, duplication, dead code, new public API and similar regressions.

  Try: “Did my change make the code worse anywhere?”

  Runs code · quality_delta

• Saves a quality baseline

  Pins the current quality floor by writing a baseline file into the repo.

  Try: “Pin the quality baseline now.”

  Runs code · quality_baseline

• Checks whether an edit broke callers

  After you edit a symbol, checks against the last commit whether its parameters or visibility changed and which direct callers no longer fit.

  Try: “Did my edit to parseConfig break any callers?”

  Runs code · edit_check

• Maps a stack trace onto the code

  Takes a pasted stack trace or compiler error, finds the matching symbols, ranks them innermost first and returns the innermost body in full.

  Try: “Here is the crash trace. Where did it fail?”

  Files · from_trace

• Finds the best example to imitate

  Returns the repo's best instance of a kind of function or class, chosen by how often it is used and how well it is tested.

  Try: “Show me the best example of a handler to copy.”

  Files · exemplar

• Finds how one symbol reaches another

  Returns the shortest call path from one symbol to another, if there is one.

  Try: “Does the API handler reach the database layer?”

  Files · path_between

• Finds how several symbols relate

  Returns the smallest set of code that joins three or more symbols together.

  Try: “How do these three functions connect?”

  Files · connect

• Shows an interface and all its implementors

  Returns an interface's methods and every class that implements it.

  Try: “What implements the Storage interface?”

  Files · lego

• Lists files that change together

  Uses git history to find files that usually change in the same commit as one file.

  Try: “Which files change together with server.c?”

  Runs code · cochange

• Shows who owns the code

  Reads git history to show who has recently written a file or symbol, a bus-factor check.

  Try: “Who owns the auth module?”

  Runs code · owners

• Pulls up relevant notes and docs

  Returns the full text of the few memory notes and docs that best match a task, within a token ceiling.

  Try: “Recall our notes on the retry design.”

  Files · memory_recall

• Finds docs that mention a symbol

  Lists markdown docs that name a code symbol in backticks.

  Try: “Which docs discuss parseConfig?”

  Files · mentions

• Answers up to 16 questions in one call

  Runs several read queries at once and returns the merged, deduplicated answers. A failing sub-query shows inline and does not fail the rest.

  Try: “Search, find callers and check impact for this symbol in one go.”

  Files · batch

• Traces one variable through a function

  Shows each line that defines or uses a variable inside one function, and where it flows.

  Try: “Where does 'timeout' flow inside this function?”

  Files · slice

• Finds which branch defines a symbol

  Checks every branch for a symbol and says whether the live branch has it.

  Try: “Which branches define parseConfig?”

  Runs code · whereis

• Finds work that never reached HEAD

  Lists, per branch, content that the branch wrote and HEAD lacks, split into unmerged and replaced.

  Try: “What unmerged work is sitting on other branches?”

  Runs code · stray_content

• Lists code that is built but switched off

  Finds compile, CMake and environment-variable gates and the size of the code behind each.

  Try: “What features are compiled in but off?”

  Files · flags

• Finds docs that are now wrong

  Flags markdown claims that point to missing files, gone symbols or stale numbers.

  Try: “Which doc claims are out of date?”

  Files · doc_drift

• Replaces a function or class in place

  Swaps a symbol's whole definition for the text you give. Bytes outside the definition are untouched, and it refuses if the file changed since it was indexed or the name is ambiguous.

  Try: “Replace parseConfig with this version.”

  Write · replace_symbol_body

• Adds text just before a definition

  Inserts the text you give right before a symbol's definition, with the same refusal checks and an atomic write.

  Try: “Add this helper before parseConfig.”

  Write · insert_before_symbol

• Adds text just after a definition

  Inserts the text you give right after a symbol's definition, with the same refusal checks and an atomic write.

  Try: “Add this test after parseConfig.”

  Write · insert_after_symbol

Watch out for

• Three tools edit your source files

  replace_symbol_body, insert_before_symbol and insert_after_symbol replace or insert code at a symbol and write the file in place. They refuse when the file changed or the name is ambiguous. Leave them out with --mcp-tools=core, or approve each call. github.com

• Socket mode serves other processes

  The listen option opens an HTTP port. It binds to loopback by default, a non-loopback address needs a token, and it has no TLS. Leave it off unless you need to share one index. github.com

• One tool writes a baseline file into your repo

  quality_baseline writes .ripwire_quality_baseline in the repository. It is in the full tool list, not in core. On the main branch a no-edit profile exists that still keeps this tool, so it is not a fully read-only mode. github.com

• A git URL makes it clone from the network

  Passing a git URL instead of a folder shallow-clones that repo into a cache. Use local folders if you do not want network access. github.com

• It keeps an index cache in a temp folder

  ripwire writes index files, and any repo it cloned from a git URL, under /var/folders/sc/hh85hdwx68q2kgnllct_ct4w0000gn/T//ripwire, /ripwire or /tmp/ripwire-<uid>. The folder is capped at 2 GiB and blobs untouched for 30 days are deleted. github.com

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