LLM-IDE Refactor MCP Server

An MCP server that gives AI coding tools IDE-like navigation and precise, token-efficient refactors.

Understand Why Features Aren't Shipping Faster

In 15 minutes, see exactly where engineering time goes - using only Git metadata, never your source code.

What it does

• Indexes a workspace for fast symbol search and navigation
• Exposes safe, structured edits (find_references, move_symbol, change_signature)
• Supports Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, HTML, CSS

How it saves tokens (examples)

• Rename a symbol across 10 files without collecting context or crafting diffs for each file. Rough savings: each file still needs context for safe patching; even 20–40 lines per file (~400–800 tokens) is ~4k–8k tokens avoided at 10 files.
• Change a function signature and update call sites with one tool call instead of manual diffs for each call site.
• Move a symbol between files and update imports without loading both files to build the patch.

Add MCP server

The MCP client will launch the server on demand using the command below.

Codex CLI:

codex mcp add llm-ide -- /path/to/repo/.venv/bin/python -m refactor_mcp.server

Claude Code:

claude mcp add llm-ide -- /path/to/repo/.venv/bin/python -m refactor_mcp.server

Suggested CLAUDE.md snippet

If your repo uses CLAUDE.md, add a short note to encourage token-saving tool use:

## MCP (LLM-IDE)

Use the LLM-IDE MCP tools proactively to reduce token usage.
Prefer structured operations (find references, rename, move, signature changes)
over manual diff editing. Fetch only needed context (symbols/ranges) instead of
reading whole files.

Local setup (venv)

cd /path/to/refactor_mcp
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -U pip
pip install -e '.[dev]'

Docker

docker build -t llm-ide .
docker run -p 8000:8000 -v /path/to/your/repo:/workspace llm-ide

Big repo controls (env vars)

• REFACTOR_MCP_DISABLE_WATCHER=1 disables the file watcher.
• REFACTOR_MCP_AUTO_INDEX=0 disables auto indexing on initialize_workspace.
• REFACTOR_MCP_FORCE_REINDEX=1 forces a full re-index every time.