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Getting Started

npx @colbymchenry/codegraph

1. Install the CLI

No Node.js required — one command grabs the right build for your OS:

# macOS / Linuxcurl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/main/install.sh | sh
# Windows (PowerShell)irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/colbymchenry/codegraph/main/install.ps1 | iex

Already have Node? npm i -g @colbymchenry/codegraph works on any version. CodeGraph bundles its own runtime — nothing to compile, no native build, works the same everywhere. The installer puts codegraph on your PATH but doesn’t change your current shell — open a new terminal before the next step.

2. Wire up your agent(s)

codegraph install

Auto-detects and configures Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, opencode, Hermes Agent, Gemini CLI, Antigravity IDE, and Kiro — wiring the CodeGraph MCP server into each. This step connects your agents only; it does not index any code. (Shortcut: npx @colbymchenry/codegraph downloads and runs the installer in one go.)

3. Initialize each project

cd your-projectcodegraph init

codegraph init creates the local .codegraph/ directory and builds the full graph in the same step — one command, done. Your agent will use CodeGraph tools automatically when a .codegraph/ directory exists.

Once CodeGraph is installed, building and exploring a graph takes a few commands.

Index a project

cd your-projectcodegraph init

codegraph init creates the .codegraph/ directory and builds the full graph in the same step — one command, done. From there a native file watcher keeps the index in sync on every change, so you rarely need to rebuild by hand. When you do want to:

codegraph index          # full re-indexcodegraph sync           # incremental update of changed files

Check it worked

codegraph status

This reports the node/edge/file counts, the active SQLite backend, and the journal mode — a quick health check that the index is ready.

Run a query

Reach for codegraph explore first — a natural-language question or a bag of symbol names returns the relevant source plus the call paths between those symbols in a single shot (the same output the codegraph_explore tool gives your agent):

codegraph explore "how does login work"

For narrower, scriptable lookups there are focused commands:

codegraph query UserService          # find symbols by namecodegraph callers handleRequest      # what calls a functioncodegraph callees handleRequest      # what a function callscodegraph impact AuthMiddleware      # what a change would affect

These four each accept --json for machine-readable output. See the full CLI reference.

Hand it to your agent

With a .codegraph/ directory present and an agent configured, your agent uses the MCP tools automatically — no extra step.


Tags: tool   knowledge base   graph  

Last modified 11 September 2026