Search-Mesh
Search-Mesh is a Rust-native codebase intelligence service for autonomous coding agents.
The goal is to reduce agent latency and token waste by moving repository search, syntax-aware filtering, context extraction, and precise patching into a local MCP-compatible process.
Status
This repository is in early setup. The current focus is a small, correct MVP:
- A Rust workspace with separate core and MCP crates.
- A JSON-RPC over stdio server implementing the MCP
initialize lifecycle handshake, suitable for Claude Code, OpenCode, and other MCP-compatible agents.
- A first search tool,
scan, backed by multi-keyword scanning.
- A syntax probe tool,
ast_probe, backed by tree-sitter for Rust, Python, JavaScript, and TypeScript.
- A context extraction tool,
squeeze, that returns AST-bounded source blocks.
- A patch tool,
patch, that applies precise line/column edits and reports syntax validity.
SIMD acceleration, tree-sitter verification, semantic squeezing, and atomic patching are planned phases, not current guarantees.
Intended Tools
scan: scan target directories for multiple keywords in one pass.ast_probe: validate raw hits against syntax tree node types.squeeze: return the smallest useful AST-bounded code block around a hit.patch: apply byte-offset edits and verify syntax after mutation.
See docs/usage.md for local examples and docs/mcp-protocol.md for the draft protocol.
Install
Claude Code Plugin (Recommended)
This repository is a self-hosted Claude Code plugin marketplace. It bundles the search-mesh MCP server registration and the agent skill together, so /plugin install wires up both in one step:
/plugin marketplace add jamestkelly/search-mesh
/plugin install search-mesh@search-mesh
On macOS and Linux, the plugin downloads and verifies the correct prebuilt search-mesh-mcp binary automatically the first time it's used — no separate install step. Windows isn't supported by the automatic installer yet; use cargo install search-mesh-mcp or a manual binary install there.
Manual Install
For OpenCode, or Claude Code configured manually rather than through the plugin, search-mesh-mcp needs to be on your PATH first.
search-mesh-mcp is published to crates.io and as prebuilt GitHub Release binaries.
Via cargo:
cargo install search-mesh-mcp
Via prebuilt binary: download search-mesh-mcp-<target>.tar.gz for your platform (macOS arm64, macOS x64, or Linux x64) from the Releases page, extract it, and put search-mesh-mcp on your PATH.
Configure Claude Code Manually
Add to .mcp.json at your project root:
{
"mcpServers": {
"search-mesh": {
"command": "search-mesh-mcp",
"args": []
}
}
}
Configure OpenCode
Add to opencode.jsonc:
{
"mcp": {
"search-mesh": {
"type": "local",
"command": ["search-mesh-mcp"],
"enabled": true
}
}
}
Agent Skill
The Claude Code plugin install above already includes this skill. To install it manually for other agents/setups, skills/search-mesh/SKILL.md teaches an agent when to prefer scan, ast_probe, squeeze, and patch over shell tools like grep, cat, and sed. Copy it into your own skills directory:
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/search-mesh
cp skills/search-mesh/SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/search-mesh/SKILL.md
Repository Layout
.claude-plugin/
plugin.json Claude Code plugin manifest.
marketplace.json Self-hosted marketplace catalog listing this plugin.
.mcp.json Bundled MCP server registration (used by the plugin).
crates/
search-mesh-core/ Core search, parsing, squeezing, and patching logic.
search-mesh-mcp/ JSON-RPC/MCP stdio server.
docs/
architecture.md System shape and phased design.
mcp-protocol.md Tool schemas and response shapes.
roadmap.md Near-term implementation plan.
usage.md Local MCP usage examples.
examples/
scan-request.jsonl Example newline-delimited JSON-RPC requests.
initialize-request.jsonl
ast-probe-request.jsonl
squeeze-request.jsonl
patch-request.jsonl
patch-target.txt
scripts/
search-mesh-mcp-launcher.sh Installs search-mesh-mcp on first use (macOS/Linux), then execs it.
skills/
search-mesh/SKILL.md Agent skill teaching when to use these tools.
Development
Install Rust with rustup, then run:
just check
Equivalent commands:
cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace
CI And Releases
Pull requests and pushes to main run the Review workflow:
cargo fmt --all -- --checkcargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warningscargo test --workspace- MCP JSONL example smoke tests
Releases are prepared with release-plz from Conventional Commits:
release-plz opens a release PR that bumps Cargo.toml/Cargo.lock versions and updates the changelog.- Merging that PR to
main creates a git tag and GitHub Release per changed package, and publishes both crates to crates.io.
- When a
search-mesh-mcp-v* release is published, the Release Binaries workflow builds and attaches search-mesh-mcp binaries (plus a .sha256 checksum file for each) for macOS (arm64, x64) and Linux (x64) as release assets.
Design Principles
- Prefer the smallest correct implementation before optimization.
- Keep protocol handling separate from core repository intelligence.
- Measure performance before adding specialized acceleration paths.
- Avoid
.unwrap() and .expect() outside tests.
- Return agent-friendly payloads instead of whole files when possible.
License
MIT. See LICENSE.
@jamestkelly