GitIntel - A Git Intelligence MCP Server for AI Agents

Git Intelligence MCP Server - deep repository analytics computed locally from your commit history.

Surfaces the same insights that tools like CodeScene and GitPrime charge for: hotspots, temporal coupling, knowledge maps, churn analysis, complexity trends, risk scoring, and more. Everything runs locally. No external APIs, no data leaves your machine.

This is a locally-built MCP server. It is not published to npm. You clone, build, and register it with your MCP client (Claude Code, Codex, etc.).

You:    "Analyze this repo -- show me hotspots, risk, and who knows the auth module best."
Claude: [calls hotspots, risk_assessment, knowledge_map in parallel, returns formatted analysis]

Architecture

graph LR
    A[MCP Client<br/>Claude Code / Codex] <-->|stdio<br/>JSON-RPC| B[mcp-git-intel<br/>MCP Server]
    B -->|execFile| C[Git CLI]
    C --> D[Repository<br/>.git]
    B --> E[Analysis Engine<br/>scoring, formatting]

All communication happens over stdio using the Model Context Protocol. The server calls Git via execFile (never exec) to prevent shell injection. All operations are strictly read-only.

Tools

8 analysis tools, each returning formatted tables, score bars, and actionable recommendations -- not raw git output.

graph TD
    subgraph "Change Analysis"
        H[hotspots<br/>Change frequency]
        CH[churn<br/>Write/rewrite ratio]
        CT[complexity_trend<br/>Complexity over time]
    end
    subgraph "Dependency Analysis"
        CO[coupling<br/>Temporal coupling]
    end
    subgraph "Team Analysis"
        KM[knowledge_map<br/>Who knows what]
        CS[contributor_stats<br/>Team dynamics]
    end
    subgraph "Risk & Release"
        RA[risk_assessment<br/>Change risk scoring]
        RN[release_notes<br/>Changelog generation]
    end

| Tool | What it does | Key insight | |------|-------------|-------------| | hotspots | Files that change most frequently | Top 4% of files by change frequency contain 50%+ of bugs | | churn | Code written then rewritten (additions vs deletions) | Churn ratio near 1.0 = code rewritten as fast as it's written | | coupling | Files that always change together | Hidden dependencies not visible in imports | | knowledge_map | Who knows a file/directory best, weighted by recency | Find the right reviewer, spot knowledge silos | | complexity_trend | How a file's complexity evolves over time | Catch files growing out of control | | risk_assessment | Risk score (0-100) for uncommitted or committed changes | Combines hotspot history, size, sensitivity, spread | | release_notes | Structured changelog from conventional commits | Groups by type, extracts breaking changes and PR refs | | contributor_stats | Team dynamics, collaboration graph, knowledge silos | Workload distribution, onboarding planning |

Resources

| Resource URI | Description | |-------------|-------------| | git://repo/summary | Repository snapshot: branch, last commit, total commits, active contributors, top languages, age, remote | | git://repo/activity | Recent 50-commit activity feed with stats |

Installation

This server is not published to npm. You must clone, build, and register it locally.

Prerequisites

Node.js >= 18
Git >= 2.20

Build from source

git clone <this-repo-url>
cd mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Register with Claude Code

Quick registration (analyzes cwd by default):

claude mcp add git-intel -- node /absolute/path/to/mcp-server/dist/index.js

With a specific repository:

claude mcp add git-intel -- node /absolute/path/to/mcp-server/dist/index.js /path/to/your/repo

Register with any MCP client (manual JSON)

Add to your MCP client's configuration file (e.g. ~/.claude/settings.json for Claude Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "git-intel": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GIT_INTEL_REPO": "/path/to/your/repo"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tip: The ~ home directory expansion works in the repo path argument (e.g. ~/projects/my-repo).

Configuration

The server determines which git repository to analyze using this priority order:

| Priority | Method | Example | |----------|--------|---------| | 1 | CLI argument | node dist/index.js /path/to/repo | | 2 | Environment variable | GIT_INTEL_REPO=/path/to/repo | | 3 | Current working directory | Falls back to process.cwd() |

The ~ prefix is expanded to the user's home directory in all path inputs.

Usage Examples

Once registered, the tools are available through natural language. You do not call them directly -- the AI client decides which tools to invoke based on your prompt.

Find bug-prone files:

"Show me the change hotspots in the last 60 days"

Analyze code stability:

"What's the churn analysis for the src/api directory over the last quarter?"

Find hidden dependencies:

"Which files are temporally coupled with src/auth/login.ts?"

Find the right reviewer:

"Who knows the src/api directory best?"

Track complexity growth:

"Show me the complexity trend for src/services/payment.ts"

Assess change risk before merging:

"What's the risk assessment for the uncommitted changes?" "Assess the risk of changes between main and feature-branch"

Generate release notes:

"Generate release notes from v1.0.0 to HEAD"

Understand team dynamics:

"Show me contributor statistics for the last 6 months" "Who are the top collaborators and where are the knowledge silos?"

Full repo analysis:

"Using git-intel, give me a comprehensive analysis of this repository"

See docs/EXAMPLES.md for a complete real-world transcript of a full repo analysis session.

Development

npm run dev          # Run server with tsx (auto-reload, uses cwd as repo)
npm run cli          # Interactive REPL for testing tools and resources
npm run smoke        # Automated smoke test -- runs every tool and resource
npm test             # Run unit tests (vitest)
npm run test:watch   # Watch mode
npm run lint         # Type check (tsc --noEmit)
npm run build        # Compile TypeScript to dist/

CLI REPL

The interactive CLI (npm run cli) connects to the server as a real MCP client and provides a REPL:

git-intel> tools                          # List all tools
git-intel> resources                      # List all resources
git-intel> call hotspots {"days": 60}     # Call a tool with args
git-intel> call risk_assessment           # Call with defaults
git-intel> read git://repo/summary        # Read a resource
git-intel> exit

Smoke Test

npm run smoke connects to the server and calls every tool and every resource against the current repo, printing all results. Useful for verifying nothing is broken after changes.

Security Model

| Concern | Mitigation | |---------|------------| | Shell injection | All git commands use execFile (array args, no shell interpolation) | | Path traversal | validatePathFilter() blocks .. and absolute paths | | Ref injection | validateRef() validates git refs against a strict character whitelist | | Write operations | Strictly read-only. No tool modifies the repository in any way | | Network access | No external network calls. All data is local | | Git safety | GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 prevents interactive prompts; GIT_PAGER='' disables pagers | | Timeouts | 30-second default timeout on all git commands | | Buffer limits | 50MB max buffer to prevent memory exhaustion |

Project Structure

src/
  index.ts              Entry point, server setup, tool/resource registration
  cli.ts                Interactive REPL for testing
  smoke-test.ts         Automated smoke test
  git/
    executor.ts         Safe git command runner (execFile, timeouts, env)
    parser.ts           Git output parsers (log, numstat, conventional commits)
    repo.ts             Repo validation, path/ref sanitization
  tools/
    hotspots.ts         Change frequency analysis
    churn.ts            Code churn (additions vs deletions)
    coupling.ts         Temporal coupling detection
    knowledge-map.ts    Knowledge scoring per author
    complexity.ts       Complexity trend over time
    risk.ts             Multi-factor risk assessment
    release-notes.ts    Changelog from conventional commits
    contributors.ts     Contributor analytics and collaboration
  resources/
    summary.ts          Repository snapshot resource
    activity.ts         Recent commit activity feed
  util/
    scoring.ts          Normalization, recency decay, coupling, risk scoring
    formatting.ts       Tables, score bars, text output helpers

Further Documentation

ARCHITECTURE.md -- Deep technical architecture, design decisions, module dependencies
docs/TOOLS.md -- Detailed reference for every tool (schemas, examples, interpretation)
docs/EXAMPLES.md -- Real-world usage transcript showing a full repo analysis session

License

MIT. See LICENSE for details.

MCP Servers