Code Assistant
🦀 🏠 - Coding agent with basic list, read, replace_in_file, write, execute_command and web search tools. Supports multiple projects concurrently.
What is Code Assistant?
Code Assistant is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to 🦀 🏠 - coding agent with basic list, read, replace_in_file, write, execute_command and web search tools. supports multiple projects concurrently.
🦀 🏠 - Coding agent with basic list, read, replace_in_file, write, execute_command and web search tools. Supports multiple projects concurrently.
This server falls under the Coding Agents category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- 🦀 🏠 - Coding agent with basic list, read, replace_in_file, w
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx code-assistantConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Code Assistant
Code Assistant is a Rust-based coding agent and MCP server that provides AI-powered code editing with tools for reading, listing, searching, and replacing code in files, executing shell commands, and performing web searches via the Perplexity API — all while supporting multiple concurrent projects. It runs as a standalone GUI application, a terminal UI (TUI), or an MCP server that exposes its tools to other MCP clients, and supports multiple LLM backends including Claude (Anthropic), GPT models (OpenAI), and Gemini. Teams use it to let AI assistants make persistent code changes across large codebases with real-time streaming and intelligent safety filtering.
Prerequisites
- Rust toolchain installed (curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh)
- An Anthropic API key (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY), OpenAI API key (OPENAI_API_KEY), or another supported provider key
- Optional: A Perplexity API key (PERPLEXITY_API_KEY) for the web search tool
- Linux users: libxkbcommon-dev and libxkbcommon-x11-dev for the GUI mode
- macOS users: Metal toolchain via xcodebuild for GPU acceleration
Install the Rust toolchain
Install Rust using rustup if you don't already have it.
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | shClone the repository and build the release binary
Clone code-assistant and compile it in release mode. This may take a few minutes.
git clone https://github.com/stippi/code-assistant
cd code-assistant
cargo build --releaseSet up API keys and configuration
Export your LLM provider API keys. Configuration files in ~/.config/code-assistant/ control providers, models, tools, and projects.
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-your-key-here"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-your-openai-key-here"
export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="your-perplexity-key-here"Run code-assistant in MCP server mode
Start code-assistant as an MCP server so that Claude Desktop or another MCP client can use its code editing and shell execution tools.
./target/release/code-assistant serverOr run in TUI mode for direct interaction
Use the terminal UI mode to interact directly with the coding agent and give it a task.
./target/release/code-assistant --tui --task "Refactor the authentication module to use async functions"Code Assistant Examples
Client configuration (Claude Desktop MCP server mode)
Configure Claude Desktop to use code-assistant as an MCP server providing file editing and command execution tools.
{
"mcpServers": {
"code-assistant": {
"command": "/path/to/code-assistant/target/release/code-assistant",
"args": ["server"],
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-your-key-here",
"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "your-perplexity-key-here"
}
}
}
}Prompts to try
These prompts use code-assistant's file manipulation, search, and execution tools.
- "List all files in the src directory and summarize what each module does"
- "Search for all usages of the 'authenticate' function across the codebase"
- "Replace all occurrences of the deprecated 'get_user' call with 'fetch_user'"
- "Run the test suite and show me which tests are failing"
- "Search the web for the latest Rust async best practices and apply them to this module"Troubleshooting Code Assistant
cargo build fails with linker errors on Linux
Install the required system libraries: 'sudo apt install libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev'. These are needed for the GUI rendering layer even if you only plan to use TUI or server mode.
Perplexity web search tool returns errors
Ensure PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is exported and has a valid subscription. The perplexity_ask tool is optional — the server works without it for file-based operations. Check your Perplexity account at perplexity.ai.
MCP server mode does not expose tools to Claude Desktop
Make sure you are running the binary with the 'server' subcommand, not the default GUI mode. Verify the path in claude_desktop_config.json points to the release binary at 'target/release/code-assistant'. Check Claude Desktop logs for connection errors.
Frequently Asked Questions about Code Assistant
What is Code Assistant?
Code Assistant is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that 🦀 🏠 - coding agent with basic list, read, replace_in_file, write, execute_command and web search tools. supports multiple projects concurrently. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Code Assistant?
Follow the installation instructions on the Code Assistant GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Code Assistant?
Code Assistant works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Code Assistant free to use?
Yes, Code Assistant is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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Quick Config Preview
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