🌲 CodeTree

Vectorless RAG for Code Repositories

Navigate your codebase like a human expert — using LLM reasoning, not vector similarity.

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🤔 The Problem

Traditional RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) for code has fundamental limitations:

Problem	Description
❌ Vector similarity ≠ Code relevance	"login" and "logout" have similar embeddings, but they're completely different!
❌ Chunking destroys structure	Splitting a class across chunks loses critical context
❌ Can't follow call chains	"Who calls this function?" is nearly impossible with vectors
❌ No architecture understanding	Vectors don't know that auth/ is for authentication

💡 The Solution

CodeTree takes a different approach — it builds a hierarchical tree index of your codebase and uses LLM reasoning to navigate it, just like a human developer would:

• ✅ AST-based parsing preserves code structure
• ✅ LLM reasons about which files are relevant
• ✅ Understands module relationships and dependencies
• ✅ Can trace function calls across files

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🚫 No Vector Database	Uses code structure + LLM reasoning instead of embedding similarity
🌳 AST-Based Indexing	Parses actual code structure — functions, classes, imports, dependencies
🔗 Cross-File Intelligence	Tracks imports, function calls, and dependencies across your entire codebase
🧠 Reasoning-Based Retrieval	LLM navigates the code tree like a human expert
💬 Natural Language Queries	Ask questions in plain English
🔒 Privacy-First	Works with local models (Ollama). Your code never leaves your machine

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📊 Comparison: Vector RAG vs CodeTree

Feature	Vector RAG	CodeTree
Understands code structure	❌	✅
Cross-file references	❌	✅
"Who calls this function?"	❌	✅
No chunking headaches	❌	✅
Explainable retrieval	❌	✅
Works offline	⚠️	✅
No vector DB needed	❌	✅

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🚀 Quick Start

Installation

pip install codetree-rag

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/toller892/Oh-Code-Rag.git
cd Oh-Code-Rag
pip install -e .

Configuration

Set your LLM API key:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
# or
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

Basic Usage

from codetree import CodeTree

# Index your repository
tree = CodeTree("/path/to/your/repo")
tree.build_index()

# Ask questions about the code
answer = tree.query("How does the authentication system work?")
print(answer)

CLI Usage

# Index a repository
codetree index /path/to/repo

# Query the codebase  
codetree query "Where is database connection handled?"

# Interactive chat mode
codetree chat

# Show code structure
codetree tree

# Find symbol references
codetree find "UserService"

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🎯 Use Cases

👨‍💻 For Developers

Onboarding to New Codebases:

• "What's the overall architecture of this project?"
• "How do requests flow from API to database?"
• "Where should I add a new payment method?"

Code Review & Understanding:

• "What does the processOrder function do?"
• "Who calls the validateUser method?"
• "What happens if authentication fails?"

🏢 Industry Applications

Industry	Use Case	Example Query
FinTech	Audit & Compliance	"How is user data encrypted?"
Healthcare	Security Review	"Where is patient data accessed?"
E-commerce	Feature Development	"How does the cart system work?"
DevOps	Incident Response	"What services depend on Redis?"
Education	Code Learning	"Explain the MVC pattern in this app"

🔬 Research & Analysis

• Legacy Code Migration: Understand old systems before rewriting
• Security Auditing: Find all database queries, API endpoints
• Documentation Generation: Auto-generate architecture docs
• Dependency Analysis: Map out service dependencies

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🔬 Real-World Examples

Example 1: Understanding Project Architecture

Query:

from codetree import CodeTree

tree = CodeTree("./my-project")
tree.build_index()

answer = tree.query("What's the overall architecture? What are the core modules?")
print(answer)

Output:

## Project Architecture

This project follows a modular architecture with these core components:

1. **CodeTree (core.py)** - Main entry point
   - `build_index()`: Builds the code tree
   - `query()`: Natural language queries
   - `find()`: Symbol search

2. **CodeIndexer (indexer.py)** - Index construction
   - Recursively parses directories
   - Builds TreeNode hierarchy
   
3. **CodeParser (parser.py)** - AST parsing
   - Supports Python, JS, Go, Rust, Java
   - Extracts functions, classes, imports

4. **CodeRetriever (retriever.py)** - LLM-based retrieval
   - Two-stage: retrieve → answer
   - Uses reasoning prompts

## Data Flow
User Query → CodeTree → Retriever → LLM Reasoning → File Selection → Answer

Example 2: Finding Function Usage

Query:

refs = tree.find("authenticate")
print(refs)

Output:

📍 Found 5 references to 'authenticate':

  [function]  src/auth/login.py:45 → authenticate
  [function]  src/auth/oauth.py:78 → authenticate_oauth  
  [import]    src/api/middleware.py → from auth import authenticate
  [import]    src/api/routes.py → from auth.login import authenticate
  [class]     src/auth/base.py:12 → Authenticator

Example 3: Tracing Code Flow

Query:

answer = tree.query("How does a user login request flow through the system?")
print(answer)

Output:

## Login Request Flow

1. **Entry Point**: `src/api/routes.py`
   - @app.post("/login") routes to auth_service.authenticate()

2. **Authentication**: `src/auth/service.py`
   - Validates credentials against database
   - Generates JWT token on success
   
3. **Database**: `src/db/users.py`
   - get_user_by_email() fetches user record
   - verify_password() checks hash

4. **Response**: Returns JWT token or 401 error

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🏗️ How It Works

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        CodeTree                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                              │
│   CodeParser ──────▶ CodeIndexer ──────▶ CodeIndex (JSON)   │
│   (AST Parse)        (Build Tree)        (Store)            │
│                                              │               │
│                                              ▼               │
│   Answer ◀────────── Retrieve ◀────────── CodeRetriever    │
│   (Markdown)         (Read Files)         (LLM Reasoning)   │
│                                                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Two-Stage Retrieval Process

Stage 1: Reasoning-Based Navigation

User: "How does authentication work?"
                    │
                    ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ LLM analyzes code tree structure:                           │
│                                                             │
│ "Authentication relates to auth module...                   │
│  Let me check src/auth/ directory...                        │
│  login.py and oauth.py look relevant...                     │
│  Also need to check who imports these..."                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    │
                    ▼
Selected Files: [src/auth/login.py, src/auth/oauth.py, ...]

Stage 2: Answer Generation

Read selected files → Generate comprehensive answer with code snippets

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🗣️ Supported Languages

Language	Extensions	Status
Python	.py, .pyi	✅ Full
JavaScript	.js, .jsx, .mjs	✅ Full
TypeScript	.ts, .tsx	✅ Full
Go	.go	✅ Full
Rust	.rs	✅ Full
Java	.java	✅ Full
C/C++	.c, .cpp, .h	🚧 Coming Soon

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⚙️ Configuration

Create .codetree.yaml in your project:

# LLM Configuration
llm:
  provider: openai          # openai, anthropic, ollama
  model: gpt-4o
  temperature: 0.0
  max_tokens: 4096

# For local/private deployment
# llm:
#   provider: ollama
#   model: llama3
#   base_url: http://localhost:11434

# Index Settings  
index:
  languages:
    - python
    - javascript
    - typescript
    - go
  exclude:
    - node_modules
    - __pycache__
    - .git
    - venv
    - dist
  max_file_size: 100000    # Skip files larger than 100KB

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📈 Performance

Metric	Small Repo (<100 files)	Medium Repo (<1000 files)	Large Repo (<10000 files)
Index Time	< 5s	< 30s	< 5min
Index Size	< 100KB	< 1MB	< 10MB
Query Time	2-5s	3-8s	5-15s

Times depend on LLM provider latency

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Areas to contribute:

• 🌍 Add language parsers (C++, Ruby, PHP, etc.)
• 🧪 Improve test coverage
• 📖 Documentation and examples
• 🚀 Performance optimizations
• 🎨 CLI improvements

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🔌 MCP Server (Claude Desktop & More)

CodeTree works as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, compatible with Claude Desktop, Cline, Continue, and other MCP clients.

Installation

pip install codetree-mcp

Setup for Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codetree": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/Oh-Code-Rag/mcp/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
codetree_index	Index a repository
codetree_query	Ask questions about code
codetree_tree	Show code structure
codetree_find	Find symbol references
codetree_stats	Get repo statistics

See mcp/README.md for full documentation.

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🤖 Clawdbot Skill

CodeTree also comes as a Clawdbot skill for AI assistant integration.

Installation

pip install codetree-skill

Or copy the skill/ folder to your Clawdbot skills directory:

cp -r skill/ ~/.clawdbot/skills/codetree/

Skill Commands

# Index a repo
./scripts/codetree.sh index /path/to/repo

# Query code
./scripts/codetree.sh query /path/to/repo "How does auth work?"

# Show structure
./scripts/codetree.sh tree /path/to/repo

# Find symbol
./scripts/codetree.sh find /path/to/repo "UserService"

See skill/SKILL.md for full documentation.

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📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

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🙏 Acknowledgments

Inspired by PageIndex — vectorless RAG for documents.

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⭐ Star History

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