XRAY
An MCP server that lets coding agents see a codebase's shape — layout, signatures, definitions, references — without reading whole files.
Why
Coding agents already have grep, glob and file reads. Where they burn context is:
- Reading a 1,500-line file to learn three function signatures.
read_interfacereturns the file's API — every class, method, function and type with its signature, one-line doc and line number — so the agent reads only the lines it needs. - Grepping a name and wading through comments, strings and partial matches.
find_symbolreturns definitions only, ranked, fuzzy.what_breaksreturns identifier references with comments and string literals excluded.
| grep / rg | XRAY | LSP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | none | uv tool install |
a server per language |
| Finds definitions only | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Skips comments & strings | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| File API without the bodies | ✗ | ✓ | partial (document symbols) |
| Type-aware references | ✗ | ✗ (name-based) | ✓ |
XRAY sits between the two: syntax-aware via tree-sitter, zero per-language setup, and honest about not resolving types.




