The Perfect AI Code Assistant - Advanced Search & Discovery Across GitHub

The perfect code assistant that can help understand anything. Transform your AI assistant into an expert code researcher with instant access to millions of repositories and packages across GitHub and npm ecosystems.

Instead of manually browsing repositories, ask questions like:

• "How did React implement concurrent rendering?"
• "Show me authentication patterns in Next.js applications"
• "Find examples of how to use this specific API"
• "What's the architecture of this library?"
• "How do I use this MCP tool effectively?"

Navigate complex multi-repo architectures, understand organizational issues at scale, and generate custom documentation on-demand from real code examples. Create contextual documentation directly in your IDE, or ask OctoCode to learn from any repository and implement similar patterns in your current project.

Gain unprecedented visibility into application behavior through semantic code search, track development progress across teams, and understand the real implementation behind product features.

Discover security patterns, vulnerabilities, and compliance issues across both public and private repositories with advanced pattern matching and cross-codebase analysis.

Dramatically increase development velocity by enabling teams to instantly learn from existing codebases, understand cross-team implementations, and replicate proven patterns—transforming institutional knowledge into actionable development acceleration.

Zero-Configuration Setup - Works with existing GitHub CLI authentication, no personal access tokens needed

Enterprise-Ready Security - Respects organizational permissions with content sanitization

AI Token Optimization - Reduces AI costs by through intelligent content processing

Cross-Platform Excellence - Native Windows PowerShell support with automatic path detection

Universal Access - Works seamlessly with public, private, and organization repositories

macOS/Linux:

# Install Node.js 18.12+
brew install node
# Install GitHub CLI
brew install gh

Windows:

# Install using WinGet (recommended)
winget install Microsoft.PowerShell  # PowerShell 7+ for better security
winget install GitHub.cli
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS
# Or using Chocolatey
choco install powershell-core nodejs github-cli
# Or using Scoop
scoop install gh nodejs

# Login to GitHub (opens browser)
gh auth login
# Login to NPM (for package research)
npm login

# For Claude Desktop users
claude mcp add octocode npx 'octocode-mcp@latest'

{
  "octocode-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["octocode-mcp"]
  }
}

That's it! Octocode automatically works with your organization's private repositories.

Run Octocode MCP in a Docker container while maintaining full GitHub CLI authentication. Perfect for consistent environments and deployment.

See Docker Setup Guide →

• Issue Search & Analysis: Understand project challenges, feature requests, and bug patterns
• Commit History Research: Trace feature implementations and bug fixes across time
• Pull Request & Code Review Analysis: Access actual code diffs and understand development workflows
• Project Progress Tracking: Monitor development velocity and team collaboration patterns

• Repository Discovery: Find repositories by topic, language, and activity
• Code Search: Find exact patterns and implementations across millions of repositories
• Cross-Repository Flow Understanding: Connect related changes across multiple repositories
• Repository Architecture: Navigate and understand project structures

• NPM Package Discovery: Analyze Node.js packages with comprehensive metadata
• Python Package Integration: Explore PyPI packages with cross-ecosystem comparison
• Package Analysis: Deep-dive into versions, dependencies, and repository connections

• Code Pattern Discovery: Identify implementation patterns and best practices
• Security & Compliance Research: Search for security patterns across codebases
• Team Collaboration Analysis: Understand code review processes and team dynamics
• Real-time Documentation: Generate custom docs from live code for any topic

📚 For detailed technical architecture, tool specifications, and implementation details, see Technical Summary

This project is available as a Desktop Extension (DXT) for easy installation in AI applications like Claude Desktop.

# Install dependencies
yarn install
# Build the DXT package
yarn dxt:pack

The generated octocode-mcp.dxt file can be installed in Claude Desktop by simply clicking on it.

DXT Scripts:

• yarn dxt:validate - Validate the manifest.json file
• yarn dxt:pack - Build and package the extension
• yarn dxt:release - Full release pipeline (build → pack → sign → verify)

Ask Natural Questions:

• "How does authentication work in this project?"
• "What libraries implement this pattern?"
• "Show me NPM packages that solve X problem"
• "How has this approach evolved over time?"

Let AI Guide Discovery:

• Start with broad queries - the system will intelligently narrow down
• Trust the smart fallbacks - automatic retry with alternatives
• Build on previous searches - maintain context for deeper exploration
• Works everywhere - public, private, and organization repositories

Cross-Platform Commands:

# Check GitHub CLI status
gh auth status
# Re-authenticate if needed
gh auth logout && gh auth login
# Check NPM access
npm whoami

Windows-Specific:

# Check PowerShell version (7+ recommended)
$PSVersionTable.PSVersion
# Test executable detection
where.exe gh
where.exe npm

Common Solutions:

• No results? Try broader search terms
• Private repos not found? Check gh auth status for organization membership
• Windows issues? Install PowerShell 7+ for better security
• Permission errors? Check executable permissions and PATH configuration

• 🏠 100% Local - Runs entirely on your machine
• 🚫 Zero Data Collection - No telemetry or data transmission
• 🔑 Safe Authentication - Uses GitHub CLI OAuth, no personal tokens needed

• 🛡️ Content Protection - Input validation and content sanitization
• 🔐 Secret Detection - Automatic detection and redaction of sensitive data patterns
• ⚪ Safe Commands Only - Pre-approved GitHub CLI and NPM commands only

📚 For comprehensive security architecture details, see Technical Summary

This project started as a personal tool while working at Wix, born from the challenge of navigating large codebases and keeping up with rapidly evolving technology landscapes. What began as a side project evolved into the perfect code assistant that can help understand anything.

The goal: make code exploration as intelligent as having a senior developer guide you through any codebase.

MIT License - See LICENSE for details.