explorer-mcp

explorer-mcp is a lightweight, read-only MCP server that gives AI quick access to Git repos, folder structures, and context. It cuts time and token usage by handling exploration internally and feeding results to AI agents.

Why should an AI agent collect context piece by piece when an MCP can collect more information faster and present it in a simple, self-explanatory, compact format?

Table of Contents

• Explore resources
  • Enabled by default
  • Opt-in
• Response design
• Requirements
• Getting Started
• Install via go
• Install via wget
• Build requirements
• Build
• Install go

Explore resources

explorer-mcp collects diffrent resources and provides them to the requesting AI Agent.

Resources can be enabled or disabled via CLI flags and environment variables. See explorer-mcp -h or explorer-mcp print -h. Some resources are omitted at runtime when prerequisites are missing (no git repo, no container CLI, no opencode binary, etc.).

Enabled by default

• structure: File tree under projectRootPath up to scan depth; relative paths, /** for truncated dirs
• git: Branch or detached head, dirty files, recent commits, diffstat
• workspace: Parent and sibling projects around projectRootPath
• dependencies: Dependencies from manifests (go.mod, package.json, requirements.txt, …)
• container: Container CLIs in PATH and running containers linked to the project
• tools: Makefile targets, package.json scripts, root shell scripts

Opt-in

• cli: Common CLI tools available in PATH. This could mislead an AI agent and cause complications.
• opencode: Effective OpenCode permission rules and MCP server names via opencode debug agent build
• behavior: agentBehaviorMainInstruction and per-domain agentBehaviorInstructions for present sections

Quick help:

go run github.com/NobleMajo/explorer-mcp@latest -h

Use explorer-mcp print [projectRootPath] to dump the same JSON the MCP explore tool returns:

go run github.com/NobleMajo/explorer-mcp@latest print

Response design

The explore JSON follows a few consistent rules:

• Only show what is there: lists and maps use omitempty; empty arrays are omitted when a scan ran but found nothing.
• Do not show what is not found: whole sections are omitted when disabled by flag or when prerequisites are missing (e.g. no git binary, not a git repo, no container CLI).
• Combine details into string arrays: dependencies, container rows, git status lines, and sibling paths are compact encoded strings instead of nested objects.
• Use small flags for metadata: booleans like parentScanPerformed, recentCommitsListed, and repoScanDepthLimit tell the agent whether a scan ran vs. what was found.
• Behavior hints follow data: agentBehaviorInstructions only includes domains whose section is present and non-empty; use -B / --enable-behavior to include behavior text.
• At least one explore resource required: if every explore resource is disabled, print and explore return an error.

Depth/count flags (-c, -p, -d) control how much is collected; disable flags (-S, -G, …) skip entire resources. MCP note: the explore tool requires a mandatory input parameter projectRootPath (absolute or relative path to project root directory). The path is validated and passed through to all explore resource collectors.

Getting Started

Requirements

Linux- or macos-like systems with go or wget & tar installed.

Getting Started

Start the latest repo version directly without leaving stuff in the current working dir:

go run github.com/NobleMajo/explorer-mcp@latest

Install via go

For this section go is required, check out the install go guide.

go install https://github.com/NobleMajo/explorer-mcp

Install via wget

export CUSTOM_BIN_DIR="/usr/local/bin" # <- change if needed
export EXPLORER_MCP_VERSION="" # <- set latest version here

rm -rf $CUSTOM_BIN_DIR/explorer-mcp
wget https://github.com/NobleMajo/explorer-mcp/releases/download/v$EXPLORER_MCP_VERSION/explorer-mcp-v$EXPLORER_MCP_VERSION-linux-amd64.tar.gz -O /tmp/explorer-mcp.tar.gz
tar -xzvf /tmp/explorer-mcp.tar.gz -C $CUSTOM_BIN_DIR/ explorer-mcp
rm /tmp/explorer-mcp.tar.gz

Build

Build requirements

To build, you need to install go. The required go version is in the go.mod file.

Build

For this section go is required, check out the install go guide.

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/NobleMajo/explorer-mcp.git
cd explorer-mcp

Build the explorer-mcp binary from source code:

make build
./explorer-mcp

Development

For this section go is required, check out the install go guide.

This part is work in process, i want use 'AIR' as autoreload tool:

make dev #WIP

Install go

The required go version for this project is in the go.mod file.

To install and update go, I can recommend the following repo:

git clone git@github.com:udhos/update-golang.git golang-updater
cd golang-updater
sudo ./update-golang.sh

Contributing

Contributions to this project are welcome!
Interested users can refer to the guidelines provided in the CONTRIBUTING.md file to contribute to the project and help improve its functionality and features.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license, providing users with flexibility and freedom to use and modify the software according to their needs.

Disclaimer

This project is provided without warranties.
Users are advised to review the accompanying license for more information on the terms of use and limitations of liability.