MCP Explorer Server

The claude-code-explorer-mcp package is an MCP server that exposes 8 tools, 3 resources, and 5 prompts for navigating the ~1,900-file, 512K+ line Claude Code codebase. It supports STDIO, Streamable HTTP, and SSE transports. Connect it to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, or Cursor and ask questions like:

“How does the BashTool work?”
“Search for where permissions are checked”
“Show me the /review command source”
“Explain the permission system”

Installation

Claude Code (npm)
Claude Code (from source)
VS Code
Claude Desktop
Cursor

The fastest option — no repository clone required:

claude mcp add claude-code-explorer -- npx -y claude-code-explorer-mcp

Restart your Claude Code session to activate the server.

Clone the repository, build the server, and register it:

git clone https://github.com/nirholas/claude-code.git ~/claude-code \
  && cd ~/claude-code/mcp-server \
  && npm install && npm run build \
  && claude mcp add claude-code-explorer -- node ~/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js

Or step by step:

# 1. Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/nirholas/claude-code.git
cd claude-code/mcp-server

# 2. Install and build
npm install && npm run build

# 3. Register with Claude Code
claude mcp add claude-code-explorer -- node /absolute/path/to/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js

Replace /absolute/path/to/claude-code with your actual clone path.

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "claude-code-explorer": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["${workspaceFolder}/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT": "${workspaceFolder}/src"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to your Claude Desktop config file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-code-explorer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT": "/absolute/path/to/claude-code/src"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-code-explorer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT": "/absolute/path/to/claude-code/src"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available tools

Tool	Description
`list_tools`	List all 40+ agent tools (BashTool, FileEditTool, etc.) with their source files
`list_commands`	List all 50+ slash commands (/commit, /review, etc.) with their source files
`get_tool_source`	Read the full source of a specific tool implementation
`get_command_source`	Read the source of a specific slash command
`read_source_file`	Read any file from `src/` by relative path, with optional line range
`search_source`	Regex search across the entire source tree with optional file extension filter
`list_directory`	Browse directories under `src/`
`get_architecture`	Get a high-level architecture overview with tool and command counts

Available prompts

Prompts are guided templates that instruct your AI assistant to produce structured explanations.

Prompt	Arguments	Description
`explain_tool`	`toolName`	Deep-dive into a tool’s purpose, input schema, permissions, and execution flow
`explain_command`	`commandName`	Explain a slash command’s behavior and implementation
`architecture_overview`	—	Guided tour of the full Claude Code architecture
`how_does_it_work`	`feature`	Explain any subsystem: `"permission system"`, `"MCP client"`, `"bridge"`, etc.
`compare_tools`	`tool1`, `tool2`	Side-by-side comparison of two tools

Resources

The server also exposes static MCP resources:

URI	Description
`claude-code://architecture`	README / architecture overview (Markdown)
`claude-code://tools`	Tool registry as JSON
`claude-code://commands`	Command registry as JSON
`claude-code://source/{path}`	Any source file by path (template)

Transports

Transport	How to start	Best for
STDIO	`node dist/index.js`	Claude Desktop, local Claude Code, VS Code
Streamable HTTP	`node dist/http.js` → `POST/GET /mcp`	Modern MCP clients, remote hosting
Legacy SSE	`node dist/http.js` → `GET /sse`	Older MCP clients

To run the HTTP server locally:

cd mcp-server
npm run start:http
# Streamable HTTP at http://localhost:3000/mcp
# Legacy SSE at http://localhost:3000/sse
# Health check at http://localhost:3000/health

Custom source path

By default, the server resolves src/ relative to its own dist/ directory. Override this with the CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT environment variable:

# Custom path via environment variable
claude mcp add claude-code-explorer \
  -e CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT=/path/to/claude-code/src \
  -- node /path/to/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js

Remove the server

claude mcp remove claude-code-explorer

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
`CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT`	`../src` relative to `dist/`	Path to the Claude Code `src/` directory
`PORT`	`3000`	HTTP server port (HTTP mode only)
`MCP_API_KEY`	(none)	Bearer token for HTTP auth (optional)

Remote HTTP configuration

For clients connecting to a remotely hosted instance:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-code-explorer": {
      "url": "https://your-deployment.example.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

The MCP server is published as claude-code-explorer-mcp on npm and registered at io.github.nirholas/claude-code-explorer-mcp in the MCP Registry.

Get Started

Architecture

Subsystems

Guides

Installation

Available tools

Available prompts

Resources

Transports

Custom source path

Remove the server

Environment variables

Remote HTTP configuration

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Architecture

Subsystems

Guides

​Installation

​Available tools

​Available prompts

​Resources

​Transports

​Custom source path

​Remove the server

​Environment variables

​Remote HTTP configuration

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Installation

Available tools

Available prompts

Resources

Transports

Custom source path

Remove the server

Environment variables

Remote HTTP configuration