Code intelligence

kontext's own symbol extraction is deliberately light (regexes that feed module summaries). For precise answers — where is RunContext defined, who calls it — plug in a code-intelligence server through a code op. ctx_why <symbol> uses it to locate the code before looking for decisions and history.

CodeGraph

A local code knowledge graph with an MCP server.

codegraph init . && codegraph index .     # once per repository
kontext adapters add codegraph
kontext adapters test codegraph --query RunContext

The preset starts codegraph serve --mcp, is active only where .codegraph/ exists, maps code to codegraph_search and extracts path:line locations from its Markdown answer (split = "### ", uri = "re:…").

Re-publish CodeGraph's tools through kontext when an agent should use a single MCP server:

[adapters.codegraph]
expose = ["codegraph_explore", "codegraph_node", "codegraph_callers"]

Serena

A language-server-backed toolkit with MCP support for many languages.

kontext adapters add serena
kontext adapters inspect serena      # the tools and their schemas

The preset starts serena start-mcp-server --context ide --project <repo> and maps code to find_symbol; the symbol argument (name_path / name_path_pattern) is bound from the tool's schema. Without a serena binary, use the uvx command shown in the preset's comments.

Your own

Any tool that finds symbols works — an MCP server, an HTTP service or a CLI. A zero-dependency example with git grep:

[adapters.gitgrep]
driver = "command"
description = "Symbol lookup with git grep (no extra tools)"

[adapters.gitgrep.ops.code]
command = ["git", "grep", "-n", "-I", "-w", "-E", "(fn|struct|class|interface|type|def|func)[[:space:]]+{{query}}"]
format = "lines"
map = { title = "re:^[^:]+:\\d+:\\s*(.*)$", uri = "re:^([^:]+:\\d+)", kind = "=symbol" }

$ kontext why Artifact
## Code (gitgrep)
- type Artifact = { apps/ui/src/main.tsx:198
- pub struct Artifact { libs/core/src/lib.rs:75

When to use which

Need	Tool
why a path is the way it is	ctx_why path (git + knowledge; no code adapter needed)
where a symbol lives, then why	ctx_why Symbol (code adapter + knowledge)
deep navigation, references, refactoring	the code server's own tools (expose)