CodePulse – token-efficient codebase indexer for AI coding tools

CodePulse has launched a token-efficient codebase indexer that reduces AI coding tool token consumption by up to 87% by replacing the need for AI assistants to explore repositories during new sessions. The tool maintains a persistent, git-diff-aware index that injects a compact snapshot of repo structure, exported symbols, and import graphs at session start, eliminating the typical 10-30 file reads per session. CodePulse works with Claude Code, OpenAI Codex CLI, Cursor, and Continue.dev, and its token savings translate to monthly cost reductions of up to $90 per developer at current API pricing.

Token-efficient codebase indexing for AI coding tools. AI assistants waste 60–80% of their token budget exploring your repo on every new conversation. CodePulse maintains a persistent, git-diff-aware index and injects a compact snapshot — repo structure, exported symbols, import graph — at session start. Works with Claude Code skill , OpenAI Codex CLI pipe or AGENTS.md , Cursor/Continue.dev MCP server , and any tool that can consume CLI output. Without CodePulse, an AI assistant typically reads 10–30 files per session just to understand your repo before it can help. With CodePulse, it gets a pre-built snapshot instead — no exploration needed. | Repo Size | Without CodePulse | With CodePulse | Saved | |---|---|---|---| | Small < 5k lines | ~8,000 tokens | ~2,000 tokens | ~75% | | Medium 5k–50k lines | ~25,000 tokens | ~4,000 tokens | ~84% | | Large 50k+ lines | ~60,000 tokens | ~8,000 tokens | ~87% | Estimates based on typical file-read patterns. Actual savings vary by repo structure and session type. Use codepulse context --budget to tune the snapshot size. At current API pricing Claude Sonnet ~$3/MTok input , saving 20,000 tokens per session adds up fast across a team: | Sessions/day | Tokens saved/day | Monthly savings per developer | |---|---|---| | 5 | 100,000 | ~$9 | | 20 | 400,000 | ~$36 | | 50 | 1,000,000 | ~$90 | Beyond cost, fewer tokens spent on exploration means faster responses and more of the context window available for actual work. npm install -g @aicodepulse/cli In your repo: build the index one-time codepulse init Emit context into any AI session codepulse context Keep it fresh after commits codepulse update In Claude Code: install the skill, then type /codepulse at the start of a session. There are three ways to use CodePulse depending on your AI tool. Pick the one that fits your workflow. Install and index your repo: npm install -g @aicodepulse/cli cd your-project codepulse init Pipe context into any AI session: codepulse context --format markdown Keep the index up to date: codepulse update incremental fast codepulse watch auto-update on file changes codepulse install-hooks auto-update after every git commit recommended - Copy skill/codepulse/ into your project's .claude/skills/ directory - Run codepulse init in your repo once - Type /codepulse at the start of any Claude Code session — it injects a fresh context snapshot automatically For always-on injection without typing the command, add this to .claude/settings.json : { "hooks": { "PreToolUse": { "matcher": ". ", "hooks": { "type": "command", "command": "codepulse context --format xml" } } } } Install the MCP package: npm install -g @aicodepulse/cli @aicodepulse/mcp cd your-project && codepulse init Add to your MCP config e.g. .cursor/mcp.json : { "codepulse": { "command": "codepulse-mcp", "args": } } The MCP server exposes three tools your AI editor can call on demand: get context budget tokens, focus path? — full context snapshot search symbols query — find exported symbols by name get file summary path — symbols, imports, and importers for one file | Command | Description | |---|---| codepulse init | Build the initial full index | codepulse update | Incremental update git-diff-aware | codepulse update --full | Force full re-index | codepulse context | Emit context snapshot default: 4000 tokens, XML | codepulse context --auto | Auto-scale budget by repo complexity | codepulse context --task "description" | Rank files relevant to the task first | codepulse context --budget 8000 | Larger budget for bigger repos | codepulse context --focus src/auth | Deep detail on one subsystem | codepulse context --format markdown | Human-readable output | codepulse search <query | Search exported symbols by name | codepulse search <query --limit 10 | Limit results | codepulse stats | Show index stats | codepulse watch | Auto-update on file changes | codepulse install-hooks | Install git post-commit hook for auto-updates | codepulse uninstall-hooks | Remove git hooks | CodePulse ranks what goes into the snapshot so the most useful files fit within the budget: Task-aware ranking — pass --task to rank files by relevance to what you're working on: codepulse context --auto --task "fix the login bug" Keywords are extracted from your task description and matched against file paths, symbol names, exported function signatures, and stored file summaries. Files most relevant to your task appear first. Git-aware ranking — even without --task , CodePulse checks which files you've recently changed git diff and boosts those automatically. Files with a longer history of changes rank higher by default. Auto budget — --auto scales the token budget to your repo's complexity score symbols × 2 + imports + lines/50 . Tiny repos are skipped entirely: | Complexity | Budget | |---|---| | < 50 | skipped 0 tokens | | 50–499 | 800 tokens | | 500–1499 | 2,000 tokens | | ≥ 1,500 | 4,000 tokens | If the budget is too small and files were cut off, CodePulse warns you and suggests the next tier. Search exported symbols across your entire indexed codebase: codepulse search "validateToken" codepulse search "auth" --limit 10 Returns kind, name, signature, file path, and line number for every match — useful for navigating large repos without opening an editor. Install a post-commit hook so the index updates automatically after every commit: codepulse install-hooks This appends a single line to .git/hooks/post-commit or creates the file . It runs codepulse update after each commit — incremental, so it's fast. Remove it any time: codepulse uninstall-hooks JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, Java, C, C++, C , Ruby, PHP, Bash, Kotlin, Swift Copy skill/codepulse/ into your project's .claude/skills/ directory, then use /codepulse in any Claude Code session. Always-on injection opt-in : Add to .claude/settings.json : { "hooks": { "PreToolUse": { "matcher": ". ", "hooks": { "type": "command", "command": "codepulse context --format xml" } } } } Codex CLI supports an AGENTS.md file for project-level instructions and can read context piped into it via stdin. Option 1 — Pipe context directly into a prompt: codepulse context --format markdown | codex "refactor the auth module" Option 2 — Inject into AGENTS.md at session start: Add a setup script to your repo e.g. scripts/codex-init.sh : bash /usr/bin/env bash Regenerate AGENTS.md with a fresh CodePulse snapshot before each Codex session cat AGENTS.md << 'HEADER' Project Context auto-generated by CodePulse HEADER codepulse context --format markdown AGENTS.md Run it before starting Codex: bash scripts/codex-init.sh && codex Codex will pick up AGENTS.md automatically on startup, giving it instant structural awareness without exploring the repo itself. Option 3 — Always-on via shell alias: Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc alias codex=' codepulse update --full 2 /dev/null; codepulse context --format markdown /tmp/cp-context.md ; codex --context /tmp/cp-context.md' Note: --context flag availability depends on your Codex CLI version. Check codex --help for the exact flag name. Add to your MCP config: { "codepulse": { "command": "codepulse-mcp", "args": } } Tools available: get context budget tokens, focus path? — full context snapshot search symbols query — find exported symbols by name get file summary path — symbols, imports, and importers for one file Index: Tree-Sitter parses all source files, extracting exported symbols, import edges, and a compact per-file summary into a SQLite database .codepulse/index.db . Git history is scanned to record how often each file changes. Update: On each update , only files changed since the last indexed git commit are re-parsed — a 50k-line repo updates in milliseconds. With install-hooks , this runs automatically after every commit. Context: Given a token budget, a layered generator fills it from most to least important: repo overview → directory map → symbol table → import graph. Files are ranked by task relevance, then change frequency most-edited files first , so the most useful content always fits within the budget. Smart budget: --auto scales the token budget to your repo's actual complexity — tiny repos are skipped entirely, saving 100% overhead. The index is stored per-repo not globally so each project has its own isolated snapshot. | Package | Description | |---|---| @aicodepulse/core | Indexer engine Tree-Sitter, SQLite, context generator | @aicodepulse/cli | codepulse CLI | @aicodepulse/mcp | codepulse-mcp MCP server | MIT