Scantool is a code structure analysis tool that scans and maps source code across 20+ programming languages to help developers navigate and understand large codebases faster. Powered by tree-sitter, it extracts detailed structural information with precise line numbers. Key features of Scantool: - Multi-language support including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, Go, C/C++, Java, PHP, C#, Ruby, Zig, Swift, SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite), HTML, CSS, SCSS, and Markdown - Extracts classes, methods, functions, imports, call graphs, and decorators with complete type annotations - Identifies function signatures, docstrings, JSDoc comments, and attributes - Searches for specific code patterns such as test files, async methods, and dataclasses - Provides compact overviews to help prioritize code exploration and refactoring targets - Delivers precise line numbers for all extracted code elements

Scantool: Code Analysis MCP Server for Claude

[](https://pypi.org/project/scantool/) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

MCP server for analyzing source code structure across 20+ languages. Works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and any Model Context Protocol client. Powered by tree-sitter. Extracts classes, functions, methods, imports, call graphs, and hot functions with precise line numbers.

Quick Start

Requires uv (provides the uvx command). Install it first if you don't have it — without it, scantool will silently fail to start:

# macOS / Linux / WSL
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Claude Code

claude mcp add scantool -- uvx scantool

That's it. Restart Claude Code and you're ready to go.

Claude Desktop

Add to config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scantool": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["scantool"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after configuration.

Troubleshooting: uvx not found

uvx comes with uv, the Python package manager. Install it first:

# macOS / Linux / WSL
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
Windows (PowerShell)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

After installing uv, restart your terminal (or open a new one) so uvx is on your PATH. Then re-run the setup command above.

If uvx still isn't found after restarting the terminal, add it to your PATH manually:

# Linux / WSL - add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
macOS - usually works out of the box, but if not:
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Alternative: Install from source

git clone https://github.com/mariusei/file-scanner-mcp.git
cd file-scanner-mcp
uv sync
Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport stdio scantool -- uv run --directory /path/to/file-scanner-mcp scantool
Claude Desktop
Use command: "uv", args: ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/file-scanner-mcp", "scantool"]

Share with your team (.mcp.json)

Add a .mcp.json file to your project root to share the config with your team:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scantool": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["scantool"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code will prompt team members for approval on first use.

Features

Multi-language Support

Structure Extraction

Analysis Tools

Output Formats

Usage

preview_directory - Code analysis (primary tool)

Analyzes codebase structure including entry points, import graph, call graph, and hot functions.

preview_directory(
    directory=".",
    depth="deep",             # "quick", "normal", or "deep" (default: "deep")
    max_files=10000,          # Safety limit (default: 10000)
    max_entries=20,           # Entries per section (default: 20)
    respect_gitignore=True    # Honor .gitignore (default: True)
)

Depth levels:

Example output (depth="deep"):

``` project/

--- ENTRY POINTS --- main.py:main() @1 backend/application.py:Flask app @15 frontend/index.ts:export default

--- CORE FILES (by centrality) --- backend/database.py: imports 0, used by 15 files backend/auth.py: imports 1, used by 8 files shared/utils.py: imports 2, used by 12 files

--- ARCHITECTURE --- Entry Points: 25 files Core Logic: 68 files Plugins: 15 files Tests: 42 files

--- HOT FUNCTIONS (most called) --- get_database() (function): called by 41, calls 1 @backend/database.py authenticate() (function): called by 23, calls 5 @backend/auth.py validate_input() (function): called by 15, calls 2 @shared/utils.py

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