Brogrammer for VS Code
An MCP context engine for Claude Code,
Cursor, Continue, and any other MCP-speaking agent. Brogrammer runs a
local MCP server inside your editor and exposes your project's symbol
index, semantic search, git history, and diagnostics as first-class
tools the agent can call.
Your code never leaves your machine — Brogrammer only talks to localhost.
What you get
Twenty-plus MCP tools, all backed by the VS Code language server and a
local vector index:
codebase-retrieval — workspace-wide symbol search, ranked by
TF-IDF, recency, cursor proximity, and open files (up to 80 symbols
per call).semantic-search — local vector search via Ollama
qwen3-embedding:0.6b (1024-dim, code-aware, binary-quantised
two-phase retrieval). Optional — the other tools work without it.find-usages — real reference lookups through the active VS Code
language server. Typed references, not grep.get-problems / get-problems-for-diff — live
vscode.languages.getDiagnostics() filtered by severity, scoped to a
diff when you want.commit-history / get-diff / get-branches / file-context —
structured git context: recent commits, hot files, per-file history,
branch diffs.get-cursor-context / get-active-files — what you're actually
looking at right now.get-memories / add-memory / remove-memory — per-project
memory store the agent can read and write.get-rules — rules pulled from .brogrammer/rules/ and
~/.brogrammer/global-rules/.list-components / get-component — opt-in component library
from .brogrammer/components.json.get-review-guides / write-review-findings — structured code
review workflow surfaced in the sidebar.
No Anthropic key needed — Claude Code is the LLM. Brogrammer is the
context layer.
Quick start
Install this extension from the VS Code Marketplace.
Sign in — click the Brogrammer icon in the activity bar →
Sign in → approve in the browser. A 7-day free trial starts
automatically.
Open a workspace. The MCP server auto-starts on
127.0.0.1:3333. The Status tab in the sidebar confirms when the
symbol index finishes.
Register with your agent — pick one:
Claude Code (Linux/macOS):
claude mcp add --scope user brogrammer -- socat STDIO TCP:localhost:3333
Claude Code (Windows): the extension ships a small Node bridge.
Get its path, then register it:
$ext = Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\.vscode\extensions\brogrammer.brogrammer-*" |
Sort-Object Name | Select-Object -Last 1
$bridge = Join-Path $ext.FullName "scripts\mcp-stdio-bridge.js"
claude mcp add --scope user brogrammer -- node "$bridge" 127.0.0.1 3333
Cursor / Continue / Cline: point any stdio MCP server config at
socat STDIO TCP:localhost:3333 (or the Node bridge above on
Windows).
Verify. In Claude Code, ask "what does Brogrammer expose?" —
the agent should list ~20 tools prefixed mcp__brogrammer__….
Full walkthroughs, troubleshooting, and the optional local-model setup
live at brogrammer.net/docs.
Optional: semantic search via Ollama
semantic-search needs a local embedding model. The other 20 tools
work without it.
# macOS: brew install ollama && brew services start ollama
# Linux: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
ollama pull qwen3-embedding:0.6b
The extension auto-detects Ollama on http://localhost:11434. Change
the endpoint or model in Settings → Extensions → Brogrammer.
Pricing
- Trial: 7 days of Pro, no card required.
- Pro: individual subscription. See brogrammer.net/pricing.
- Team: seat-based plans for organisations.
Device approval, subscription status, and team management live on
brogrammer.net/app/billing.
Privacy
Brogrammer never uploads your source code. The MCP server listens on
127.0.0.1 only. The only network egress is:
- Auth — sign-in via magic-link, GitHub, or Google against
api.brogrammer.net.
- License check — subscription entitlement, re-verified
periodically.
Tool output (file reads, diffs, search results) goes from the extension
directly to your agent's LLM provider (Anthropic for Claude Code).
Brogrammer is not in that path.
Support
