VortiqLabs Codebase Indexer for VS Code

Local codebase intelligence for VS Code, powered by MCP.

VortiqLabs Codebase Indexer brings a high-performance local codebase indexing engine to VS Code and exposes its capabilities as an MCP server that can be used by AI coding agents such as GitHub Copilot Agent.

The VS Code extension manages the runtime automatically, so users don't need to manually install Node.js packages, compile the indexer, or configure the runtime binary.

✨ Features

🧠 Local codebase indexing
🔌 Native MCP server integration
🤖 GitHub Copilot Agent integration
📦 Automatic runtime installation
💾 Runtime caching — already-installed runtimes are reused
🔄 Runtime version management
🖥️ Automatic OS and CPU architecture detection
🔐 SHA-256 verified runtime packages
⚡ Native standalone runtime binaries
🌍 Cross-platform support
🛠️ VS Code commands and status information

🏗️ Architecture

The extension acts as the bridge between VS Code's MCP infrastructure and the standalone Codebase Indexer runtime.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    VS Code                   │
│                                              │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │       VortiqLabs Codebase Indexer     │  │
│  │              Extension                 │  │
│  │                                        │  │
│  │  Runtime Manager                       │  │
│  │  MCP Server Provider                   │  │
│  │  Commands / Status                     │  │
│  └───────────────────┬────────────────────┘  │
│                      │                       │
│                      │ stdio                 │
│                      ▼                       │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │       codebase-indexer mcp             │  │
│  │                                        │  │
│  │       Standalone Runtime               │  │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│                      │                       │
│                      ▼                       │
│             MCP tools / resources            │
│                      │                       │
│                      ▼                       │
│             GitHub Copilot Agent             │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The extension does not implement the indexing engine itself.

Instead:

Extension = lifecycle + runtime management + VS Code integration

Codebase Indexer = indexing engine + MCP server

This keeps the indexing engine independent from VS Code and allows the same runtime to be used by other MCP clients in the future.

🚀 Installation

From a VSIX

Download the latest .vsix release of the extension.

In VS Code:

Open the Command Palette.

Ctrl + Shift + P

Select:

Extensions: Install from VSIX...

Select the downloaded .vsix file.
Reload VS Code.

🤖 Using with GitHub Copilot

Open a project in VS Code and open GitHub Copilot Chat.

Switch to Agent mode.

The extension registers:

VortiqLabs Codebase Indexer

as an MCP server provider.

When the AI agent needs repository-level information, VS Code can start:

codebase-indexer mcp

and expose the indexer's MCP tools to the agent.

Depending on the runtime version, available tools can include capabilities such as:

search
symbols
references
callers
callees
files
inspect
index

This allows an AI agent to query the actual indexed codebase instead of relying only on the files currently present in its immediate context.

For example:

Find where authentication is implemented
and explain the complete authentication flow.

The agent can use the Codebase Indexer MCP tools to investigate the repository.

📦 Automatic Runtime Management

The extension automatically detects the current platform and downloads the corresponding standalone runtime from the Codebase Indexer GitHub Releases.

Supported targets:

Platform	Architecture
Linux	x64
Linux	ARM64
macOS	x64
macOS	ARM64
Windows	x64
Windows	ARM64

The extension maps the current environment to the appropriate release asset.

For example:

linux-x64
    ↓
codebase-indexer-linux-x64.tar.gz

or:

win32-x64
    ↓
codebase-indexer-win32-x64.zip

💾 Runtime Caching

The extension does not download the runtime every time VS Code starts.

Installed runtimes are stored in VS Code's extension global storage.

Example:

globalStorage/
└── vortiqlabs.codebase-indexer/
    └── runtime/
        └── linux-x64/
            └── 0.1.7/
                ├── codebase-indexer
                ├── grammars/
                ├── tree-sitter-wasms/
                ├── workers/
                └── dashboard/

If a compatible runtime already exists, it is reused.

The extension only downloads a runtime when a suitable local installation is unavailable.

🔄 Runtime Updates

The extension supports selecting a runtime version through VS Code settings.

Configuration:

{
  "codebaseIndexer.runtimeVersion": "latest"
}

The default is:

latest

A specific version can also be selected:

{
  "codebaseIndexer.runtimeVersion": "0.1.7"
}

⚙️ Configuration

Available settings:

`codebaseIndexer.autoStart`

Controls whether the extension automatically performs its startup initialization.

Default:

true

`codebaseIndexer.runtimeVersion`

Controls which Codebase Indexer runtime version is used.

Default:

"latest"

Example:

{
  "codebaseIndexer.autoStart": true,
  "codebaseIndexer.runtimeVersion": "latest"
}

🛠️ Commands

The extension provides the following VS Code commands:

Codebase Indexer: Start
Codebase Indexer: Stop
Codebase Indexer: Restart
Codebase Indexer: Show Status
Codebase Indexer: Reindex Workspace
Codebase Indexer: Update Runtime

Open them through:

Ctrl + Shift + P

🖥️ Status Bar

The extension provides a status indicator in the VS Code status bar:

$(database) Codebase Indexer

The status can be used to inspect the current indexer state.

🔧 Development

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/VortiqLabs/codebase-indexer-vscode.git
cd codebase-indexer-vscode

Install dependencies:

npm install

Compile:

npm run compile

Run TypeScript in watch mode:

npm run watch

Package the extension:

npx @vscode/vsce package

This produces:

codebase-indexer-<version>.vsix

🧪 Local Installation

After packaging:

code --install-extension codebase-indexer-0.1.0.vsix

Or install through the VS Code UI:

Extensions
    ↓
...
    ↓
Install from VSIX...

📁 Project Structure

codebase-indexer-vscode/
│
├── src/
│   ├── commands/
│   │   └── index.ts
│   │
│   ├── indexer/
│   │   └── process.ts
│   │
│   ├── mcp/
│   │   └── provider.ts
│   │
│   ├── runtime/
│   │   ├── downloader.ts
│   │   ├── extractor.ts
│   │   ├── manager.ts
│   │   └── platform.ts
│   │
│   └── extension.ts
│
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
└── .vscodeignore

🔌 MCP Integration

The extension registers a VS Code MCP server definition provider:

VortiqLabs Codebase Indexer

When VS Code requests the server, the extension provides:

command:
    codebase-indexer

arguments:
    mcp

The resulting process communicates with VS Code using MCP over stdio.

Conceptually:

VS Code MCP
     │
     │ stdin/stdout
     ▼
codebase-indexer mcp
     │
     ├── search
     ├── symbols
     ├── references
     ├── callers
     ├── callees
     ├── files
     └── inspect

This makes the indexer available to compatible AI agents without requiring a network port or externally exposed service.

🔐 Security

The runtime is downloaded from the official VortiqLabs Codebase Indexer GitHub Releases.

The extension is designed to:

run the indexer locally
avoid exposing the indexer through a network port
cache runtimes locally
use platform-specific binaries
verify downloaded runtime packages before installation

The indexer operates on the workspace provided to it by the local development environment.

🌍 Supported Platforms

Linux

linux-x64
linux-arm64

macOS

darwin-x64
darwin-arm64

Windows

win32-x64
win32-arm64

📋 Requirements

VS Code 1.100.0 or newer
A supported operating system and architecture
Internet access for the initial runtime download
GitHub Copilot is required for Copilot Agent integration

After the runtime has been installed, normal runtime startup does not require downloading it again.

🧩 Ecosystem

The VortiqLabs Codebase Indexer ecosystem consists of:

Codebase Indexer

The standalone indexing and MCP runtime.

VortiqLabs/codebase-indexer

VS Code Extension

This repository.

VortiqLabs/codebase-indexer-vscode

The runtime is intentionally independent from the VS Code extension so that it can eventually be integrated with additional editors, IDEs, CLIs, and MCP clients.

🗺️ Roadmap

[x] Standalone cross-platform runtime
[x] GitHub Release distribution
[x] Automatic platform detection
[x] Runtime caching
[x] VS Code extension
[x] VS Code MCP server registration
[x] GitHub Copilot Agent integration
[ ] Runtime SHA-256 verification
[ ] One-click runtime updates
[ ] Rich indexing status UI
[ ] Workspace indexing controls
[ ] MCP tool configuration
[ ] Additional IDE integrations
[ ] CLI distribution improvements

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

See LICENSE.

🏢 VortiqLabs

Built by VortiqLabs.

The goal is simple:

Give AI agents fast, structured, local access to real codebases.