Clade — Architectural Intelligence for Large Codebases

AI code generators write locally correct code that becomes globally incoherent at scale. Clade enforces structural integrity by treating your codebase as a hierarchical communication system — a tree of IO protocols.

The Problem

As codebases grow, AI-generated code creates invisible coupling, circular dependencies, and architectural drift. No amount of linting catches structural decay — because the structure was never declared.

How Clade Works

Clade introduces a protocol tree: every component declares its IO contract with its parent. Sibling components never communicate directly — all data flows through parent relays. This zero-coupling guarantee means any node can be replaced, refactored, or rewritten by an AI agent without breaking the rest of the system.

Features

Browse your application's communication structure directly in VS Code. Every node shows its IO protocol and status (seed / growing / stable).

Interactive Dataflow View

Click any node to see its internal data flows rendered as an interactive DAG. Drag nodes, zoom, pan. Double-click to drill into children.

Live Enforcement

Run Check from the toolbar — validate every change against the declared protocol tree. Commit atomically with Commit.

Refactor with Claude

Click the Refactor button on any node — Claude receives a bounded prompt scoped to that node's protocol contract. It reads existing code, implements or refactors to match the declared IO, and streams progress live in the agent panel.

Chat within Boundaries

Type a freeform prompt in the agent panel — Claude works within the selected node's protocol boundary, never touching sibling nodes.

Import Existing Code

Right-click any file or directory and select Import to Protocol Tree — Clade decomposes it into protocol nodes automatically.

Claude Code Integration (MCP)

With the Clade MCP server, Claude Code follows the Clade workflow automatically — reads the protocol tree, runs preflight, declares nodes before implementing, validates, and commits atomically.

Getting Started

1. Install the Clade CLI

sudo curl -fsSL https://imlore.com/clade/releases/clade-0.2.1-macos-arm64 -o /usr/local/bin/clade
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/clade

2. Initialize a project

cd your-project
clade init "My application description"

This creates .clade/ (with graph.json), CLAUDE.md, and a git pre-commit hook.

3. Import existing code or add nodes manually

# Import an existing codebase
clade decompose src/

# Or add nodes manually
clade node add WeatherFetch --parent root --input "CityName" --output "WeatherData" --source src/weather.py

4. Open in VS Code

Open the project folder — the Clade Protocol Tree appears in the sidebar. Click any node to see the dataflow view.

5. Set up Claude Agent (optional)

To use Refactor and Chat features, provide your Anthropic API key:

Settings > search "clade" > Anthropic API Key

Or set the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.

Commands

Command	Description
`Clade: Run Check`	Validate code against protocols
`Clade: Detect Mismatches`	Find downstream protocol issues
`Clade: Commit`	Atomic commit (check + commit)
`Clade: Open Dataflow View`	Open the protocol visualization
`Clade: Refresh Tree`	Reload from graph.json
`Clade: Refactor Node with Claude`	Bounded refactoring within a node's protocol
`Clade: Chat about Node`	Freeform prompt scoped to a node boundary
`Clade: Import to Protocol Tree`	Decompose a file into protocol nodes

Requirements

Clade CLI — installed on PATH (clade --version to verify)
Git — for atomic commits and history
Anthropic API key — for Refactor and Chat features (optional)

Clade

Imlore Inc