MCP integration

Skep exposes a Model Context Protocol stdio server so your LLM CLI can query the live index mid-coding session. The LLM calls MCP tools to fetch the symbols, call graphs, and task state it needs; Skep answers from the SQLite index maintained by the daemon.

What MCP is, in one sentence

A stdio JSON-RPC protocol that lets an LLM client (currently Claude Code — see Changelog) discover and invoke tools hosted by a local process.

One-shot install

skep mcp install

This merges an entry into ~/.claude/settings.json, preserving any other MCP servers you already have. Flags:

skep mcp install --name backend     # install under a custom key
skep mcp install --force            # overwrite an existing entry

Manual install

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skep": { "command": "skep", "args": ["mcp"] }
  }
}

To pin the server to a specific repo regardless of cwd:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skep-backend": {
      "command": "skep",
      "args": ["mcp", "--repo", "/home/you/code/my-project/backend"]
    }
  }
}

Tools exposed

See MCP tools reference for the full input schemas and return shapes. At a glance:

Tool	Purpose
`get_overview`	architecture, top symbols, active tasks
`search_symbols`	FTS5 search over the index
`get_call_graph`	callers + callees of a symbol
`get_file_context`	all symbols in a file, signatures only
`list_tasks`	pending / active / completed tasks
`create_task`	create a task in this repo
`dedup_task`	check whether a proposed task duplicates an existing one, without creating it
`create_remote_task`	create a task in a peer repo (blocks until classify + plan)
`get_remote_task`	read current state of a remote task, including clarification questions when pending
`approve_remote_task`	approve a pending task in a peer repo
`wait_remote_task`	block until a peer task reaches a terminal state

Daemon-free

The MCP server reads the SQLite index directly. You don’t need the daemon running to call get_overview or search_symbols. The daemon is only required for task execution and cross-repo routing — the read-only tools work as long as .skep/index.db exists.