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Lien

LienLocal-First Semantic Code Search

Give AI deep understanding of your codebase through semantic search. 100% local, 100% private.

Get Started

View on GitHub

🔒

100% Local & Private

Code never leaves your machine. All embeddings and search happen locally with no external API calls.

🚀

Semantic Search

Natural language queries to find relevant code. Ask "how does authentication work?" and get precise results.

🎯

MCP Integration

Works seamlessly with Cursor, Claude Code, and other MCP-compatible AI coding assistants via Model Context Protocol.

⚡

Fast Performance

Queries return in <500ms. Indexing completes in minutes, not hours. Optimized for large codebases.

📊

Complexity Analysis

Identify tech debt hotspots with cyclomatic complexity analysis. Prioritize refactoring and track code health over time.

📦

Framework-Aware

Auto-detects frameworks (Node.js, Laravel, Shopify, PHP) with zero config. Full monorepo support for multi-framework repos.

Quick Start

1. Install Lien:

bash

npm install -g @liendev/lien

2. Configure your AI assistant:

For Cursor: Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project root
For Claude Code: Create claude_desktop_config.json in your config folder

Cursor Setup (.cursor/mcp.json)

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lien": {
      "command": "lien",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code Setup (claude_desktop_config.json)

Location:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lien": {
      "command": "lien",
      "args": ["serve", "--root", "/path/to/your/project"]
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/your/project with your actual project path.

3. Restart your AI assistant and start asking questions about your codebase!

That's it—no configuration files needed. Lien auto-detects your project structure and indexes on first use.

Note: Cursor's per-project .cursor/mcp.json approach is recommended for automatic project switching. Claude Code requires global configuration with explicit --root paths. See Getting Started for details.

How It Works

Index: Lien scans your codebase, chunks code into manageable pieces, and generates embeddings using a local ML model
Store: Embeddings are stored in a local vector database in ~/.lien/indices/
Search: When you query through Cursor, Lien finds the most semantically similar code chunks
Context: Results are returned to Cursor, providing better, context-aware responses

Use Cases

Understand New Codebases: "Show me how authentication works"
Find Implementations: "Where are API endpoints defined?"
Locate Patterns: "Find similar error handling code"
Discover Related Code: "What tests cover this module?"
Tech Debt Analysis: "What are the most complex functions?"
Impact Analysis: "What depends on this file?"

Privacy First

Lien is built with privacy as a core principle:

All code analysis happens on your machine
No data is sent to external servers
No telemetry or usage tracking
Open source and auditable

Free & Open Source

Lien is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and free forever for local use. The license ensures:

✅ Use Lien locally without restrictions
✅ Modify and distribute freely
✅ Improvements benefit the community
✅ Sustainable long-term development

Questions about licensing? Contact alf@lien.dev

Lien /ljɛ̃/ — French for "link"

Linking semantic code understanding with AI tools, one query at a time.

Made with ❤️ for developers who care about privacy and local-first tools.