LienLocal-First Code Intelligence for AI

Quick Start ​

Claude Code (recommended) — one-time plugin install ​

/plugin marketplace add getlien/lien
/plugin install lien

That's it. Lien's MCP tools and the Explore agent are available in every Claude Code session, in every repo — no per-project setup. First use in a new git repo triggers a one-time index automatically. See the Claude Code plugin guide for what its hooks do beyond the MCP config.

Other editors (Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, Kilo Code, Antigravity) ​

1. Install Lien:

npm install -g @liendev/lien

2. Configure your editor:

lien init

This writes the correct MCP config for your editor.

3. Restart your editor and start asking questions about your codebase!

Lien auto-detects your project structure and indexes on first use.

How It Works ​

1. Index: Lien scans your codebase and chunks it into semantic units (functions, classes, blocks) using Tree-sitter AST parsing — no model to download
2. Store: Chunks, their complexity metrics, and the import graph are written to a local SQLite database in ~/.lien/indices/
3. Answer: When your AI assistant asks a structural question ("what depends on this?", "how complex is this?"), Lien answers it with indexed SQL
4. Search: For discovery, Lien runs FTS5/BM25 lexical search over symbol names, identifier-split tokens, and content
5. Context: Results flow back to your assistant, giving it accurate, explainable context

Use Cases ​

• Impact Analysis: "What depends on this file?" / "Is this safe to delete?"
• Tech Debt Analysis: "What are the most complex functions?"
• Test Coverage: "What tests cover this module?"
• Find Implementations: "Where is the retry backoff handled?" (use terms that appear in the code)
• Locate Patterns: "Find similar error-handling code"
• Refactoring Scope: "How many files need updating if I change this signature?"

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