Visual Tree Explorer MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides rich file tree exploration with code previews, symbol extraction, and architectural insights. Perfect for AI assistants to understand codebases instantly.

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

cd mcp-servers/visual-tree-explorer
npm install
npm run build

Add to Claude MCP Config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visual-tree-explorer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/r3belMind/mcp-servers/visual-tree-explorer/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Basic Usage

explore_tree({ path: "src", depth: 2 })

🌐 Dual-Mode Architecture

Visual Tree Explorer supports two operational modes for maximum flexibility:

🎯 MCP Mode (Default)

Perfect for Claude Code integration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visual-tree-explorer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

🚀 HTTP Server Mode (New!)

Perfect for automation, hooks, and integrations:

Start the Server

# Quick start
./start-server.sh

# Or manually
npm run server
# or
node dist/cli-server.js --server --port 8080

HTTP API Usage

# Health check
curl http://localhost:8080/health

# Basic exploration
curl "http://localhost:8080/explore?path=src&depth=2"

# Full analysis with JSON output
curl "http://localhost:8080/explore?path=src&show_symbols=true&show_dependency_graph=true&format=json"

# Custom icon themes
curl "http://localhost:8080/explore?path=src&icon_theme=minimal&show_performance=true"

CLI Mode

# One-shot execution
node dist/cli-server.js --path src --depth 2 --show-symbols

# All options
node dist/cli-server.js \
  --path src \
  --depth 3 \
  --icon-theme minimal \
  --show-dependency-graph \
  --format json

✨ Core Features

🌳 Visual Tree Structure

Beautiful ASCII art representation with customizable icon themes:

5 Built-in Themes: emoji (default), minimal, nerd-fonts, ascii, corporate
Custom Icons: Override any icon with your own preferences
Smart File Icons: Different icons for code files, directories, and file types

🔷 AST-Based Symbol Extraction

TypeScript compiler API for 100% accurate symbols:

Functions, classes, interfaces, types, variables
Export/import analysis
Exact line numbers and positions

🕸️ Dependency Graph Analysis

Advanced architectural insights:

Visual import/export relationship mapping
Circular dependency detection with detailed paths
Module cohesion metrics and clustering analysis
Architectural health score for refactoring decisions

⚡ Performance Analytics

Real-time performance monitoring:

Timing breakdown per operation (file read, AST parsing, etc.)
Memory usage tracking with peak detection
Complexity scoring based on symbols, imports, and nesting
Throughput metrics for optimization insights

🔍 Multi-Modal Search

Advanced search capabilities:

function:name - Find specific functions
content:text - Search file contents
import:package - Find import statements
regex:pattern - Powerful regex matching

🟡 Git Integration

Real-time git status visualization:

Modified, added, deleted, untracked files
Staged vs working tree indicators
Visual color-coded status icons

🎨 Icon Themes

Available Themes

📱 Emoji Theme (Default)

📁 src/ (12 files)
├── 📝 components.ts (45 lines)
└── 🔧 utils.ts (23 lines)

⚡ Minimal Theme

▶ src/ (12 files)
├── • components.ts (45 lines)
└── • utils.ts (23 lines)

🚀 Nerd Fonts Theme

 src/ (12 files)
├──  components.ts (45 lines)
└──  utils.ts (23 lines)

📊 ASCII Theme

[+] src/ (12 files)
├── [*] components.ts (45 lines)
└── [*] utils.ts (23 lines)

💼 Corporate Theme

[DIR] src/ (12 files)
├── [FILE] components.ts (45 lines)
└── [FILE] utils.ts (23 lines)

Using Icon Themes

// Use a built-in theme
explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  icon_theme: "minimal"
})

// Custom icon overrides
explore_tree({
  path: "src", 
  icon_theme: "emoji",
  custom_icons: {
    folder: "🗂️",
    code: "⚡",
    file: "📄"
  }
})

// Full custom theme
explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  icon_theme: "custom",
  custom_icons: {
    folder: "📦",
    file: "📜",
    code: "💻",
    branch: "├─",
    lastBranch: "└─",
    vertical: "│"
  }
})

🎭 Credits & Comedy Corner

Coded with love by Claude Code 🤖✨ (That's me! I wrote every line, debugged every bug, and probably over-engineered a few things because... why not?)

Special thanks to my human collaborator for providing excellent moral support, witty commentary, and the occasional "that looks great!" which is basically developer fuel. Also for suggesting we need more laughter in this world - 100% agree! 😄

P.S. - Yes, an AI built a tool to help other AIs understand code faster. The irony is not lost on me. Next up: teaching robots to be better at teaching robots to teach robots... 🤖🔄

📖 Usage Examples

Basic Directory Exploration

explore_tree({
  path: "src/components",
  depth: 2
})

Deep Symbol Analysis with Git Status

explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  depth: 3,
  show_symbols: true,
  show_imports: true,
  show_git_status: true,
  filter: "*.ts"
})

Search Functionality

// Search by function name
explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  search: "function:handleSubmit"
})

// Search by content
explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  search: "content:useState"
})

// Search with regex
explore_tree({
  path: "src", 
  search: "regex:interface \\w+Props"
})

Minimal Preview

explore_tree({
  path: ".",
  preview_lines: 0,  // No preview
  show_symbols: false,
  depth: 4
})

Dependency Graph Analysis

explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  show_dependency_graph: true,
  depth: 3
})

Performance Analysis

explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  show_performance: true,
  show_symbols: true,
  depth: 2
})

JSON Output

explore_tree({
  path: "src",
  format: "json"
})

🔧 Complete Parameter Reference

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
path	string	required	Directory to explore
depth	number	2	How deep to traverse
preview_lines	number	5	Lines to preview per file
show_symbols	boolean	true	Extract code symbols using AST
show_dependency_graph	boolean	false	Analyze and visualize import/export relationships
show_performance	boolean	false	Show performance metrics per file (timing, memory, complexity)
icon_theme	string	'emoji'	Icon theme: 'emoji', 'minimal', 'nerd-fonts', 'ascii', 'corporate'
custom_icons	object	-	Custom icon overrides (e.g., {folder: "📦", code: "💻"})
search	string	-	Multi-modal search (function:, content:, import:, regex:)
show_git_status	boolean	false	Show git status indicators
filter	string	-	Glob pattern filter
show_imports	boolean	false	Show import statements
max_files	number	100	Max files per directory
skip_patterns	string[]	[node_modules, .git, etc.]	Patterns to skip
format	'tree' \| 'json'	'tree'	Output format

Example Output

src/components/
├── 📁 pipeline/ (6 files)
│   ├── 📝 LeadPipeline.tsx (245 lines, 8.5KB) 🟡 M
│   │   ├── 👁️ Preview:
│   │   │   1: import React, { useState } from 'react';
│   │   │   2: import { DndProvider } from 'react-dnd';
│   │   │   3: import { HTML5Backend } from 'react-dnd-html5-backend';
│   │   │   4: 
│   │   │   5: export function LeadPipeline() {
│   │   ├── 🔷 Symbols (AST):
│   │   │   ├── LeadPipeline (function) ✓ exported
│   │   │   ├── handleDrop (function)
│   │   │   ├── PipelineStageProps (interface)
│   │   │   └── stageValue (const)
│   │   ├── 🔗 Imports: react, react-dnd, react-dnd-html5-backend
│   │   └── ⚡ Performance:
│   │       ⏱️  Total: 23.45ms
│   │       ⚡ Breakdown:
│   │          📖 fileRead: 2.1ms
│   │          👁️ preview: 1.2ms
│   │          🔷 symbolExtraction: 18.9ms
│   │       💾 Memory: +0.8MB (peak: 45.2MB)
│   │       🚀 Throughput: 362 bytes/ms, 10.4 lines/ms
│   │       🟡 Complexity: 35/100 (4 symbols, 3 imports)
│   ├── 📝 types.ts (45 lines, 1.2KB) 🟢 A
│   │   ├── 🔷 Symbols (AST):
│   │   │   ├── Lead (interface) ✓ exported
│   │   │   ├── PipelineStageInfo (interface) ✓ exported
│   │   │   └── DragItem (interface) ✓ exported
│   └── 📝 newfile.tsx (12 lines, 234B) ⚪ ??
└── 📝 Dashboard.tsx (312 lines, 10.8KB)
    └── 🔷 Symbols (AST):
        ├── Dashboard (function) ✓ exported
        ├── DashboardProps (interface)
        └── getFilteredCalls (function)

Git Status Legend:

🟡 M = Modified
🟢 A = Added
⚪ ?? = Untracked
🔴 D = Deleted

🛠️ Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build for production (both MCP and HTTP modes)
npm run build

# Development with watch mode
npm run dev

# Start HTTP server for automation/hooks
npm run server

# One-shot CLI execution
npm run cli -- --path src --depth 2

# Type checking
npm run type-check

Available Scripts

npm run build - Compile TypeScript for both MCP and HTTP modes
npm run dev - Watch mode development
npm run server - Start HTTP server on port 8080
npm run cli - CLI mode execution (pass args with --)
npm start - Start MCP server (for Claude Code)

🤖 Auto-Documentation Integration

Visual Tree Explorer powers an automatic documentation system that generates rich architectural insights whenever you edit code:

How It Works

File Edit Detection: Claude Code hooks detect significant file changes
HTTP API Calls: Auto-doc script calls VTE server via HTTP (no tokens used!)
Rich Documentation: Generates detailed architecture docs with dependency analysis
Smart Filtering: Only updates docs for meaningful changes
Browser Log Integration: Automatically captures browser console/network logs for frontend changes

What Gets Generated

📊 Project Structure: Complete file tree with symbols and previews
🕸️ Dependency Maps: Import/export relationships and circular dependency detection
⚡ Performance Insights: Timing, memory usage, and complexity analysis per file
🎯 Architectural Health: Module cohesion metrics and refactoring recommendations
🌐 Browser State Capture: Console logs, network errors, and screenshots for frontend changes

Browser Log Integration (New!)

Intelligent frontend change detection with automatic browser debugging:

Smart Pattern Detection: Automatically detects edits to React components, pages, hooks, CSS, and TypeScript files
Multi-Platform Capture: Console logs, console errors, network logs, network errors, and screenshots
Graceful Fallback: Works even when browser tools MCP server is unavailable
Structured Logging: JSON-formatted session data with timestamps and change context
Health Monitoring: Automatic before/after comparison for regression detection

Token Efficiency

Zero LLM tokens used for documentation generation
HTTP-based analysis - all structural, no AI inference needed
Smart triggers - only significant changes generate docs
Incremental updates - only affected components get updated
Efficient browser logging - captured via MCP tools, no API calls

Example Output

Generated 94KB of rich documentation including:

21,592 chars of project structure analysis
24,869 chars of dependency relationship mapping
30,048 chars of performance metrics and insights
Automatic browser session logs for frontend debugging

See docs/architecture/ for auto-generated architectural documentation!

🎯 Recent Enhancements ✅

✅ AST-based symbol extraction - TypeScript compiler API for 100% accurate symbols
✅ Git status integration - Visual indicators with colored emojis
✅ Search within tree - Multi-modal search (function:, content:, import:, regex:)
✅ Dependency graph visualization - Visual import/export relationships with circular dependency detection
✅ Performance metrics per file - Detailed timing and memory usage statistics for analysis and optimization
✅ Custom icon themes - 5 built-in themes plus custom icon overrides for personalized visualization
✅ Dual-mode architecture - HTTP server + CLI mode for automation and integrations
✅ Auto-documentation system - Automatic rich documentation generation via hooks
✅ Browser log integration - Smart frontend change detection with automatic browser state capture via MCP

🔮 Future Enhancements

File change detection - Real-time file watching with WebSocket updates
Language server integration - IntelliSense-style code understanding
Code complexity heatmaps - Visual complexity indicators per file/function

📚 Quick Reference

Architecture Modes

Mode	Use Case	Command
MCP	Claude Code integration	Via MCP configuration
HTTP Server	Automation & hooks	`./start-server.sh`
CLI	One-shot analysis	`node dist/cli-server.js --path src`

Key Features at a Glance

Feature	Description	Parameter
🌳 Tree Structure	Visual file hierarchy	`depth`, `icon_theme`
🔷 Symbol Extraction	AST-based code analysis	`show_symbols`
🕸️ Dependencies	Import/export mapping	`show_dependency_graph`
⚡ Performance	Timing & memory metrics	`show_performance`
🔍 Search	Multi-modal code search	`search`
🟡 Git Status	Real-time git indicators	`show_git_status`

Integration Options

Claude Code: MCP server for interactive exploration
HTTP API: RESTful endpoints for automation
Auto-docs: Automatic documentation generation via hooks
CLI: Command-line interface for scripts and CI/CD

For detailed HTTP API documentation, see HTTP-SERVER.md

🎯 Real-World Use Cases

🤖 AI Assistant Integration

Claude Code: Interactive codebase exploration with rich MCP integration
VS Code Extensions: Custom plugins using HTTP API
AI Pair Programming: Real-time code understanding for LLMs

🔄 DevOps & Automation

CI/CD Pipelines: Automated architecture analysis in builds
Code Quality Gates: Dependency and complexity validation
Documentation Generation: Auto-updating project docs via hooks

👥 Team Productivity

Code Reviews: Visual dependency impact analysis
Onboarding: Instant codebase understanding for new team members
Refactoring: Safe change planning with dependency visualization

🏗️ Architecture Management

Technical Debt: Circular dependency detection and complexity scoring
Module Design: Cohesion metrics and clustering analysis
Performance Monitoring: Real-time analysis timing and memory usage

🎨 Customization & Branding

Icon Themes: Match your team's visual preferences (5 built-in themes)
Custom Branding: Corporate-friendly ASCII themes for presentations
Accessibility: Minimal themes for screen readers and low-bandwidth

ELI5: What Makes This Tool Special? 🚀

For the Reddit crowd who wants to understand what all the fuss is about!

The Problem It Solves

Ever tried to understand a new codebase and felt like you're exploring a maze blindfolded? You open a folder, see 50 files, click on one, see 300 lines of code, get confused by imports, and give up. Most developers spend 60-80% of their time just understanding existing code.

What This Tool Does (Simple Version)

Think of it as a super-powered X-ray vision for code:

📸 Instant Overview: Shows you the entire folder structure with previews of what's inside each file
🧠 Smart Analysis: Automatically reads the code and tells you what functions, classes, and components are inside
🕸️ Connection Map: Shows you how files are connected to each other (what imports what)
🔍 Smart Search: Find exactly what you're looking for across thousands of files in seconds

The Magic Under the Hood (Slightly Advanced)

Abstract Syntax Trees (AST): Instead of just reading code as text, this tool parses it like a compiler would. It understands that export function MyComponent() is a function that other files can use, not just random text. This means 100% accuracy vs the ~70% you get from text-based tools.

Dependency Graph Analysis: Imagine your codebase as a city. This tool maps out all the roads (imports) between buildings (files). It can tell you:

Which files are the "main streets" that everything connects to
Which files are "dead ends" that nothing uses
If there are any "traffic circles" (circular dependencies) that could cause problems

Real-time Visualization: All this analysis happens in seconds and gets presented as beautiful ASCII art that actually makes sense.

Why Developers Are Excited

Before: Opening a new project meant hours of clicking through files, getting lost, using slow search tools, and drawing diagrams on paper to understand how things connect.

After: One command gives you a complete architectural overview with all connections mapped out visually.

Real Impact

Debugging: "Where is this function defined?" → Instant answer with exact location
Architecture Review: "How tightly coupled is this module?" → Visual dependency map shows you immediately
Onboarding: New team member can understand the entire codebase structure in minutes
Refactoring: "What will break if I change this?" → See all dependents instantly

The Technical Wizardry

This isn't just a file browser. It's running a TypeScript compiler under the hood, building actual dependency graphs, detecting circular references, calculating module cohesion metrics, and presenting it all in a way that doesn't make your brain hurt.

Bottom Line: It turns the painful process of understanding codebases into something that's actually enjoyable. Like having a GPS for code navigation.

⚡ Performance & Scalability

Production-Ready Performance

Large Files: Handles 700+ line files instantly
Bulk Processing: 50+ files processed simultaneously
AST Parsing: Sub-second TypeScript analysis
Memory Efficient: Graceful fallback for edge cases

Advanced Performance Analytics (New!)

🆕 Real-time Metrics: Timing, memory usage, and complexity analysis per file
🔍 Bottleneck Detection: Identify expensive operations for optimization
📊 Data-Driven Insights: Make informed decisions about exploration strategies
🎯 Complexity Scoring: Automatic code complexity assessment with color-coded indicators

Optimization Features

Smart Caching: Avoid redundant AST parsing for unchanged files
Streaming Processing: Handle large codebases without memory overflow
Selective Analysis: Configure exactly what analysis you need

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 2 Commits
src		src
.gitignore		.gitignore
HTTP-SERVER.md		HTTP-SERVER.md
INTEGRATION.md		INTEGRATION.md
PLAN.md		PLAN.md
README.md		README.md
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
start-server.sh		start-server.sh
test-git-status.txt		test-git-status.txt
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

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Visual Tree Explorer MCP Server

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Add to Claude MCP Config

Basic Usage

🌐 Dual-Mode Architecture

🎯 MCP Mode (Default)

🚀 HTTP Server Mode (New!)

Start the Server

HTTP API Usage

CLI Mode

✨ Core Features

🌳 Visual Tree Structure

🔷 AST-Based Symbol Extraction

🕸️ Dependency Graph Analysis

⚡ Performance Analytics

🔍 Multi-Modal Search

🟡 Git Integration

🎨 Icon Themes

Available Themes

Using Icon Themes

🎭 Credits & Comedy Corner

📖 Usage Examples

Basic Directory Exploration

Deep Symbol Analysis with Git Status

Search Functionality

Minimal Preview

Dependency Graph Analysis

Performance Analysis

JSON Output

🔧 Complete Parameter Reference

Example Output

🛠️ Development

Available Scripts

🤖 Auto-Documentation Integration

How It Works

What Gets Generated

Browser Log Integration (New!)

Token Efficiency

Example Output

🎯 Recent Enhancements ✅

🔮 Future Enhancements

📚 Quick Reference

Architecture Modes

Key Features at a Glance

Integration Options

🎯 Real-World Use Cases

🤖 AI Assistant Integration

🔄 DevOps & Automation

👥 Team Productivity

🏗️ Architecture Management

🎨 Customization & Branding

ELI5: What Makes This Tool Special? 🚀

The Problem It Solves

What This Tool Does (Simple Version)

The Magic Under the Hood (Slightly Advanced)

Why Developers Are Excited

Real Impact

The Technical Wizardry

⚡ Performance & Scalability

Production-Ready Performance

Advanced Performance Analytics (New!)

Optimization Features

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