AI · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to XRAY MCP – AST-grep wrapped in a tiny server for code-aware AI
Hi HN, I built XRAY MCP after discovering that AI assistants were scanning my projects with plain grep and guessing. I tried direct tree-sitter integration and language servers; both felt heavy for a lightweight tool. ast-grep hit a sweet spot: syntax-aware search in a single binary. XRAY MCP wraps it behind three endpoints—map, find, impact—so a model (or human) can answer questions like “what breaks if I change this function?” on demand. It’s stateless, supports Python/JS/TS/Go, and installs quickly. Repo: https://github.com/srijanshukla18/xray Would love…
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
- 1
Hey HN! We (Stephan and Thomas) recently open-sourced Semble. We kept running into the same problem while using Claude Code on large codebases: when the agent can't find something directly, it falls back to grep, reading full files or launching subagents. This uses a lot of tokens, and often still misses the relevant code. There are existing tools for this, but they were either too slow to index on demand, needed API keys, or had poor retrieval quality. Semble is our solution for this. It combines static Model2Vec embeddings (using our latest static model: potion-code-16M) with BM25, fused…
May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 2SC
2020 · grep.app · its alternatives →
- 3
ast-grep▲66A polyglot tool for code searching, linting, rewriting
2023 · ast-grep.github.io · its alternatives →
- 4
- 5AG
It is heavily inspired by semgrep, but intends to be an AST-base searcher/linter/rewriter. https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep
2023 · ast-grep.github.io · its alternatives →
- 6IW
My book on "GNU grep and ripgrep" is free to download today and tomorrow [1][2] Code snippets, example files and sample chapters are available on GitHub [3] The book uses plenty of examples and regular expressions are also covered from scratch. The book is suitable for beginners as well as serves as a reference. Hope you find it useful, I would be grateful for your feedback and suggestions. I used pandoc+xelatex [4] to generate the pdf. [1] https://gumroad.com/l/gnugrep_ripgrep [2] https://leanpub.com/gnugrep_ripgrep [3]…
2019 · its alternatives →
- 7AI
I built this software to help users who need to do static code analysis for C/C++ codebase. This can help you to explore the ASTs interactively. It can replace the Clang ast dump completely and also you can search the code/ASTs in a structual way. For example you can search a function which matches specific name or number of paremeters.
May 2026 · uvic-aurora.github.io · its alternatives →
- 8
VibeShift MCP▲141Hi HN, We are the devs behind VibeShift. We have been building this MCP server to put AI coding assistants in an automatic feedback loop. They code, test, debug, fix everything until we have a fully working, secure code. It tests like a real user, copies network/console and logical errors to give them back to cursor. (1 min demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN_RgQGa8B0) We felt this was the natural next step for AI coding assistants. And with new asynchronous assistants like codex, having a plug & play tester makes sure you don't have to spend time debugging and…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 9GF
I kept re-Googling the same flags, so I built a tiny, fast directory of copy-ready CLI commands. It’s static (vanilla JS), instant search, keyboard nav (↑/↓ + Enter), favorites (localStorage), and linkable queries. Examples: • grep errors → https://www.greppers.com/?q=grep%20error%20logs • list open ports (macOS) → https://www.greppers.com/?q=list%20open%20ports • show git branch graph → https://www.greppers.com/?q=git%20graph • tail with colors → https://www.greppers.com/?q=tail%20colors Tech notes: static site on Netlify, no…
2025 · greppers.com · its alternatives →
- 10
instead of indexing the workspace, use gpu accelerated ultra fast greps and fine tuned model, kinda like windsurf fast context. We tried to make it as cost and token efficient as possible while maintaining accuracy and speed.
Dec 2025 · grebmcp.com · its alternatives →
- 11
Codemod grep searches public code by syntax and structure, not just text or regex. Use ast-grep patterns to find code by shape across repositories.
Aug 2026 · grep.codemod.com · its alternatives →
- 12
An OKF-backed Model Context Protocol (MCP) server delivering persistent long-term memory and SQLite FTS5 search for AI agents. - fellowgeek/mcp-memory
Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 13
I built this because I got tired of watching Claude Code read through massive files just to find a few functions. Sourcerer lets AI agents search code semantically and grab exactly the code chunks they need instead of burning tokens on whole files. It uses tree-sitter to parse your codebase and creates a searchable index. So instead of "read auth.py (538 lines)", an agent can search for "user authentication logic" and get back just the relevant functions. Demo: https://asciinema.org/a/736638 GitHub: https://github.com/st3v3nmw/sourcerer-mcp
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 14OS
Large Language Models (LLMs) are powerful, but they’re limited by fixed context windows and outdated knowledge. What if your AI could access live search, structured data extraction, OCR, and more—all through a standardized interface? We built the JigsawStack MCP Server, an open-source implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) that lets any AI model call external tools effortlessly. Here’s what it unlocks: - Web Search & Scraping: Fetch live information and extract structured data from web pages. - OCR & Structured Data Extraction: Process images, receipts, invoices, and handwritten…
2025 · its alternatives →
- 15
An ultra-fast, single-binary MCP server written in Rust as a lightweight alternative to Node.js/Python. - StamManif/mcp-stama
Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 16
Hi HN! Excited to share our MCP Server at Hyperbrowser - something we’ve been working on for a few days. We think it’s a pretty neat way to connect LLMs and IDEs like Cursor / Windsurf to the internet. Our MCP server exposes seven tools for data collection and browsing: 1. `scrape_webpage` - Extract formatted (markdown, screenshot etc) content from any webpage 2. `crawl_webpages` - Navigate through multiple linked pages and extract LLM-friendly formatted content 3. `extract_structured_data` - Convert messy HTML into structured JSON 4. `search_with_bing` - Query the web and get results…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17
- 18
We built a reference MCP server that lets your editor/agent learn a codebase directly from source (signatures, types, AST, comments). Docs are optional. The reference impl runs on our open-source project’s codebase. Why we built it Docs are important, but they add another abstraction layer between your code and your users. Keeping them at the right quality is hard (especially at a startup), and LLM-generated docs are often mediocre until you invest real polish. Exposing code to the model in a structured way keeps answers grounded and current, and it’s always available. You can even…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19
We built a Rust MCP server, which wraps the excellent headless terminal (HT)[1] to makes it available for agentic coding tools. Most agentic coding tools struggle with blocking, interactive terminal tools (all the boilerplate generator, infra CLI tools etc). This is because many existing CLI dev tools are built for humans and require interactive input. We built this so agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Memex, etc) can “see” and “interact” with terminals exactly like humans do. In our demo video [2], you'll see it operating vim/emacs just as a human would - selecting options,…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 20
Navigational memory for coding agents: chart discoveries as you explore, cache-bust when files change - CyrusNuevoDia/capn-hook
Jul 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21TH
I built a library that lets you find code patterns using familiar CSS-like selectors, then connected it to Claude via MCP so AI assistants can understand and refactor codebases. The Approach // Find code patterns with intuitive selectors: const asyncFunctions = tree.findAll('function[async]'); const todoComments = tree.findAll('comment[text="TODO"]'); const reactHooks = tree.hooks(); // Built-in React support // Chain smart transformations: tree.transform() .rename('oldFunction', 'newFunction') .removeUnusedImports() .toString(); Key Features - CSS-like…
2025 · its alternatives →
- 22
I built a zero-configuration tool for automatically exposing FastAPI endpoints as Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools, open to collabs and contributions!
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23
I am Rohan, and I have grown really frustrated with CC's search and read tools. They use Haiku to summarise all the search results, so it is really slow and often ends up being very lossy. I built this MCP that you can install into your coding agents so they can actually access the web properly. Right now it can: - search the general web - search Reddit - read and scrape basically any webpage Install it: npx openalmanac setup The MCP is completely free to use. We have also built a central store where you can contribute things you learned while exploring. If you find something useful, you can…
Apr 2026 · openalmanac.org · its alternatives →
- 24
Also compare
- Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep alternatives
- Search code in GitHub repos using regular expressions alternatives
- ast-grep alternatives
- Stash MCP Server alternatives
- AST-grep, a grep/eslint/codemod hybrid tool, powered by tree-sitter. alternatives
- I wrote a book on GNU grep and ripgrep alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →