KARP Inspector Lite

One-Click Semantic Codebase Search for Claude Desktop

Version: 1.0.0 Author: SoulDriver (Adelaide, Australia) License: MIT

What Is This?

KARP Inspector Lite gives Claude the ability to search your entire codebase by meaning, not just filenames. Ask Claude "find the login logic" and it returns the exact functions — with file paths and line numbers.

Zero API keys. Zero setup. Zero dependencies. One click.

Claude Desktop ships with Node.js built in. This extension uses it — nothing else to install.

Your code never leaves your machine. Everything runs locally.

Installation

Option A: Download the Extension (Recommended)

1. Download karp-inspector-lite.mcpb from Releases
2. Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Extensions → Install Extension
3. Select the .mcpb file
4. Choose your project folder when prompted
5. Say: "Index my project"
6. Start searching naturally

That's it. No terminal. No config files. No installs.

Option B: Manual Configuration

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "karp-inspector": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/path/to/Karp_Inspector_Lite/server/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PROJECT_PATH": "C:/path/to/your/project"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option C: Claude Code

claude mcp add karp-inspector -- node /path/to/server/index.js

Or add .mcp.json to your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "karp-inspector": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/Karp_Inspector_Lite/server/index.js"],
      "env": { "PROJECT_PATH": "." }
    }
  }
}

What Can It Do?

Examples

Example 1: Find code by concept

User prompt: "Find the payment processing logic in my project"

Expected behavior:

• Extension runs search_code with semantic query
• Returns matching functions with file paths and line numbers
• Results ranked by relevance (cosine similarity score)
• Claude can then read or explain the matched code

Example 2: Search for exact strings

User prompt: "Find every file that imports the database module"

Expected behavior:

• Extension runs grep_code for the import pattern
• Returns matching lines with 2 lines of surrounding context
• Shows file path and line number for each match
• Supports regex for complex patterns

Example 3: Understand file structure

User prompt: "What functions are in server.py?"

Expected behavior:

• Extension runs file_outline on the target file
• Returns all classes, methods, and functions with signatures
• Includes line numbers for each definition
• Does not load full file contents into context

Example 4: Track changes

User prompt: "I just edited auth.js — update the index and show me what changed"

Expected behavior:

• Extension runs reindex_file to update the index and save a snapshot
• Then runs file_diff to compare against the previous version
• Returns unified diff showing additions and deletions

Example 5: Multi-project workflow

User prompt: "Switch to my frontend project at C:/projects/webapp"

Expected behavior:

• Extension runs set_project with the new path
• Loads cached index if previously indexed (instant)
• If no cache, prompts to run index_project
• Previous project’s cache is preserved for switching back

Tools (9)

How It Works

1. Index — Reads your code files, splits them into meaningful chunks (functions, classes, sections), and creates vector embeddings using a local ONNX model
2. Cache — Saves the index to disk so restarts are instant (0.07s vs 60s)
3. Search — Converts your question into a vector and finds the closest matching code chunks via cosine similarity
4. Return — Claude gets back the relevant code with file paths and line numbers, not your entire codebase

The embedding model (~130MB) downloads automatically on first use. After that, everything works offline.

Performance

Supported Languages

Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, Markdown, and plain text out of the box. Add more via the EXTRA_EXTENSIONS environment variable.

Parsing quality:

Requirements

• Claude Desktop (Windows or macOS) — that's it
• ~130MB disk for the embedding model (downloaded once, automatically)
• No Python, no Docker, no API keys, no external services

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/souldriver007/karp-inspector-lite.git
cd karp-inspector-lite
npm install
npm test                    # Run test suite (13 tests)
node scripts/build_mcpb.js  # Build .mcpb extension

The built extension will be at dist/karp-inspector-lite.mcpb.

Project Structure

karp-inspector-lite/
├── server/
│   ├── index.js        # MCP protocol handler + tool router
│   ├── indexer.js       # File discovery, chunking, embedding, caching
│   └── searcher.js      # Vector search, grep, outline, diff, stats
├── config/
│   └── manifest.json    # MCPB extension manifest
├── assets/
│   └── icon.png         # SoulDriver branding (256x256)
├── scripts/
│   └── build_mcpb.js    # Extension packager
├── tests/
│   └── run_tests.js     # Test suite
├── docs/
│   ├── DESIGN_DOC.md    # Architecture decisions
│   └── CHANGELOG.md     # Version history
├── package.json
├── LICENSE              # MIT
└── README.md            # This file

How Is This Different?

Key differentiators:

• Zero API keys — ONNX embeddings run locally
• Zero external services — in-memory vector store
• Zero Python — Node.js ships with Claude Desktop
• One-click .mcpb install — no terminal, no config editing
• Disk persistence — instant restart, no re-indexing
• Multi-project support — switch between codebases with cached indexes
• 9 tools — search, grep, outline, diff, history, stats, index, reindex, project switching

Privacy Policy

KARP Inspector Lite is fully local. No data is collected, transmitted, or shared.

• No telemetry, analytics, or tracking
• No network requests after initial model download
• No API keys or external services
• Your code never leaves your machine
• Cache and snapshots stored locally in .karp-inspector/

Full privacy policy: PRIVACY.md

Support

For issues, bugs, or feature requests:

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/souldriver007/karp-inspector-lite/issues
• Email: matzrtrading@gmail.com

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

Built in Adelaide, Australia by SoulDriver Part of the KARP ecosystem — Knowledge Acquisition Research Protocol Democratising access to intelligent tools.