ContextKit

Intelligent context selection for LLM applications. Stop dumping your entire codebase into AI prompts.

Install

npm install -g @milo4jo/contextkit

Quick Start

# Initialize in project root
contextkit init

# Add source directories
contextkit source add ./src

# Build the index (creates local embeddings)
contextkit index

# Find relevant context for a query
contextkit select "How does authentication work?"

Commands

init

Initialize ContextKit in current directory. Creates .contextkit/ folder with config and database.

contextkit init

source

Manage source directories to index.

contextkit source add ./src
contextkit source add ./lib --name "Library Code"
contextkit source list
contextkit source remove ./src

index

Build or update the semantic index. Processes files into chunks and generates embeddings locally.

contextkit index
contextkit index --force  # Re-index everything

select

Find relevant code chunks for a query. Returns formatted context ready for LLM prompts.

contextkit select "How does the payment flow work?"
contextkit select "authentication" --budget 4000  # Token budget
contextkit select "database queries" --format markdown

Options:

• --budget <tokens>: Maximum tokens to return (default: 8000)
• --format <type>: Output format (markdown|plain|json)
• --top <n>: Maximum chunks to return

status

Show index status and statistics.

contextkit status

MCP Server

ContextKit includes an MCP server for Claude Desktop integration.

Setup

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "contextkit": {
      "command": "contextkit-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

• contextkit_select: Find relevant context for a query
• contextkit_index: Rebuild the codebase index
• contextkit_status: Check index status

Best Practices

1. Index frequently changed code: Re-run contextkit index after significant changes
2. Use specific queries: "How does JWT validation work?" beats "authentication"
3. Adjust token budget: Match your model's context window minus other content
4. Combine with manual context: Use ContextKit output alongside specific files you know are relevant

Typical Workflow

# Before asking Claude about your codebase:
contextkit select "your question here" | pbcopy

# Then paste into your prompt alongside the question

Or with MCP: Claude automatically calls contextkit_select when it needs code context.