Fossil MCP

The code quality toolkit for the vibe coding era.

Static analysis that finds the mess vibe coding leaves behind — dead code, duplicated logic, scaffolding artifacts, and disconnected functions — across 16 languages.

fossil-mcp.com

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The Problem

AI-assisted coding is fine — you review the code, you understand the architecture, you stay in control. Vibe coding is different. You describe what you want, the AI writes it, and you ship it without reading every line. Tools like Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Windsurf make this workflow fast and productive. But over days and weeks, vibe-coded projects accumulate a specific class of problems that traditional linters don't catch:

Dead code piles up fast. When the AI refactors a function, it writes the new version but often forgets to remove the old one. You don't notice because you didn't read the diff line by line. Over multiple sessions, unused functions, unreachable branches, and orphaned utilities pile up — the codebase grows but nothing gets pruned. A METR study found developers spend significant time checking and debugging AI output. Dead code makes this exponentially harder.

Duplication spreads silently. Each AI session has limited context window. It generates a utility function that already exists elsewhere, or solves the same problem with a slightly different implementation three files over. You asked for a feature, it works, so you move on. Traditional duplicate detection focuses on copy-paste — vibe coding duplication is structural: similar logic, different names, scattered across modules.

// Phase 1, // TODO, // Step 2 — everywhere. AI agents work in phases. They leave behind scaffolding markers that were meant to be temporary: // Phase 1: Setup, // TODO: implement error handling, placeholder function bodies with pass or todo!(), and phased naming like process_data_v2. In vibe coding, nobody goes back to clean these up. They become permanent fixtures.

Functions exist that nothing calls. This is the vibe coding signature. The AI writes a helper function, uses it, then in a later session rewrites the caller to use a different approach — but the helper stays. Without a call graph, neither you nor the AI can tell which functions are actually connected to the rest of the codebase. Current AI coding tools navigate code by text search, not by understanding how functions call each other.

Temp files accumulate in the repo. AI sessions create temp_, backup_, old_, phase_1_ files and directories. In vibe coding, you don't audit your file tree after each session. These artifacts persist across commits.

The Solution

Fossil MCP is a static analysis toolkit purpose-built for vibe-coded projects. It detects the artifacts that accumulate when AI writes most of the code — and it works both as a CLI tool for developers and as an MCP server that gives AI agents a code graph instead of just text search.

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  ██╔════╝██╔═══██╗██╔════╝██╔════╝██║██║            \    /
  █████╗  ██║   ██║███████╗███████╗██║██║             |  |
  ██╔══╝  ██║   ██║╚════██║╚════██║██║██║             |  |
  ██║     ╚██████╔╝███████║███████║██║███████╗       /    \
  ╚═╝      ╚═════╝ ╚══════╝╚══════╝╚═╝╚══════╝      ()    ()
  Dig up dead code. Unearth clones. Expose scaffolding.

What Fossil Detects

Analysis	What it finds	The vibe coding problem
Dead Code	Unreachable functions, unused exports, orphaned methods	AI rewrites a caller but forgets to delete the old helper — nobody notices
Code Clones	Type 1 (exact), Type 2 (renamed), Type 3 (structural) duplicates	Each AI session reinvents utilities that already exist elsewhere in the codebase
Scaffolding	Phase N / Step N comments, TODO/FIXME markers, placeholder bodies	AI works in phases and leaves temporary markers that never get cleaned up
Temp Files	temp_*, backup_*, old_*, phase_* files and directories	Session artifacts that persist because nobody audits the file tree
Code Graph	Trace paths between any two functions, blast radius analysis, call graph traversal	AI tools navigate by text search — Fossil gives them a graph to trace how functions connect and what breaks if you change one

What Makes Fossil Different

• Purpose-built for vibe coding. Not a general linter — specifically targets the mess that accumulates when AI writes most of the code and humans review less of it.
• Graph, not grep. AI coding tools navigate code by searching for text. Fossil builds a call graph and lets agents trace how functions connect, find blast radius before refactoring, and discover dead ends — without reading every file.
• MCP-native. Runs as an MCP server so AI agents can self-check their output during development.
• Saves tokens, saves money. Instead of an agent scanning files over and over to find issues, Fossil identifies dead code, clones, and scaffolding in one pass — fewer rounds of LLM inference, lower cost.
• Built in Rust. Single binary, no runtime dependencies. Scans thousands of files in seconds. Memory-safe by design.
• Cross-file analysis. Resolves imports, barrel re-exports, and class hierarchies to find dead code across module boundaries.
• Framework-aware. Auto-detects React, Next.js, Django, Spring, Axum, and more — won't flag lifecycle methods as dead code.
• Zero configuration. Works out of the box. Config file is optional.
• 16 languages. One tool for polyglot codebases.

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Install

Quick install (recommended)

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL fossil-mcp.com/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm fossil-mcp.com/install.ps1 | iex

Auto-detects your OS and architecture, downloads the latest binary, and adds it to your PATH.

Manual download

Download the latest binary for your platform from GitHub Releases:

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -L https://github.com/yfedoseev/fossil-mcp/releases/latest/download/fossil-mcp-macos-aarch64.tar.gz | tar xz
mv fossil-mcp /usr/local/bin/

# macOS (Intel)
curl -L https://github.com/yfedoseev/fossil-mcp/releases/latest/download/fossil-mcp-macos-x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz
mv fossil-mcp /usr/local/bin/

# Linux (x86_64)
curl -L https://github.com/yfedoseev/fossil-mcp/releases/latest/download/fossil-mcp-linux-x86_64-musl.tar.gz | tar xz
mv fossil-mcp ~/.local/bin/

Platform	Architecture	Archive
Linux	x86_64 (recommended)	fossil-mcp-linux-x86_64-musl
Linux	x86_64 (glibc)	fossil-mcp-linux-x86_64
Linux	ARM64	fossil-mcp-linux-aarch64
macOS	Intel	fossil-mcp-macos-x86_64
macOS	Apple Silicon	fossil-mcp-macos-aarch64
Windows	x86_64	fossil-mcp-windows-x86_64

cargo-binstall

If you have cargo-binstall, it downloads pre-built binaries instead of compiling from source:

cargo binstall fossil-mcp

From crates.io

cargo install fossil-mcp

This downloads the source from crates.io and compiles it locally. Requires a Rust toolchain.

From source

git clone https://github.com/yfedoseev/fossil-mcp.git
cd fossil-mcp
cargo build --release

The binary is at ./target/release/fossil-mcp.

Updating

fossil-mcp update

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MCP Server Setup

Fossil runs as an MCP server by default — just run fossil-mcp with no arguments. Connect it to your AI coding tool:

claude mcp add fossil fossil-mcp

Add to your Codex MCP configuration:

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

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

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

Or click the Cursor install button above.

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "fossil": {
        "command": "fossil-mcp"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or click the VS Code install button above.

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

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

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

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

MCP Tools

Once connected, your AI agent has access to these tools:

Tool	Description
scan_all	Run all analyses (dead code + clones + scaffolding) on a project
analyze_dead_code	Detect unreachable code with configurable confidence
detect_clones	Find duplicated code (Type 1/2/3 clones)
fossil_refresh	Incremental re-analysis after file changes (fast)
fossil_inspect	Inspect call graph, data flow, control flow, or blast radius for any function
fossil_trace	Find call paths between two functions — understand how code connects
fossil_explain_finding	Get rich context about a specific finding
fossil_detect_scaffolding	Find AI scaffolding: phased comments, TODOs, placeholders, and temp files

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CLI Usage

Modes

Fossil has four modes of operation:

Mode	How to invoke	What it does
Interactive	fossil-mcp (no args)	Runs full scan + opens interactive REPL to explore findings
CLI	fossil-mcp <command>	Run a specific analysis command
MCP Server	fossil-mcp mcp or piped stdin	JSON-RPC server for AI coding tools
CI/CD	fossil-mcp check	Fail builds when thresholds exceeded

Interactive Mode

Running fossil-mcp with no arguments (or fossil-mcp scan .) scans the current directory for dead code, clones, and scaffolding, shows a dashboard, then drops into an interactive REPL:

  FOSSIL Scanning .
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────
   ✓  1200 nodes analyzed, 42 unreachable
   ✓  380 files analyzed, 8 clone groups
   ✓  3 scaffolding artifacts

  ══════════════════════════════════════════════════
  RESULTS  53  findings across 28 files
  ══════════════════════════════════════════════════

  ▐ Dead Code     42   ██████████████░░
  ▐ Clones         8   ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░    120 duplicated lines
  ▐ Scaffolding    3   █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

  fossil>

REPL Commands

All exploration commands support optional count and language filter: command [N] [lang]

fossil> dead 10                  # Top 10 dead code findings
fossil> dead 20 typescript       # Top 20 dead code in TypeScript
fossil> clones 5 rust            # Top 5 clone groups in Rust
fossil> scaffolding              # All scaffolding findings
fossil> scaffolding 10 python    # Top 10 scaffolding in Python
fossil> hotspots                 # Files with most findings
fossil> hotspots 10 go           # Top 10 hotspot files in Go
fossil> file auth.ts             # All findings in a specific file
fossil> langs                    # Language breakdown
fossil> export sarif             # Export full SARIF report
fossil> summary                  # Re-show dashboard
fossil> q                        # Quit

Commands

fossil-mcp scan [path]

Run all analyses (dead code + clones + scaffolding) with interactive dashboard.

fossil-mcp scan .
fossil-mcp scan /path/to/project --format sarif -o results.sarif
fossil-mcp scan /path/to/project --format json

fossil-mcp dead-code [path]

Dead code detection only.

fossil-mcp dead-code .
fossil-mcp dead-code . --min-confidence high
fossil-mcp dead-code . --min-lines 10
fossil-mcp dead-code . --language rust,python
fossil-mcp dead-code . --diff main                  # Only changed files
fossil-mcp dead-code . --stats                      # Show graph statistics
fossil-mcp dead-code . --cache-dir .fossil-cache     # Persistent cache
fossil-mcp dead-code . --cache-stats                 # Cache hit rate

Flag	Description
--min-confidence <LEVEL>	Filter by confidence: low, medium, high, certain
--min-lines <N>	Minimum lines of code for a finding
--language <LANGS>	Filter by language (comma-separated): rust,python,go
--include-tests	Include test-only code in results
--diff <BRANCH>	Only analyze files changed vs base branch
--stats	Print graph cardinality estimates (HyperLogLog)
--cache-dir <PATH>	Persistent cache directory for incremental analysis
--cache-stats	Print cache hit rate and memory usage

fossil-mcp clones [path]

Clone (duplicated code) detection only.

fossil-mcp clones .
fossil-mcp clones . --min-lines 10
fossil-mcp clones . --similarity 0.9
fossil-mcp clones . --language typescript
fossil-mcp clones . --types type1,type2

Flag	Description
--min-lines <N>	Minimum lines for a clone (default: 6)
--similarity <F>	Similarity threshold 0.0–1.0 for Type 3 clones (default: 0.8)
--types <TYPES>	Clone types to detect: type1,type2,type3 (default: all)
--language <LANGS>	Filter by language (comma-separated)

fossil-mcp scaffolding [path]

Detect AI-generated scaffolding artifacts.

fossil-mcp scaffolding .
fossil-mcp scaffolding . --language rust
fossil-mcp scaffolding . --include-todos
fossil-mcp scaffolding . --format json

Flag	Description
--language <LANGS>	Filter by language (comma-separated)
--include-todos	Include TODO/FIXME/HACK markers (excluded by default)

Detects: placeholder bodies (pass, todo!(), unimplemented!()), phased comments (Phase 1, Step 2), scaffolding identifiers (scaffold_*, boilerplate_*), debug prints, and temp files (temp_*, backup_*, old_*).

fossil-mcp check [path]

CI/CD mode — fails builds when thresholds are exceeded. See CI/CD Integration for full details.

fossil-mcp check
fossil-mcp check --max-dead-code 10 --max-clones 5
fossil-mcp check --diff origin/main
fossil-mcp check --diff origin/main --format sarif
fossil-mcp check --fail-on-scaffolding

Flag	Description
--max-dead-code <N>	Maximum dead code findings allowed
--max-clones <N>	Maximum clone findings allowed
--max-scaffolding <N>	Maximum scaffolding findings allowed
--min-confidence <LEVEL>	Minimum confidence for counting findings
--diff <BRANCH>	Only check files changed vs base branch
--fail-on-scaffolding	Fail if any scaffolding artifacts found

fossil-mcp weekly

Show the weekly AI slop rankings across open-source projects.

fossil-mcp weekly
fossil-mcp weekly --detailed

fossil-mcp update

Update fossil-mcp to the latest version.

fossil-mcp update
fossil-mcp update --check    # Check without installing

fossil-mcp mcp

Start the MCP server explicitly (normally auto-detected via piped stdin).

Global Flags

These flags work with all commands:

Flag	Description
--format <FMT>	Output format: text, json, sarif (default: text)
-o, --output <FILE>	Write output to file instead of stdout
-q, --quiet	Suppress all non-error output
-v, --verbose	Enable debug logging
-c, --config <FILE>	Path to config file

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Supported Languages

Language	Extensions
Python	.py
JavaScript	.js, .jsx, .mjs
TypeScript	.ts, .tsx
Rust	.rs
Go	.go
Java	.java
C#	.cs
C/C++	.c, .h, .cpp, .cc, .cxx, .hpp
Ruby	.rb
PHP	.php
Swift	.swift
Kotlin	.kt
Scala	.scala
Bash	.sh, .bash
R	.r, .R

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Configuration (Optional)

Fossil works with zero configuration. All settings have sensible defaults. If you need to customize behavior, create a fossil.toml in your project root:

[dead_code]
min_confidence = "high"       # low, medium, high, certain
include_tests = false
exclude_patterns = ["generated/**", "vendor/**"]

[clones]
min_lines = 6
similarity_threshold = 0.8

[entry_points]
# Mark additional functions as entry points (won't be flagged as dead)
functions = ["custom_handler", "my_entry"]
# Additional entry point attributes/decorators
attributes = ["MyFramework::route"]
# Framework presets (auto-detected by default)
presets = ["axum", "react"]
auto_detect_presets = true

Config is auto-discovered from these filenames: fossil.toml, .fossil.toml, fossil.yml, fossil.yaml, fossil.json.

Environment variables override config file values:

Variable	Effect
FOSSIL_MIN_CONFIDENCE	Minimum confidence for dead code findings
FOSSIL_MIN_LINES	Minimum lines for clone detection
FOSSIL_SIMILARITY	Similarity threshold for Type 3 clones
FOSSIL_OUTPUT_FORMAT	Output format (text, json, sarif)

Framework Presets

Presets are auto-detected from project dependencies. They tell Fossil which functions are framework entry points (lifecycle hooks, route handlers, etc.) so they aren't flagged as dead code:

Preset	Detected by	Entry points recognized
react	react in deps	componentDidMount, render, useEffect, ...
nextjs	next in deps	getServerSideProps, getStaticProps, ...
express	express in deps	router.* patterns
django	django in deps	get, post, URL pattern handlers
flask	flask in deps	app.route patterns
spring	spring-boot in deps	@Bean, @Controller, @Service, ...
axum	axum in deps	#[tokio::main], #[debug_handler]
actix	actix-web in deps	#[actix_web::main], #[get], #[post], ...
angular	@angular/core in deps	ngOnInit, ngOnDestroy, ...

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CI/CD Integration

Fossil includes a check command for CI/CD pipelines. It fails builds when code quality thresholds are exceeded, helping teams enforce code standards and prevent technical debt from accumulating.

Basic Usage

# Check against configured thresholds
fossil-mcp check

# Override thresholds via CLI
fossil-mcp check --max-dead-code 10 --max-clones 5

# Diff-aware mode (only analyze changed files in PR)
fossil-mcp check --diff origin/main

# Generate SARIF for GitHub code scanning
fossil-mcp check --diff origin/main --format sarif

# Quiet mode (no diagnostic output)
fossil-mcp check --quiet

Configuration

Add a [ci] section to fossil.toml:

[ci]
max_dead_code = 10           # Maximum dead code findings (0 = fail on any)
max_clones = 5               # Maximum clone findings
max_scaffolding = 3          # Maximum scaffolding findings
min_confidence = "medium"    # Minimum confidence (low|medium|high|certain)
fail_on_scaffolding = false  # Fail if any scaffolding found

GitHub Actions Integration

Create .github/workflows/fossil-check.yml:

name: Fossil CI Check

on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  fossil:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Install Fossil
        run: curl -fsSL fossil-mcp.com/install.sh | sh

      - name: Run Fossil check
        run: |
          fossil-mcp check \
            --diff origin/${{ github.base_ref || 'main' }} \
            --format sarif \
            > fossil-results.sarif

      - name: Upload to GitHub Security
        if: always()
        uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
        with:
          sarif_file: fossil-results.sarif

How It Works

1. Scans the project using the same analysis engine as scan
2. Optionally filters to only changed files (via --diff branch)
3. Evaluates against configured thresholds
4. Reports findings as text, JSON, or SARIF
5. Exits with code 1 if thresholds exceeded (fails CI build)

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	All thresholds passed ✓
1	Threshold exceeded (build fails)
2	Error (missing git, invalid config, etc.)

For complete examples, see examples/fossil.toml and examples/fossil-check.yml.

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How It Works

1. Scan — walks project files, respects .gitignore, skips vendored/generated code
2. Parse — builds tree-sitter ASTs for each source file (16 languages)
3. Extract — pulls functions, calls, imports, attributes, and class hierarchy from ASTs
4. Graph — builds a cross-file CodeGraph with import resolution and barrel re-export support
5. Analyze — detects entry points (via heuristics + framework presets), runs reachability analysis, identifies dead code and clones
6. Report — outputs findings as text dashboard, JSON, or SARIF

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Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

• Code of Conduct
• Security Policy

License

Licensed under either of Apache License, Version 2.0 or MIT License at your option.