Ai Context Engine

AI Context Engine

A pre-commit reasoning layer for AI coding agents.

> "We don't make AI smarter. We give AI a memory of your system."

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Does Claude burn through your plan too fast?

If you're using Claude Pro or Claude Max for coding work, you've probably noticed: complex projects eat through your quota quickly — because Claude reads entire files to answer a single question.

AI Context Engine reduces context token usage by ~80% per session.

Here's why that matters:

| Session (10 tasks, ~10k LOC project) | Without | With AI Context | |---|---|---| | Session startup context | ~9,000 tokens | ~2,000 tokens | | Per bug fix (avg. 3 files read) | ~5,400 tokens | ~900 tokens | | Full session total | ~63,000 tokens | ~11,000 tokens |

Instead of reading auth.ts (2,500 tokens) to find one function, the engine serves the exact function signature + line number in ~80 tokens.

The practical effect: Claude Pro users often upgrade to Max because large codebases burn through rate limits. With AI Context Engine, a Claude Pro plan handles the same workload — because each interaction loads 5× less context. Your Pro plan becomes as effective as Max for most coding sessions.

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Your codebase is not a collection of files. It is a system of constraints, rules, and dependencies. AI Context Engine makes that system visible — before you commit.

$ git commit -m "fix: update JWT validation"

  AI Context Engine
  ─────────────────────────────────────────────
  ⚠  INVARIANT [auth_first]  (hard)
     Auth-Check must precede all protected routes
     scope: src/app/api/**
     enforcement: middleware/auth.ts · api/users.ts

  ⚠  Gap detected: src/lib/auth.ts
     Typically changed together: middleware/auth.ts · login.tsx
     (co-changed 4× in past — 2 missing from this commit)

  ℹ  Intent: "fix JWT validation"
     Concepts affected: authentication · session · security
  ─────────────────────────────────────────────

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Why this exists

Modern AI coding tools fail at one thing: They read code. They don't understand systems.

| | Without AI Context | With AI Context | |---|---|---| | Agent reads | entire files | structured graph | | Token usage | high | low | | Knows what breaks | no | yes, before commit | | Understands invariants | no | yes | | Learns from past bugs | no | yes (cross-session) |

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Architecture

Five layers. Each one built on the previous.

┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│            INTENT LAYER              │  ← WHY code changes
│  Commit intent · Feature purpose     │
├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│           INVARIANT LAYER            │  ← WHAT must never break
│  System rules · Security contracts   │
├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│            CHANGE GRAPH              │  ← HOW things affect each other
│  Impact graph · Co-change patterns   │
├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│            SYMBOL GRAPH              │  ← WHERE things are
│  Functions · Signatures · used_in    │
├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│             CODE BASE                │  ← WHAT exists
│  Files · Interfaces · Types          │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘

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Key Capabilities

1. Invariant Engine

Define rules that must never break. The engine checks every commit.

# _ai_context/invariants.yaml
invariants:
  - id: auth_first
    level: hard
    rule: "Auth must be validated before protected routes"
    scope: "src/app/api/**"
    depends: ["src/lib/auth.ts", "src/middleware.ts"]

When auth.ts is changed → instant warning with enforcement points.

2. Symbol Map with Signatures and Callers

validateJWT            L342   (token: string): User | null
  → used in: middleware/auth.ts · api/users.ts · api/admin.ts

saveFact               L43    (root, type, content, priority): SaveResult
  → used in: capture_from_diff.ts · memory_save.ts

Navigate any codebase in seconds. No full file reads.

3. Impact Graph — Learned from Git History

edges:
  - source: src/lib/auth.ts
    affects: [Login.tsx, Signup.tsx, middleware/auth.ts]
    confidence: 4        # learned from 4 real co-changes

When files change together repeatedly, the graph learns and warns.

4. Gap Detection

⚠ Incomplete change?  src/lib/auth.ts
  Usually also changed: middleware/auth.ts · login.tsx
  (4× co-changed in history — 2 missing from this commit)

5. MCP Server for Claude Code / Cursor

memory_search("auth bug")     → finds relevant gotchas cross-project
session_context()             → compact context instead of 4+ files  
capture_from_diff()           → learns from every commit automatically
locate("login button broken") → single lookup across ALL of the above (v7)

6. locate() — one lookup instead of six files (v7)

The single entry point that fans out over Interaction Map, Symbol Map, Interfaces, Gotchas/Debug-Patterns, Invariants and the Impact Graph — so the agent doesn't need to know which of the six index files to check.

locate("login button reagiert nicht")
→
🔘 button `LoginButton`  src/components/LoginForm.tsx:47
   handler: handleLogin  |  state: -  |  endpoint: POST /api/auth/login

⚡ Verwandte Gotchas/Patterns:
   auth_version [P2] — ⚠ PRÜFEN (Code neuer als seen 2026-04-14)

🔒 Invariante:
   auth_first (hard) — Auth-Check muss vor jeder state-ändernden Route stehen

🕸 Impact: src/lib/auth.ts ändert sich oft mit middleware.ts, login.tsx

Available both as the locate MCP tool and as a CLI (bash _ai_context/scripts/ai-symptom-router.sh "", which delegates to locate() under the hood and falls back to its own keyword router if the MCP build isn't available).

7. drawers.yaml — content-based routing manifest (v7)

Instead of four fixed domains, a declarative manifest maps glob patterns and keywords to an index file per "drawer" (ui_controls, api, auth, data, state, infra by default — extend with your own, e.g. payments). setup_ai_context.sh generates one from the detected stack; locate() uses it to route a query to the right index first.

8. Freshness model — is this gotcha still true? (v7)

Every registry chunk gets seen (when it was last confirmed) and code_touched (the newest git-log date across its @-referenced files, computed automatically). The derived status — fresh / check (code changed after seen) / orphan (the file is gone) — shows up directly in locate()'s answer card and in ai-context-doctor.sh's freshness check, so the agent can tell a still-valid gotcha from one that predates a later refactor.

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Installation

Step 1 — Clone and run setup in your project:

git clone https://github.com/studiodkmn-ctrl/ai-context-engine
cd your-project
bash /path/to/ai-context-engine/setup_ai_context.sh

This creates _ai_context/ in your project with:

• Symbol map, interface snapshot, impact graph
• Invariant definitions bootstrapped from your security patterns
• Session context generator
• Post-commit hook for automatic learning

Step 2 — Add MCP server (Claude Code / Cursor):

// .mcp.json in your project
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-context": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["PATH_TO/ai-context-engine/mcp/dist/server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Step 3 — Generate your first session context:

bash _ai_context/scripts/ai-session-prep.sh

Global install (recommended): bash install.sh installs everything to ~/.ai-context, adds shell aliases (ai-context-setup, ai-doctor, …) and a self-update loop — once installed, the engine checks its source at most once per week, backs itself up and updates itself and all registered projects automatically (visible in the session log, rollback via ai-context-rollback.sh, integrity-guarded against source tampering).

Uninstall: bash uninstall.sh — lists exactly what will be removed (global store, shell block, hooks), asks once, never touches your projects' _ai_context/ knowledge or foreign git hooks.

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Supported platforms

| Platform | Status | |---|---| | macOS | ✅ tested (primary development platform) | | Linux | ✅ tested (CI runs on Ubuntu) | | WSL | ⚠️ untested — should work (bash + python3 + node), no guarantees | | Windows (native) | ❌ not supported — the engine is bash-based |

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Commands

# Check invariants against staged changes
bash _ai_context/scripts/ai-invariant-check.sh --staged

# Route a bug description to likely source files  
bash _ai_context/scripts/ai-symptom-router.sh "login button not responding"

# Regenerate symbol map with signatures and callers
bash _ai_context/scripts/ai-symbol-map.sh

# Detect context drift (stale files, script updates)
bash _ai_context/scripts/ai-context-doctor.sh

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MCP Tools (in Claude Code)

locate("login button broken")    # single lookup — try this first
capture_from_diff(apply=true)    # auto-learn from current commit
memory_search("jwt expiry")      # search across all your projects  
session_context()                # load compact project context

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Invariant Levels

| Level | Meaning | In Commit Hook | |---|---|---| | hard | System breaks if violated | Blocks + error | | soft | Degraded behavior, warning | Warning shown | | hint | Code smell, best practice | Info shown |

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What it looks like inside Claude Code

When AI Context Engine is active, Claude knows:

• Which invariants your change might violate
• Which files are typically changed together
• What functions call what — without reading entire files
• What past bugs looked like in this area of code

Instead of:

"Let me read auth.ts... and middleware.ts... and login.tsx..."

Claude says:

"The auth_first invariant is affected. 
 Enforcement points: middleware/auth.ts:67 and api/users.ts:23.
 Past fix: commit a4f2b1 added session check here."

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Roadmap

• [x] Impact Graph — learned co-change relationships
• [x] Symbol Map — functions, signatures, callers (used_in)
• [x] Invariant Layer — hard/soft/hint rules with file deps
• [x] Gap Detection — missing co-changes flagged at commit
• [x] Intent Tagging — commit meaning extracted + stored
• [x] MCP Server — Claude Code / Cursor integration
• [x] Cross-project memory — learnings transfer between projects
• [x] locate() — single-lookup routing across all indices (v7)
• [x] drawers.yaml — declarative content-based routing manifest (v7)
• [x] Freshness model — seen/code_touched/status per chunk, derived from git history (v7)
• [ ] Invariant discovery — auto-suggest invariants from bug history
• [ ] Static verification — verify invariants are enforced in code
• [ ] System Behavior Model — goal-state layer above invariants

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Philosophy

> Your codebase is not files. It's a system of constraints. > Code is implementation. Rules are truth.

AI Context Engine is the layer that makes rules explicit — so AI agents can reason about your system, not just read it.

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Contributing

This is an open system. Add your own invariants, extend the impact graph, build integrations.

# Add a new invariant
vi _ai_context/invariants.yaml

# Teach the impact graph a new relationship
bash _ai_context/scripts/ai-impact-learn.sh src/auth.ts src/middleware.ts

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Star this repo if you believe coding agents should understand systems, not just files.

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: studiodkmn-ctrl
• Source: studiodkmn-ctrl/ai-context-engine
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/studiodkmn-ctrl/ai-context-engine

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.