Claude-Code-Workflow/docs/features/codexlens.md

CodexLens Code Indexing

One-Liner

CodexLens is a semantic code search engine — Based on vector databases and LSP integration, it enables AI to understand code semantics rather than just keyword matching.

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Pain Points Solved

Pain Point	Current State	CodexLens Solution
Imprecise search	Keywords can't find semantically related code	Semantic vector search
No context	Search results lack call chain context	LSP integration provides reference chains
No understanding	AI doesn't understand code relationships	Static analysis + semantic indexing
Slow navigation	Manual file traversal	Instant semantic navigation

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vs Traditional Methods

Dimension	Text Search	IDE Search	CodexLens
Search type	Keyword	Keyword + symbol	Semantic vector
Context	None	File-level	Call chain + imports
AI-ready	No	No	Direct AI consumption
Multi-file	Poor	Good	Excellent

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Core Concepts

Concept	Description	Location
Index	Vector representation of code	.codex-lens/index/
Chunk	Code segment for embedding	Configurable size
Retrieval	Hybrid search (vector + keyword)	HybridSearch engine
LSP	Language Server Protocol integration	Built-in LSP client

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Usage

Via MCP Tool (Recommended)

// ACE semantic search
mcp__ace-tool__search_context({
  project_root_path: "/path/to/project",
  query: "authentication logic"
})

Note

: The CLI commands ccw index and ccw search are deprecated. Use MCP tools directly for semantic search.

// ACE semantic search
mcp__ace-tool__search_context({
  project_root_path: "/path/to/project",
  query: "authentication logic"
})

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Configuration

// ~/.codexlens/settings.json
{
  "embedding": {
    "backend": "litellm",
    "model": "Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B",
    "use_gpu": false
  },
  "indexing": {
    "static_graph_enabled": true,
    "chunk_size": 512
  }
}

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Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              CodexLens                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌────────┐ │
│  │  Parsers │  │ Chunker  │  │  LSP   │ │
│  │(TS/Py/..)│  │          │  │ Client │ │
│  └────┬─────┘  └────┬─────┘  └───┬────┘ │
│       │             │            │       │
│       └─────────────┼────────────┘       │
│                     │                    │
│              ┌──────┴──────┐             │
│              │   Hybrid    │             │
│              │   Search    │             │
│              └─────────────┘             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Related Links

• CLI Call - AI model invocation
• Memory System - Persistent context
• MCP Tools - MCP integration