Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What should I know before using Code Context?
- Code Context FAQ: ripgrep and vector RAG comparisons, native VS Code tools versus MCP, Windows support, privacy, and benchmark limitations.
- Scope and evidence
- Local developer tooling, not a hosted source-search service. Benchmark results are workload-specific, not guarantees.
Where can I verify the results and limitations?
Read the benchmark methodology, architecture and privacy boundaries, and technical FAQ.
How is Code Context (cctx) different from ripgrep (rg)?
Section titled “How is Code Context (cctx) different from ripgrep (rg)?”ripgrep is a fast stateless CLI scanner—Code Context actually uses rg during initial authorized workspace discovery. However, in multi-turn coding agents, raw rg forces a costly two-step loop (rg match lines → multiple 100–200 line view calls) and re-scans files on every turn.
cctx keeps a warm in-memory trigram index (17.22× faster mixed retrieval) and returns AST block-clamped definitions in one call (#cctxNativeContext / code_context), cutting lookup payload tokens by 73.2% to 91.3% and agent round-trip tool calls by 61.9%.
How does cctx compare to vector embeddings / semantic RAG?
Section titled “How does cctx compare to vector embeddings / semantic RAG?”Vector RAG requires chunking, embedding models (often cloud APIs or heavy local GPUs), approximate nearest-neighbor indexes that lag behind rapid branch switches, and fuzzy similarity matches that frequently miss exact symbol names, error codes, or regex patterns.
cctx is 100% deterministic, exact, local, and SHA-256 verified: zero API keys, zero GPU overhead, sub-millisecond warm queries, and instant incremental updates on file save.
Do I need MCP if I install the VS Code extension?
Section titled “Do I need MCP if I install the VS Code extension?”For foreground VS Code Copilot sessions (VS Code 1.140+), no MCP configuration is required—the Marketplace extension (dotnetpower.code-context-native) registers native Language Model Tools directly.
Adding cctx shared-mcp is recommended when you also run background/unattended subagents without UI extension-host dispatch, or external MCP clients such as Claude Code, Cursor, or custom CLI agents. Both surfaces share the exact same background Rust daemon and warm cache.
Does cctx upload my code or telemetry anywhere?
Section titled “Does cctx upload my code or telemetry anywhere?”Indexing, trigram postings, document extraction, cctx journal, and cctx usage analytics run locally; the index is not automatically uploaded. Explicit pctx http probes contact the URLs you supply. Any AI client receiving tool output follows its own data policy. This public documentation website cannot access your local workspace.
Why does code_read show 0.43× (slower) on small known-file reads in the benchmark?
Section titled “Why does code_read show 0.43× (slower) on small known-file reads in the benchmark?”Because direct in-process buffered reads of a tiny file already in the OS page cache take ~0.081 ms, whereas sending a request over a Unix socket / loopback RPC with policy validation, SHA-256 verification, and JSON serialization takes ~0.190 ms. We keep small known reads in the benchmark suite deliberately so our reported 17.22× mixed speedup reflects realistic agent workloads rather than cherry-picked search-only numbers.
What happens when cctx returns CACHE_MISS?
Section titled “What happens when cctx returns CACHE_MISS?”CACHE_MISS means the workspace root was cold and has just been queued for bounded background indexing—never that the symbol or file is absent. The agent performs a single normal host read/search for that immediate turn without waiting, and automatically gets warm 0.23 ms hits on subsequent turns.
Does cctx run natively on Windows without WSL?
Section titled “Does cctx run natively on Windows without WSL?”Yes. Build cctx.exe with cargo build --locked --release and place it at %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\cctx.exe. The VS Code extension starts cctx.exe daemon automatically on demand and uses rg on PATH or VS Code’s bundled rg.exe. WSL2 and Windows Agent Sessions are also fully supported—see Installation & Platform Setup.
How does cctx relate to agent-tokenomics and tokprof?
Section titled “How does cctx relate to agent-tokenomics and tokprof?”agent-tokenomics is our companion engineering playbook and zero-code LLM request profiler (tokprof). Use cctx inside your IDE and MCP clients to cut lookup tokens, clamp context, and accelerate coding tasks; use tokprof when building or operating custom agents to attribute every input token across system prompts, tool schemas, and conversation history.