7 Native VS Code & MCP Tools

Which native VS Code and MCP tools are available?

Reference for 7 native VS Code and MCP tools: context, grep, read, files, status, sync, and workspaces, with inline budgets and document anchors.

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.

Code Context exposes seven identical capabilities across three local transports: VS Code Native Language Model Tools (dotnetpower.code-context-native), Model Context Protocol (cctx shared-mcp), and the cctx CLI.

Tool mapping overview

VS Code toolReferenceName	Internal Native ID	MCP Tool	CLI Subcommand	Mutates Index?
#cctxNativeContext	code-context-native_codeContext	code_context	cctx --backend shared context	Queues cold root nonblockingly
#cctxNativeGrep	code-context-native_codeGrep	code_grep	cctx --backend shared grep	Queues cold root nonblockingly
#cctxNativeFiles	code-context-native_codeFiles	code_files	cctx --backend shared files	Queues cold root nonblockingly
#cctxNativeRead	code-context-native_codeRead	code_read	cctx --backend shared read	Live disk fallback + hash check
#cctxNativeStatus	code-context-native_codeStatus	code_status	cctx --backend shared status	Never (purely observational)
#cctxNativeSync	code-context-native_codeSync	code_sync	cctx --backend shared sync	Blocking full-source barrier
#cctxNativeWorkspaces	code-context-native_codeWorkspaces	code_workspaces	cctx workspaces	Never (lists catalog)

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1. #cctxNativeContext / code_context (Primary Tool)

Searches saved source for a literal substring or regular expression and returns block-clamped surrounding code in a single round trip.

• Key parameters:
  • pattern (required): Literal string by default; set regex: true for alternation (foo|bar) or regex patterns.
  • root: Explicit absolute workspace or Git worktree root.
  • radius (0..100): Requested context radius around matches, automatically clamped to clean function, struct, class, or heading boundaries so unrelated neighboring functions are excluded.
  • limit (1..64): Total match cap across the response.
  • max_matches_per_file (1..64): Caps noisy files and prioritizes symbol definitions (fn, pub struct, class, def, interface, export function, etc.) ahead of call-site noise.
  • paths / glob / ignore_case: Narrow scope to relative directory prefixes or file patterns.

Supported polyglot block clamping

Boundary clamping understands declarations and structural blocks across Rust, Python, TypeScript/JavaScript/JSX/TSX (React 19), Vue, Svelte, Go, Kotlin, Swift, Elixir, Ruby, SQL, Protobuf, Terraform, Makefile, Dockerfile, and Markdown.

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2. #cctxNativeGrep / code_grep

Fast trigram-indexed line search when you only need matching line numbers and text rather than surrounding code blocks.

• Uses ASCII and UTF-8 case-folded trigram postings (src/resident.rs) plus an HIR literal extractor (src/planner.rs) to eliminate >99% of non-matching files before running grep-regex.
• Pass max_matches_per_file (for example 5 or 10) so generated or test fixtures cannot starve results from core modules, while keeping total output strictly below the <8 KiB host offload threshold.

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3. #cctxNativeFiles / code_files

Sub-millisecond filename and relative-path discovery against the in-memory workspace catalog.

• Pass glob such as "*.rs", "*Service*.ts", "**/*.test.tsx", or a bare stem.
• Combine with paths: ["src", "crates"] and limit (1..1000).

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4. #cctxNativeRead / code_read & Rich Document Anchors

Batched, SHA-256-verified 1-based inclusive line reads with transparent live-disk recovery if a file was just edited moments before watcher reconciliation.

<8 KiB inline budget & pagination

Host agent harnesses often offload tool outputs larger than 8 KiB into temporary /tmp files, costing extra tool calls to inspect. Keep batched ranges to <= 150 total lines for instant inline delivery, or pass page: true (and follow next_ranges until complete: true) for structured streaming pagination.

Rich document virtual #toc & #slide-N-M anchors

code_read extracts clean, token-compact Markdown/text from binary and structured documents with zero external runtime dependencies (powered by an internal 9-bit $O(1)$ DEFLATE decoder that runs 5.4× faster):

Document Format	Supported Virtual Anchors	Token Savings
Markdown (.md, .mdx)	docs/REFERENCE.md#native-tools, #toc	Reads exact section slug without loading whole file
PowerPoint (.pptx) & ODP	deck.pptx#toc, deck.pptx#slide-3, deck.pptx#slide-3-5	-86.3% to -98.9% (hoists repeated slide headers/footers & compresses charts)
Word (.docx), ODT & RTF	spec.docx#toc, spec.docx#outline, spec.docx#architecture, {#bookmark}	Jumps straight to heading or bookmark span
Excel (.xlsx) & ODS	metrics.xlsx#toc, sheet & bounded table ranges	Prunes empty columns/rows automatically
PDF, EPUB, Jupyter (.ipynb), SRT/VTT, XLIFF	#toc, page/cell/cue ranges	Clean text projection without raw JSON/XML markup tax

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5. #cctxNativeStatus, #cctxNativeSync & #cctxNativeWorkspaces

• #cctxNativeStatus / code_status: Returns index state (warm, loading, cold), memory ceiling, cgroup v2 reserve, file counts, and latency telemetry without triggering background indexing.
• #cctxNativeSync / code_sync: Waits for a full source synchronization barrier. Use only when proving exhaustive symbol absence across an entire workspace—never call code_sync before ordinary lookups.
• #cctxNativeWorkspaces / code_workspaces: Lists registered roots, allowed directory scopes, globs, and active exclusion profiles.

Next, see how pctx probes, cctx journal, and cctx prompt eliminate non-code token waste.