# briefd

Compiles your team's git-backed knowledge into compact context bundles and serves them to a coding agent over MCP. Useful once CLAUDE.md has grown and eats tokens every turn.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed · ★ 31
- Author: ismailperim
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/ismailperim/briefd
- Updated: 2026-10-12
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/briefd

## What it does

briefd is a context compiler you host yourself. The knowledge sits as Markdown in a git repository: terminology, business rules, architecture decisions, conventions. briefd indexes it and answers one question from your agent — what do I need for this task — with a compiled, deduplicated bundle that stays inside the token limit you set.

Retrieval is hybrid. SQLite FTS5 handles full-text search with BM25, a pure-Go encoder computes multilingual embeddings, and reciprocal rank fusion merges the two result sets. Nothing external is required: no Postgres, no vector store, no ONNX runtime, no CGO. The index is a throwaway cache rebuilt from a clone. Agents cannot write to it — `propose_update` opens a branch or pull request for review, and what briefd serves changes only after a human merges.

You can try it without your own repository: `briefd demo` serves the built-in sample knowledge base on `http://127.0.0.1:7788`. The first run pulls down an embedding model of roughly 470 MB, so on a slow or offline connection it will sit there for a while; `briefd demo --embeddings none` skips that download. Building from source needs Go 1.26 or newer.

## Requirements
- Needs: Docker
- Environment variables: `BRIEFD_SOURCE`, `BRIEFD_API_TOKEN`, `BRIEFD_GIT_TOKEN` — keys and tokens: ask the human for the values, never commit them or put them in shared files.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Install**
- The MCP registry has no launch command for it: see the repository README

## When to use it
- pull task-specific context without pasting the whole `CLAUDE.md` into the prompt
- keep team knowledge in git and review changes like code
- find the right doc section by meaning instead of filename
- fit the answer into a token limit instead of truncating blindly
- propose a knowledge edit as a branch or pull request

## Example prompts
- Compile the context for adding a payment endpoint to the orders service
- What do our conventions and glossary say I need for rewriting the auth module?
- Propose an update to the retry section and open a branch for review

## Similar
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NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md