# Rebuild Dossier

Rebuild Dossier inspects an existing app and creates a specification with contracts and tests for a coding agent to follow. Use it when a rebuild needs explicit behavioral checks instead of guesses.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed, Gemini CLI · ★ 3
- Author: Parker-Fawcett
- License: MIT · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/Parker-Fawcett/rebuild-dossier
- Updated: 2026-10-02
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/rebuild-dossier

## What it does

Rebuild Dossier examines an application's routes, package metadata, build configuration, and existing tests through static analysis. It then gathers uncertain cases for a developer to resolve before producing the rebuild materials. Site inspection uses Playwright, while the initial repository scan runs without an LLM call.

Once every open case has been resolved, the server creates a sibling `<repo>-rebuild/` directory containing `CLAUDE.md`, `.claude/rules/`, hook settings, contract documents, and test suites. It also runs mutation checks by deliberately changing the original code and checking whether the generated tests catch those changes. The server does not recreate the application itself; a separate coding-agent session consumes the generated materials.

Node 20.12+ is required. The `crawl_site` tool also needs Chromium installed with `npx playwright install chromium`. Generated guard hooks block edits to `spec/` and contracts that lack test coverage. Shell-command parsing remains heuristic, so writes delegated to a script previously created by the agent can bypass that detection.

## Requirements
- Needs: Node.js (commands run via npx)

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Platform CLI**
```bash
claude mcp add rebuild-dossier -- npx -y rebuild-dossier
```

### Codex

**Platform CLI**
```bash
codex mcp add rebuild-dossier -- npx -y rebuild-dossier
```

### Cursor

**Config file**
File `.cursor/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "rebuild-dossier": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "rebuild-dossier"
            ]
        }
    }
}
```

### GitHub Copilot

**Config file**
File `.vscode/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "servers": {
        "rebuild-dossier": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "rebuild-dossier"
            ]
        }
    }
}
```

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini mcp add rebuild-dossier npx -y rebuild-dossier
```

## When to use it
- Derive a rebuild specification from an existing codebase
- Collect unresolved questions about application behavior
- Generate contracts and tests for a separate rebuild run
- Check whether generated tests catch deliberate code mutations
- Prevent edits to locked specifications and untested contracts

## Example prompts
- Inspect `/path/to/some-app` and collect the unresolved behavior questions before rebuilding it.
- Show me the open case queue for `/path/to/some-app` so I can decide how each case should work.
- Generate the rebuild specification for `/path/to/some-app` after all cases have been resolved.

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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