# rigour

Checks an agent's edits against your repository rules and what the team has learned. Useful when the agent writes faster than anyone can review.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed, Gemini CLI · ★ 29
- Author: rigour-labs
- License: MIT · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/rigour-labs/rigour
- Updated: 2026-10-19
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/rigour

## What it does

Rigour attaches to a coding agent as an MCP server and gets in the way at three points. Editing a file triggers quick checks: secrets, imports that resolve to nothing, bugs already known. Before the agent reports success, the whole branch is compared with `main`. Ahead of `git push` your own formatter, linter, type check and tests join in — a failing push is refused, one line per problem.

Briefing works differently. On a file's first edit the agent receives at most three cited points drawn from what your repo already declares: `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, Cursor rules, Copilot instructions. Team lessons are added only on evidence — a person corrected the agent, a teammate made a call, the same slip showed up across authors. A guess never turns into a rule.

The reviewer stays off until you enable it in Studio or `rigour.yml`. Once on, it reads the points from your last human review and follows your Blocking / Should fix / Nits labels over its own judgement. Profiles keep one employer's or client's memory separate from another's on the same machine, picked by the repository you open. To look before installing, `npx @rigour-labs/cli review --base origin/main` reports findings and leaves the tree alone.

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

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Platform CLI**
```bash
claude mcp add rigour -- npx -y @rigour-labs/mcp
```

### Codex

**Platform CLI**
```bash
codex mcp add rigour -- npx -y @rigour-labs/mcp
```

### Cursor

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

### GitHub Copilot

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

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini mcp add rigour npx -y @rigour-labs/mcp
```

## When to use it
- catch a secret in a file before the agent commits it
- spot merge conflicts and dead code on the branch before the agent says it is done
- stop a push when tests, lint or type check fail
- hand the agent the rules for one file before its first edit
- keep client A's lessons away from client B's on one machine

## Example prompts
- Brief me on `src/api/orders.ts` before you touch it
- Compare this branch with `origin/main` and tell me what blocks the push
- Show the full thread for this task: what got caught and what got fixed

## Similar
- [Front-End Checklist](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/front-end-checklist.md) — MCP server · ★ 74559
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- [Serena MCP: the IDE for your agent](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/serena-mcp-the-ide-for-your-agent.md) — MCP server · ★ 30677
- [Repomix](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/repomix.md) — MCP server · ★ 29027
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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