Sem

Fit and risk

Setup

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sem": {
      "command": "sem",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "sem": {
      "command": "sem",
      "args": [
        "mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add sem -- sem mcp

Check that it works

After adding the server config (`sem mcp`) and restarting the client, sem_entities, sem_diff, sem_impact and the other 8 tools should appear in the tool list; asking "what entity-level changes does sem_diff show right now?" proves the connection works.

Troubleshooting

1. Run sem --version to confirm you are invoking Ataraxy Labs' sem rather than the GNU Parallel binary of the same name; on a conflict, set an alias or adjust PATH order
2. If the agent reports it cannot find sem, use the absolute path to the sem binary in the MCP config
3. With npm/bun installs the binary lives in node_modules/.bin/sem and can be invoked via npx sem or bunx sem; with Bun, run bun pm trust @ataraxy-labs/sem so the postinstall script can download the binary
4. The first find/callers/refs/grep call in a repo builds the index and later calls read it directly; if caching looks wrong, check the SEM_CACHE_DIR setting
5. If the cloud is unreachable or you are not logged in, sem computes locally and prints the same output, so no extra action is needed

Things to try

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant things like:

• Use sem_diff to show which functions and classes changed in my working tree.Copy
• Use sem_impact to show what breaks if I change authenticateUser, including affected tests.Copy
• Use sem_blame on src/auth.ts to tell me who last modified each function.Copy
• Use sem_context to give me the source of authenticateUser plus its callers and callees.Copy

Tools 8

No matching tools

Use cases

Supported clients

Listed from the project's documentation, not tested by this site.

Overview

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