Claude Code Integration

Use LocalLens in Claude Code via two integration methods:

1. MCP server (programmatic tools) -- Claude decides when to call LocalLens
2. Slash commands plugin (/locallens:search, /locallens:index, etc.) -- explicit invocation

Pick one or both.

Method 1: MCP server

Claude calls LocalLens tools automatically when relevant.

Setup

1. Install LocalLens with MCP support:

pip install "locallens[mcp]"

2. Index your project:

locallens index ~/my-project

3. Add to your Claude Code MCP config:

claude mcp add locallens -- locallens serve --mcp

Or manually add to your Claude Code settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "locallens": {
      "command": "locallens",
      "args": ["serve", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Example prompts

Once connected, you can ask Claude things like:

• "Find all files related to authentication in this project" — triggers locallens_search
• "Summarize what the payment module does" — triggers locallens_ask
• "What test files exist and what do they cover?" — triggers locallens_search with file type filter
• "Index the src/ folder" — triggers locallens_index
• "How many files are indexed?" — triggers locallens_status

Tips

• Index before you search. Claude can index folders for you via the locallens_index tool, but pre-indexing is faster.
• Be specific in your questions. "What does the auth middleware do?" works better than "tell me about auth."
• Use file type hints. "Find Python files about database migrations" helps Claude pass file_type=".py" to narrow results.
• Re-index after big changes. If you've made significant changes to your project, re-index to update the search database.

Environment variables

Pass environment variables to customize the MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "locallens": {
      "command": "locallens",
      "args": ["serve", "--mcp"],
      "env": {
        "LOCALLENS_OLLAMA_MODEL": "llama3.2:3b"
      }
    }
  }
}

Method 2: Slash commands plugin

Prefer explicit /locallens:* commands? Install the Claude Code plugin instead.

Install

# Clone the repo (once)
git clone https://github.com/mahimairaja/locallens.git

# Link the plugin directory into Claude Code's plugins folder
mkdir -p ~/.claude/plugins
ln -s "$(pwd)/locallens/claude-code-plugin" ~/.claude/plugins/locallens

Restart Claude Code or run /reload-plugins.

Commands

Command	Description
/locallens:search <query>	Semantic search (supports +/- arithmetic)
/locallens:index [path]	Index a folder (defaults to CWD)
/locallens:ask <question>	RAG Q&A with citations (requires Ollama)
/locallens:doctor	Check setup and dependencies

MCP vs plugin

• MCP server: Claude decides when to use LocalLens. Good when you want search "just to happen" in context.
• Plugin: Explicit invocation. Good when you want a predictable entry point and don't want Claude making search decisions on its own.

You can install both at the same time.