Semble: A Local MCP Server for Claude Code with 98% Token Reduction
Semble is an MCP server that lets Claude Code search local codebases efficiently, returning only relevant code chunks instead of full files. It uses a hybrid of static embeddings, BM25, and a code-optimized reranking stack, all running locally on CPU — no API keys, no GPU, no heavy dependencies.
Installation
Install via uvx:
claude mcp add semble -s user -- uvx --from "semble[mcp]" sembleOnce installed, Claude Code can search any repo — local or remote — directly.
Key Details
- Token reduction: Uses ~98% fewer tokens than the typical grep+read approach.
- Performance: Indexes any repo in ~250ms, answers queries in ~1.5ms (all on CPU).
- Quality: Reaches NDCG@10 of 0.854 — 99% of the best transformer hybrid tested, while being ~200x faster.
- Benchmarked against: grepai, probe, colgrep, and other existing methods.
- Open source: Available on GitHub under the MinishLab organization.
Who It's For
Developers using Claude Code on large codebases who want to reduce token burn and latency while getting high-quality code search results without external API calls.
📖 Read the full source: r/ClaudeAI
👀 See Also
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