serena
A powerful MCP toolkit for coding, providing semantic retrieval and editing capabilities - the IDE for your agent
Serena is an MCP server that equips AI coding agents with IDE-level capabilities for semantic code understanding and manipulation. It provides symbol-aware navigation, cross-file refactoring, debugging tools, and intelligent code search that operate at the symbol level rather than relying on fragile line-number or text-pattern approaches. Built on either language servers (LSP) or JetBrains IDE integration, Serena supports over 40 programming languages and integrates with any MCP-compatible client including Claude Code, Codex, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VSCode extensions. The toolkit helps agents work faster and more reliably in large, complex codebases by offering high-level abstractions for rename, move, find-references, type hierarchies, and interactive debugging.
Key Features
Use Cases
- 01Performing safe, semantic renames across an entire codebase without breaking references
- 02Navigating large monorepos by finding symbol definitions, implementations, and all references
- 03Refactoring code structure by moving classes, functions, or entire files while preserving dependencies
- 04Debugging applications interactively with an AI agent setting breakpoints and inspecting runtime state
- 05Exploring unfamiliar codebases through symbol-aware search and type hierarchy visualization
- 06Enabling AI agents to work reliably in multi-language projects with consistent semantic understanding
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serena — FAQ
What is Serena MCP server?+
Serena is an MCP server that provides AI coding agents with IDE-like semantic code analysis, refactoring, and debugging capabilities. It operates at the symbol level rather than using brittle line-number or text-pattern approaches, enabling more reliable and efficient code operations in large projects.
How do I install Serena MCP server?+
Install uv first, then run 'uv tool install -p 3.13 serena-agent' followed by 'serena init' to initialize. After that, configure your MCP client's settings to launch Serena with the appropriate command for your specific client.
Which AI clients work with Serena?+
Serena works with any MCP-compatible client including Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini-CLI, Claude Desktop, Codex App, OpenWebUI, Cursor, VSCode extensions (Copilot, Junie), and JetBrains IDE assistants.
Do I need API keys or a paid license to use Serena?+
The core Serena MCP server with language server backend is open-source and free to use under the MIT license. The optional JetBrains plugin backend is a paid plugin with a free trial available, and requires a compatible JetBrains IDE.
What programming languages does Serena support?+
Serena supports over 40 languages including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, C/C++, Go, Rust, Ruby, PHP, Kotlin, Swift, and many more through LSP language servers. The JetBrains plugin supports all languages available in JetBrains IDEs.
What are the prerequisites for Serena?+
The only required prerequisite is uv (the Python package manager). Some languages may require additional language server installations, which are detailed in Serena's language support documentation.
How do I install serena?+
Open the source repository on GitHub and follow its README. serena is a mcp server — MCP Agents Market links you directly to the official repo.
Is serena free?+
serena is an open-source project hosted on GitHub. Check the repository for its license and any usage requirements.