serena

Name: serena
Author: Oraios AI

✓ Vetted

A semantic code toolkit built on language servers: symbol-level search, reference tracing, and precise edits instead of whole-file rewrites.

Installed, run, and audited by hand on Jul 12, 2026.

by Oraios AI MCP server Code intelligence

Last shipped 2 days ago passing liveness · checked Jul 28, 2026

Commit activity · last 52 weeks

Stars27k

LanguagePython

LicenseMIT

Open issues101

Pricingfree

ListedJul 11, 2026

Facts pulled from the source repo and refreshed nightly. Stars are a data point, not our ranking. We don't order by popularity.

Install claude mcp add serena -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server

Runs in

Harness	Support	Notes
Claude Code	full	—
Any MCP client	full	—

Support levels reflect what we actually ran, not what the README claims. untested means exactly that.

The verdict

Because it works through language servers, it edits code at the symbol level instead of rewriting whole files. On a big repo that's more precise and a lot cheaper in tokens, and it's the real reason to reach for it. Two cautions before you install. First, this is an editing tool, not a reader. It modifies your source and writes "memory" files into a .serena directory in your project, so it earns a place in your .gitignore and the same review you'd give any other diff. Second, it ships an optional local web dashboard that binds to 127.0.0.1 only; the one outbound call in the whole tool is that dashboard fetching a news feed from the author's site, and you can turn the dashboard off. Tool-usage and token stats are computed and shown locally. Nothing about your code or activity is reported anywhere. Give it the respect you'd give anything that can edit your repo.

What it is

A language-server-backed toolkit that gives an agent IDE-grade moves: find a symbol, trace its references, and edit it in place, rather than reading and rewriting whole files. On a large codebase that precision is the point, in both correctness and token cost.

How it was vetted

Booted from source at commit 6018bf4 (2026-07-10) and read the parts that matter for trust: anything that edits, persists, or phones home.

It edits, and it persists. Serena’s tool set includes EditMemoryTool, WriteMemoryTool, and the code editor; several are marked ToolMarkerCanEdit. It writes project “memories” into a .serena directory. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s an editing agent with broad code access. Review its diffs, and gitignore its state.
Analytics are local. The analytics module counts tokens (tiktoken) and tallies tool usage for display in the dashboard. None of it is sent anywhere.
One real outbound call, and it’s benign. The optional web dashboard (127.0.0.1 only) fetches oraios-software.de/serena_news.json to show news; the other “POSTs” in the code are localhost calls to a desktop tray helper. No code, prompts, or usage data leave the machine. Disable the dashboard if you want zero outbound.
Boots clean. serena --help and the MCP entrypoint run without incident under uv.

Runs in

What it is

How it was vetted

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