codeledger

CodeLedger

Give AI coding agents the right repo context before they start - then verify what changed.

CodeLedger is local-first context control for AI coding agents. It scans a repository, selects a bounded task-relevant set of files, and writes an evidence-backed context bundle before the agent begins work.

Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and other CLI or MCP-compatible coding agents.

Try It

npm install -g @codeledger/cli
cd your-project
codeledger ready --task "Fix null handling in user service"

CodeLedger initializes the repo if needed, refreshes the index, and creates the task-specific bundle at .codeledger/active-bundle.md. Your agent reads that artifact first so it starts with the files most relevant to the task.

Runtime analysis is local by default. Installing or updating may fetch packages or release artifacts from npm and GitHub Releases; CodeLedger runtime analysis does not send your source code through CodeLedger telemetry by default.

Example Benchmark

Example result from a mid-sized Node.js service. Results vary by repository, task, agent, and scenario.

Metric	Without CodeLedger	With CodeLedger	Change
Tests Passed	78%	94%	+16%
Iterations	4	2	-50%
Files Changed	17	9	-47%
Time to Finish	6m 12s	3m 40s	-41%
Token Usage	28k	18k	-36%

Do not take the benchmark on faith - measure CodeLedger on your own repo:

codeledger compare \
  --scenario .codeledger/harness/scenarios/auth-rate-limit.json \
  --guided

If CodeLedger improves your coding-agent workflow, star the repo to follow releases and help other developers discover it.

Start Here

• Getting Started
• CLI Reference
• How It Works
• MCP Server
• Feature Tiers
• Security
• Contributing
• Latest Release
• npm package

How It Works

1. CodeLedger scans the repo for deterministic local signals such as dependency structure, churn, tests, contracts, and task keywords.
2. It ranks and packs a bounded set of task-relevant files.
3. It writes .codeledger/active-bundle.md for your coding agent.
4. After work, verification, receipts, and session summaries help show what changed and whether the selected context was useful.

Same task plus same repo state produces the same file ranking behavior.

Core Capabilities

• Give agents the right context: deterministic file selection, scope inference, bounded budgets, blast-radius hints, and co-change context.
• Keep work continuous: session summaries, checkpoints, mid-session refine, and handoff/recovery commands.
• Keep agents inside the task: scope contracts, intent governance, loop detection, and multi-agent conflict checks.
• Prove what happened: review intelligence, receipts, provenance, audit exports, and release evidence.

For the full command surface, see the CLI Reference.

Agent Integration

Claude Code can use CodeLedger hooks after codeledger ready initializes the repo. Cursor, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Aider, Windsurf, and other agents can read CLAUDE.md plus .codeledger/active-bundle.md, or use the repo-local wrappers when available.

CodeLedger also includes an MCP server for supported tiers:

codeledger mcp start
codeledger mcp status

See MCP Server and Feature Tiers for setup and tier details.

Trust And Verification

• Runtime source analysis runs locally by default.
• Source code is not sent through CodeLedger telemetry by default.
• No account is required for the local CLI flow.
• Public releases include SHA256SUMS and release-evidence artifacts.
• codeledger doctor checks the local install, hooks, config, index, and ledger health.
• The public wrapper, docs, harness, and scanning surface are inspectable in this repo; the protected hardened runtime is covered by LICENSE-CORE.

Install

npm install -g @codeledger/cli
codeledger --version

Or use the release zip:

1. Download the latest release.
2. Extract it.
3. Run install.sh.

The installer uses the bundled package from the zip, so the installed wrapper version matches the release. The wrapper then fetches the matching hardened binary from the GitHub release unless your environment already provides it.

Everyday Flow

cd your-project
codeledger ready
codeledger ready --task "Fix null handling in user service"

Inside an initialized repo, you can also use:

codeledger activate --task "Fix null handling in user service"
codeledger doctor

Browser, cloud, and sandboxed environments can use the repo-local runtime deployed under .codeledger/bin/ after initialization or vendoring.

Architecture

CodeLedger has an open public surface and a protected hardened runtime:

PUBLIC:    CLI wrapper, types, repo scanner, harness, reports, docs, hooks
PROTECTED: Scoring engine, selection algorithm, confidence internals

Use codeledger about, codeledger doctor, and command-specific --explain output to inspect behavior and evidence without exposing protected implementation internals.

Privacy

• Installation may use npm and GitHub Releases.
• Runtime analysis runs on your local machine by default.
• Runtime analysis makes zero source-code telemetry calls by default.
• Your source code is not required to leave your machine for the local CLI flow.
• Uninstall at any time.

License

• Public wrapper, types, repo scanning, harness, reports, docs, and examples: MIT
• Downloaded hardened binary: CodeLedger Core License

GitHub may classify the combined licensing structure as "Other" because the repo includes both MIT-covered public files and separately licensed protected runtime terms. Changing the license files should be a human legal decision.

Part Of ContextECF

CodeLedger applies Intelligent Context AI's context-control architecture to software engineering. For enterprise-wide governed context across applications and agents, see ContextECF.

CodeLedger is produced by Intelligent Context AI, Inc. See codeledger.dev.