⚡ LiteCode
An ultra-lightweight Coding MCP server built with Rust
English
What is LiteCode?
LiteCode is an open-source, ultra-lightweight Coding MCP (Model Context Protocol) server built with Rust. It provides a streamlined set of developer tools consistent with Claude Code, while stripping away non-essential functionality to achieve minimal footprint and maximum performance.
✨ Features
- 🦀 Lightweight — Minimal binary size and resource usage, powered by Rust's zero-cost abstractions
- 🔌 Compatible — Tool interface consistent with Claude Code for seamless workflow transfer
- 🎯 Focused — Only essential coding tools, no bloat
- 🌐 Flexible Transport — Supports both STDIO and Streamable HTTP
- 🔓 Open Source — Community-driven development with a transparent roadmap
🛠️ Tools
LiteCode ships with 9 core tools:
| Tool | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bash | Execution | Run shell commands with background task support |
| Read | File I/O | Read files (code, images, PDFs, Jupyter notebooks) |
| Write | File I/O | Create or overwrite files |
| Edit | File I/O | Exact string replacement in files |
| Glob | Search | Find files by glob pattern |
| Grep | Search | Search file contents by regex (ripgrep-powered) |
| NotebookEdit | File I/O | Edit Jupyter notebook cells |
| TaskOutput | Task Mgmt | Retrieve background task output |
| TaskStop | Task Mgmt | Terminate background tasks |
📦 Installation
Build from source
The compiled binary will be at target/release/litecode.
Install via cargo
After the crate is published to crates.io, you can install it directly with:
If you want a specific release:
🚀 Usage
STDIO Mode (Local)
Best for local IDE integrations, CLI tools, and embedded agents.
Streamable HTTP Mode (Remote)
Best for remote servers, cloud deployments, and multi-client access.
🏗️ Project Structure
litecode/
├── src/
│ ├── main.rs # Entry point
│ ├── cli.rs # CLI argument parsing
│ ├── lib.rs # Library exports
│ ├── server.rs # MCP server implementation
│ ├── error.rs # Error types
│ ├── schema/ # JSON Schema definitions
│ ├── tools/ # Tool implementations
│ ├── services/ # Shared services
│ └── transport/ # STDIO & HTTP transport layers
├── docs/ # Documentation
└── Cargo.toml
🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.
🚢 Release Process
- Every push and every pull request runs GitHub Actions CI on Linux, Windows, Intel macOS, and Apple Silicon macOS.
- Creating a tag like
v0.1.0triggers the release workflow. - The release workflow verifies that the tag matches
Cargo.toml, builds release binaries for each platform, uploads archives to GitHub Releases, and publishes the crate to crates.io. - To enable crates publishing, add the repository secret
CARGO_REGISTRY_TOKENwith a crates.io API token that has publish permission.
📄 License
This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.
中文
LiteCode 是什么?
LiteCode 是一个使用 Rust 构建的开源、超轻量级 Coding MCP(Model Context Protocol)服务器。它提供了一套与 Claude Code 一致的精简开发者工具集,同时去除了非必要功能,以实现最小体积和最高性能。
✨ 特性
- 🦀 轻量级 — 极小的二进制体积和资源占用,得益于 Rust 的零成本抽象
- 🔌 兼容性强 — 工具接口与 Claude Code 保持一致,无缝迁移现有工作流
- 🎯 专注核心 — 仅包含必要的编码工具,无冗余功能
- 🌐 灵活传输 — 同时支持 STDIO 和 Streamable HTTP 两种传输模式
- 🔓 开源开放 — 社区驱动开发,路线图透明公开
🛠️ 工具集
LiteCode 提供 9 个核心工具:
| 工具 | 分类 | 描述 |
|---|---|---|
| Bash | 执行 | 运行 Shell 命令,支持后台任务 |
| Read | 文件 I/O | 读取文件(代码、图片、PDF、Jupyter 笔记本) |
| Write | 文件 I/O | 创建或覆写文件 |
| Edit | 文件 I/O | 文件内精确字符串替换 |
| Glob | 搜索 | 按 glob 模式匹配查找文件 |
| Grep | 搜索 | 按正则表达式搜索文件内容(基于 ripgrep) |
| NotebookEdit | 文件 I/O | 编辑 Jupyter Notebook 单元格 |
| TaskOutput | 任务管理 | 获取后台任务输出 |
| TaskStop | 任务管理 | 终止后台任务 |
📦 安装
从源码构建
编译后的二进制文件位于 target/release/litecode。
通过 cargo 安装
crate 发布到 crates.io 后,可以直接安装:
如果要安装指定版本:
🚀 使用方法
STDIO 模式(本地)
适用于本地 IDE 集成、CLI 工具和嵌入式 Agent。
Streamable HTTP 模式(远程)
适用于远程服务器、云部署和多客户端访问。
🏗️ 项目结构
litecode/
├── src/
│ ├── main.rs # 程序入口
│ ├── cli.rs # CLI 参数解析
│ ├── lib.rs # 库导出
│ ├── server.rs # MCP 服务器实现
│ ├── error.rs # 错误类型定义
│ ├── schema/ # JSON Schema 定义
│ ├── tools/ # 工具实现
│ ├── services/ # 共享服务
│ └── transport/ # STDIO 与 HTTP 传输层
├── docs/ # 文档
└── Cargo.toml
🤝 参与贡献
欢迎贡献代码!请随时提交 Issue 和 Pull Request。
🚢 发布流程
- 每次推送和每次提交 Pull Request 时,GitHub Actions 都会在 Linux、Windows、Intel macOS 和 Apple Silicon macOS 上执行构建与测试。
- 创建类似
v0.1.0的 tag 会触发发布工作流。 - 发布工作流会校验 tag 与
Cargo.toml中的版本一致,为各平台构建发布包,上传到 GitHub Releases,并把 crate 发布到 crates.io。 - 要启用 crates 发布,请在仓库中配置
CARGO_REGISTRY_TOKENsecret,并填入具有发布权限的 crates.io API Token。
📄 许可证
本项目采用 MIT 许可证 — 详见 LICENSE 文件。