Clean, fast web context, right in your IDE.
**DevLens MCP**
The MCP Server I Built to Kill Alt-Tab. Clean, fast web context, right in your IDE.
Like most developers, I was sick of context-switching between VS Code and the browser for documentation. That was my core frustration. So, I built DevLens: an open-source MCP server because I was curious and wanted a custom solution that was more lightweight than existing tools.
The goal is simple: give your workspace AI (Copilot, Claude, etc.) web access that is structured and token-efficient. DevLens delivers twelve specialized tools via a three-layered architecture built for power and easy deployment.
**What is MCP and DevLens's Role?**
The MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the standard that lets your AI assistant call external tools (web search, scraping) to act beyond its training data. It gives the AI real-world and real-time ..power.
DevLens's Role is to be the most efficient implementation for web research. DevLens handles the intelligence (Smart Orchestration) and formats the results into clean Markdown. This ensures your workspace AI receives the precise context it needs without the clutter or high token cost of raw HTML.
**Why DevLens (Solving the Flow Problem)**
DevLens is built on two principles to solve context loss: Technical Composability and Token Efficiency.
**Built for the Developer Workflow**
- The Problem Solved: No more useless switching between browser and editor. Your coding flow stays intact.
- The Technical Edge: Our layered architecture uses simple primitives that combine powerfully. This means more precise and less costly workflows than existing "monolithic" solutions.
- LLM Context Optimal: Our clean, token-optimized Markdown output is about 70% smaller than raw HTML. This is the secret for fast, accurate AI results in your chat.
- Seamless IDE Integration: Designed to pair perfectly with VS Code Copilot and GitHub Copilot. Web research is injected directly into your editor.
- Deployment Ready: Use it locally for your own work, or deploy it on a server to share with others.
- Smart Orchestration — The system chooses the best tool sequence, automatically.
- Zero Configuration — Install, run. Done.
**Developer Personas & Use Cases**
| Persona | Problem Solved (The Pain) | DevLens Solution (The Win) |
|---|---|---|
| Nina, the Frontend Developer | Needs a quick fix (e.g., that one CORS config snippet) but hates opening 5 Stack Overflow tabs. | Uses suggest_workflow or search_web + summarize_page to get the validated code snippet instantly in chat. Flow maintained. |
| Kenji, the Staff Engineer | Must compare three serverless vendors for an architecture decision. Needs a single, definitive data dump. | Uses deep_dive to fetch, aggregate, and analyze complex data concurrently. The LLM receives the full, pre-processed report. |
| Sarah, the DevOps Specialist | Has to manually check third-party deployment guides every week for silent, breaking changes. | Uses monitor_changes to passively track content hashes on critical docs, sending an alert only when something actually changes. |
**Tools**
DevLens gives you 12 specialized tools—think of it like a camera bag of lenses. Pick one, or let the smart system auto-select:
| Layer | Metaphor | Focus | Tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primitives | Basic Lenses | Precision & Reliability | search_web, scrape_url, crawl_docs, summarize_page, extract_links |
| Composed | Multi-Lens Systems | Convenience & Aggregation | deep_dive, compare_sources, find_related, monitor_changes |
| Meta | Auto-Focus Intelligence | Guidance & Optimization | suggest_workflow, classify_research_intent, get_server_docs |
**Quick Start (Seriously, It's Fast)**
**Prerequisites**
- Python 3.12 or newer
- uv package manager
**Installation**
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Y4NN777/devlens-mcp.git
cd devlens-mcp
# Install dependencies
uv sync
# Run the server (STDIO mode)
uv run python -m devlens.server
**Configuration du client MCP**
**Claude Desktop**
Add this to claude_desktop_config.json:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json - Linux:
~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json - Windows:
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Option 1: Using launch script (Recommended - Cross-Platform)
{
"mcpServers": {
"devlens": {
"command": "/absolute/path/to/devlens-mcp/launch_mcp.sh",
"args": []
}
}
}
Option 2: Direct uv command
{
"mcpServers": {
"devlens": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["run", "python", "-m", "devlens.server"],
"cwd": "/absolute/path/to/devlens-mcp"
}
}
}
**VS Code Copilot (Recommended - Cross-Platform)**
Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:
{
"servers": {
Tools (12)
search_webPerforms a web search to retrieve relevant information.scrape_urlScrapes content from a specific URL.crawl_docsCrawls documentation pages for structured data.summarize_pageSummarizes the content of a web page into clean Markdown.extract_linksExtracts all links from a given web page.deep_divePerforms concurrent research to aggregate complex data.compare_sourcesCompares information across multiple sources.find_relatedFinds related content or documentation.monitor_changesPassively tracks content hashes on critical documentation.suggest_workflowSuggests a sequence of tools to solve a specific developer task.classify_research_intentClassifies the intent of a research query.get_server_docsRetrieves documentation about the DevLens server itself.Configuration
{"mcpServers": {"devlens": {"command": "uv", "args": ["run", "python", "-m", "devlens.server"], "cwd": "/absolute/path/to/devlens-mcp"}}}