Serena MCP server

Serena is a helper program that gives your AI assistant proper code-editing skills, the kind a real code editor has. Instead of guessing where things are by line numbers, it understands the building blocks of your code, like functions, classes and variables. It is handy for anyone who asks an AI to work on a codebase, especially a large one.

What this MCP server does

You ask your AI something about your code, like where a function is used or to rename it everywhere. The AI passes that request to Serena, which talks to a language server, a tool that understands your programming language. Serena finds the right symbols, follows how they connect across files, and makes the change at the symbol level. Then it hands the result back to your AI, which shows you the answer or the edit in the chat.

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What you can do with it

• Find where a function, class or variable is defined
• List everything that uses a particular symbol
• Rename a symbol safely across all files
• Show an outline of what is inside a file
• Insert or replace code around a specific symbol
• Run shell commands like builds and tests
• Save notes in a memory system across sessions

Try asking your AI

• “Where is the function calculate_total defined and who calls it?”
• “Rename the class UserProfile to Account everywhere in this project.”
• “Show me an outline of the file orders.py.”
• “Find all the places that reference the config variable.”

What it gives back to you

You get answers in the chat: lists of file names and locations, outlines of a file, or a summary of what changed. When Serena edits code, it reports which symbols it touched and where. It can also run a command and show you the output, like test results or build errors.

Before you start

Who it's for

Developers and anyone who asks an AI to read, change or refactor code, especially in bigger projects.