Comparison
Where Codemap fits among code-index and agent-context tools — by product category, not a feature scorecard.
An agent needs “who imports this?” or “which tests are affected?” — some tools answer with SQL, some with Cypher, some with fixed MCP verbs, some with a quality-gate binary. They are not the same product. This page sorts peers by what they’re trying to be, then scores the axes Codemap targets.
Static linters, LSP servers, and whole-repo embeddings sit in other slots. See When to skip.
Four kinds of “code intelligence”
| Category | Exemplars | Compare on |
|---|---|---|
| Queryable structural index | Codemap | SQL + recipes, apply, CI formats, freshness |
| Polyglot knowledge graph | codebase-memory-mcp | Language breadth, embeddings, Cypher, cross-repo |
| Quality-gate analyzer | fallow | Dead-code depth, CI verdicts, framework rules |
| Fixed-tool / visual explorer | codegraph · codedb · code-graph (FalkorDB) | MCP context packs · snapshot search · 3D/GraphRAG |
What Codemap targets (and what it delegates)
Codemap owns structural facts you can SELECT, not semantic ranking or editor UX. Embeddings, hover/rename, and verdict autofix stay with peers in those categories. Opt-in FTS5 (--with-fts) JOINs body text with structure — it is not an embedding index.
Cells below were checked against peer source (tool registries / store DDL), not README claims alone. Last verified: 2026-07-20.
| Capability | Codemap | CBM | fallow | codegraph | codedb | code-graph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Queryable index | Polyglot knowledge graph | Quality-gate analyzer | Fixed-tool explorer | Fixed-tool explorer | Visual / GraphRAG |
| Persistent embedded store | ✅ SQLite | ✅ SQLite (+ .zst art.) |
🟡 analysis cache (not SQL) | ✅ SQLite | 🟡 custom snapshot (not SQL) | 🟡 FalkorDB or embedded lite |
| Ad-hoc query language | ✅ SQL + recipes | 🟡 Cypher + fixed tools | ❌ fixed tools / flags | ❌ fixed tools (explore default) | ❌ fixed MCP + query pipeline | ❌ fixed MCP (Cypher internal) |
| Apply / edit from index | ✅ recipe · rows · diff | ❌ | 🟡 removal-oriented fix |
❌ | 🟡 fallback edit |
❌ |
| CI formats (SARIF / badge / …) | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ broad (incl. PR/review) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Agent init / install wiring | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | 🟡 template init |
| Index freshness / watch | ✅ | ✅ git-poll | 🟡 re-analyze watch | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ no continuous watcher |
| Language breadth | 🟡 JS/TS/CSS + text | ✅ 163 grammars | 🟡 JS/TS/web (oxc) | ✅ WASM tree-sitter polyglot | ✅ Zig-native polyglot | 🟡 few langs (JS yes, TS no) |
| Embeddings / semantic search | ❌ FTS5 opt-in only | ✅ on-device vectors | ❌ | ❌ FTS/structural | ❌ trigram/word indexes | ❌ (GraphRAG chat ≠ index emb.) |
| Visual graph UI | 🟡 mermaid | ✅ 3D | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ 3D |
| Local, no phone-home | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ opt-in off | 🟡 default-on telemetry | 🟡 default-on (opt-out flag) | ✅ |
Legend: ✅ full · 🟡 partial · ❌ none. CBM = codebase-memory-mcp. codegraph defines eight MCP tools; default ListTools is explore only unless the allowlist is widened. Engine / agent / CI axes only — not a full quality-gate scorecard for fallow.
Differentiator: SQL + named recipes as the query API, a general apply engine over explicit diff rows, and CI format breadth — on an embedded SQLite index with CLI / MCP / HTTP parity. Peers that win languages, embeddings, or context-packing usually do not ship that combination.
By design, not missing
- No embeddings in the box — structural over semantic (product tenets). Reach for a knowledge-graph peer when you need cosine search across many languages.
- No verdict engine as a primitive — SARIF / annotations are output modes of recipes;
codemap applyruns rows you provide. - No mandatory graph server — FalkorDB-style hosting is a different install story; Codemap stays local-first.
- JS/TS/CSS depth over polyglot breadth (v1) — honest ceiling; see When to skip.
When to pick which
| You want… | Reach for |
|---|---|
| SQL queries, apply, and CI gates on a JS/TS/CSS tree | Codemap (@stainless-code/codemap) |
| 163 languages, on-device embeddings, Cypher over a SQLite graph | codebase-memory-mcp |
| Deep JS/TS quality gates (dead code, dupes, security candidates) in CI | fallow |
| Single-call / explore-style MCP context packing | codegraph (default tool: explore) |
| Zig-native MCP context engine (trigram + snapshot; edit as fallback) | codedb |
| Interactive 3D graph + HTTP GraphRAG over a multi-lang repo | code-graph |
| Grep semantics, LSP rename, or knip-style autofix | Those tools — When to skip |
Same name, different product
Other GitHub projects are also called “codemap.” They are not this package:
- AZidan/codemap — Python symbol → line-range indexer (JSON under
.codemap/); CLI only; cheaper full-file reads, not SQL. - JordanCoin/codemap — Go project-brain / tree / handoff CLI (+ MCP); often installed as Homebrew/Scoop
codemap. Session priming, not a queryable structural SQLite schema.
Install this one as @stainless-code/codemap. Positioning without peer names: Why Codemap.
Cells re-checked against peer source on 2026-07-20. Re-verify before treating them as everlasting.