Serena MCP: IDE-Like Code Understanding for AI Coding Assistants

I got tired of watching Claude grep through my codebase for minutes, searching for symbols it could have found instantly with proper indexing. Serena MCP is a small, open-source MCP server that gives your AI coding assistants IDE-like code understanding: project indexing, symbol-level navigation and smarter edits, without tying you to any specific model or UI. I won’t repeat the official documentation here - check it out for the full details.

Install & wire-up

Claude Code

Add Serena as an MCP server using uvx. If you’re new to Claude Code, check out The Fastest Way to Get Productive with Claude Code first.

claude mcp add serena -- \
  uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena \
      serena-mcp-server \
      --context ide-assistant \
      --project "$(pwd)"

Codex CLI

In your Codex MCP config, register Serena as a stdio server:

[mcp_servers.serena]
command = "uvx"
args = [
  "--from", "git+https://github.com/oraios/serena",
  "serena-mcp-server",
  "--context", "ide-assistant",
  "--project", "/path/to/your/project"
]

Gemini CLI

In your settings.json (or equivalent Gemini CLI MCP config), add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from", "git+https://github.com/oraios/serena",
        "serena-mcp-server",
        "--context", "ide-assistant",
        "--project", "/path/to/your/project"
      ],
      "transport": "stdio"
    }
  }
}

Tips

Dashboard

Every time I opened a new instance of Claude or cleared the context window with /clear, a Serena Dashboard window appeared. I love Serena’s capabilities, but the dashboard didn’t add value for me. Here’s how to disable it:

• In any MCP config (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, …), add this to the serena-mcp-server call:

--enable-web-dashboard False

so for example in Claude Code it’s:

claude mcp add serena -- \
  uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena \
      serena-mcp-server \
      --context ide-assistant \
      --enable-web-dashboard False \
      --project "$(pwd)"

• If you’re using the local setup (cloned repo), you can also disable it in serena_config.yml:

enable_web_dashboard: false

Keep Serena up-to-date

This might be unnecessary, but I sometimes ask Claude to Check if the project is correctly indexed by Serena. It verifies that everything is up-to-date and ready to use.

Serena: must-have MCP for every project

I use Serena on every project, so it makes sense to have it installed globally. Plugins are perfect for this. I made my own. It contains Serena MCP, Context7 MCP, and Sequential Thinking - three must-have MCPs. I also included 3 custom commands.

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Looking for more ways to extend your AI coding workflow? Check out Puerto, our plugin marketplace for MCP servers, commands, and skills.