ByteRover MCP server
ByteRover's brv mcp server: query and curate a project's context tree, versioned topic files in .brv/context-tree/, with no LLM call in either tool.
ByteRover's CLI, brv (formerly Cipher), keeps project knowledge in a context tree inside the repository's .brv/context-tree/ directory. Each entry is a topic file written as a <bv-topic> HTML document at a domain/topic path such as security/auth, holding typed elements for facts, ordered flows, diagrams and pointers to relevant files. brv vc gives the tree git-like branches, commits, merges and push and pull, and ByteRover Cloud syncs it across machines and teammates in private, team or shared spaces. brv also runs its own curate and query agents against any of 20 LLM providers from the terminal.
The MCP server, started with brv mcp, runs over stdio, connects to the local brv daemon, and registers two tools. brv-query runs BM25 retrieval over the context tree and returns ranked topics as Markdown for the calling agent to synthesize; brv-curate validates an HTML topic document the agent wrote and saves it into the tree. Neither tool calls an LLM provider. Both take an optional cwd that picks which project's tree to use, which clients without a workspace, such as Claude Desktop, must pass. brv installs from npm (byterover-cli) or an install script and is source-available under the Elastic License 2.0. The free tier syncs 100 context files to the cloud, and Pro starts at 15 a month billed yearly. Knowledge enters the tree only when an agent calls brv-curate or someone runs brv curate.
Quick install
Copy-paste configs are provided for all 8 supported clients. Pick your client below.
Add to ~/.claude.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"byterover": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"byterover-cli",
"mcp"
]
}
}
}claude mcp add byterover -- npx -y byterover-cli mcpAvailable tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| brv-query | Query the project's context tree for patterns, decisions or implementation details with deterministic BM25 retrieval; returns ranked topics as rendered Markdown. |
| brv-curate | Validate an HTML <bv-topic> document written by the agent and save it to the context tree at its domain/topic path, with an explicit flag to overwrite an existing topic. |
What you can do with it
Project conventions every agent can look up
The agent curates topics such as TypeScript rules, the auth flow or the deploy steps into the context tree, and a later session in Cursor or Claude Code finds them with brv-query before touching that code.
Curated knowledge with version history
Because the tree is versioned with brv vc, a team can branch, commit and merge changes to curated topics, then push them to ByteRover Cloud for teammates to pull.
FAQ
- Is it free?
- The CLI is free to use locally and is source-available under the Elastic License 2.0, which is not an OSI open-source license. ByteRover Cloud's free tier syncs 100 context files; Pro starts at 15 a month billed yearly.
- Does it support remote or OAuth?
- Not from the CLI. brv mcp is a stdio server that talks to the brv daemon on the same machine, and the byterover-cli repo documents no hosted MCP URL or OAuth flow. Teammates share by syncing the context tree through ByteRover Cloud.
- How does it compare to a team memory service like Glen?
- ByteRover holds what agents or people deliberately curate, scoped to one project's tree and shared by syncing it. Glen records every teammate's agent sessions and connected tools without a curate step, and filters recall by what each user may see.