MCP Server

SpecShip runs as a Model Context Protocol server. Start it with:

specship serve --mcp

Agents configured by the installer launch this automatically. When a .specship/ index exists, the agent uses the tools below.

Core (always available): specship_callees · specship_callers · specship_drifted · specship_explore · specship_files · specship_fitness · specship_impact · specship_link_assert · specship_link_verify · specship_maintainability · specship_node · specship_search · specship_spec · specship_status

JIRA integration (opt-in, specship install --with-jira): specship_jira_issue · specship_jira_issues · specship_jira_pick · specship_jira_publish · specship_jira_start · specship_jira_track · specship_jira_transition

Designer integration (opt-in + experimental, --with-designer): designer_ask · designer_handoff · designer_list · designer_prompt · designer_session · designer_snapshot

Code-graph tools

Tool	Purpose
`specship_explore`	Primary. Return the verbatim source of the symbols relevant to a question — a plain question or a bag of symbol names both work — grouped by file, plus a relationship map and the call path among named symbols (following dynamic-dispatch hops like callbacks, React re-render, and interface→impl that grep can’t). Also surfaces matching human-confirmed domain facts and a “Prior work” section (past sessions that edited these files) inline. Usually the only call an agent needs.
`specship_search`	Find symbols by name across the codebase (just locations).
`specship_node`	Get one symbol’s full body + its caller/callee trail; returns every overload’s body in one call for an ambiguous name.
`specship_callers`	Find what calls a function.
`specship_callees`	Find what a function calls.
`specship_impact`	Analyze what code is affected by changing a symbol.
`specship_files`	Get the indexed file structure (faster than a filesystem scan).
`specship_status`	Check index health and statistics.

Spec tools

Tool	Purpose
`specship_spec`	Fetch a spec by ID with its currently linked code.
`specship_link_assert`	Declare an `implements` / `tests` / `documents` link after editing. (Mutating — prompts for permission.)
`specship_link_verify`	Mark a link’s verification pass/fail. (Mutating — prompts for permission.)
`specship_drifted`	Pull the drift queue (drifted / broken / orphaned links).

JIRA tools

The issue-driving flow. Connect first with specship jira configure. See the JIRA integration guide.

Tool	Purpose
`specship_jira_issues`	List the issues assigned to you (resolved from your token) — key, summary, status, type. Optional project filter.
`specship_jira_issue`	Fetch one issue by key — summary, description, status, type.
`specship_jira_pick`	Draft a well-formed SpecShip spec from an issue under `specs/`. Idempotent — re-picking updates the spec in place.
`specship_jira_start`	Run the spec-implement workflow on the generated spec; pauses at its plan/approve gate.
`specship_jira_track`	Read-only table joining each picked issue’s SpecShip work-state with its live JIRA status.

Design tools

Merged in from the standalone designer MCP, these drive claude.ai/design over a debug Chrome. macOS only; they only launch Chrome when invoked. See Design-to-code.

Tool	Purpose
`designer_session`	Open or attach a Claude Design session.
`designer_prompt`	Send a design prompt and iterate on variants.
`designer_ask`	Ask a question about the current design.
`designer_list`	List the files/variants in the session.
`designer_snapshot`	Snapshot a design’s source byte-for-byte to disk.
`designer_handoff`	Produce a handoff bundle for the implement workflow.

How agents should use it

SpecShip is the pre-built search index. For “how does X work?”, architecture, trace, or where-is-X questions, an agent should answer in a handful of SpecShip calls and stop — typically with zero file reads — rather than re-deriving the answer with grep + Read. A direct SpecShip answer is a handful of calls; a grep/read exploration is dozens.

The installer writes this guidance into each agent’s instructions file automatically.