Serena

Serena is an MCP toolkit that gives AI coding agents the code tools an IDE provides. Instead of treating files as plain text, an agent can find symbols, look up references and edit code at the level of functions and classes.

Serena works with any client or LLM that supports the model context protocol. The page names clients including Claude Code, Codex, Gemini-CLI, Cursor, VSCode, JetBrains IDEs and Claude Desktop. You either give the client a launch command so it starts the Serena server, or run the server yourself in HTTP mode and give the client its URL.

The retrieval tools cover finding symbols, file outlines, referencing symbols and diagnostics. The refactoring tools include renaming symbols. With the JetBrains plugin, they also cover moving files and directories, inlining and safe deletion. Symbolic editing lets an agent replace a symbol's body or insert code before or after a symbol. A memory system lets agents keep knowledge across sessions, and the JetBrains plugin adds an interactive debugger.

Serena has two backends. The default uses language servers and supports over 40 languages, including Python, Java, Go, Rust, TypeScript and C#. The optional Serena JetBrains Plugin uses the analysis features of a JetBrains IDE. It is a paid plugin with a free trial.

The project is aimed at developers who use AI coding agents on real codebases, especially large or multi-language projects. The page describes the language server backend as free and open source. It does not give prices for the JetBrains plugin, so the documentation should be checked for current terms.