Scout runs locally as a self-contained native binary and indexes the workspace it is started in. No language toolchain, project configuration, or runtime is required.
It works in any repository and any language; when Glider or TGlider is installed, Scout detects them and defers to them for their languages.
Scout indexes files, paths, and content from a watcher-fed lexical index.
| Area | Current support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Languages | All | Lexical search needs no compiler or language server and works in any text file. Semantic search covers the same files with one deliberate exception: machine-generated ones — lockfiles, vendored trees, minified bundles, source maps, and generated sources — are not embedded, because thousands of near-identical lines crowd real answers out of the results. They stay fully searchable lexically and structurally. Syntax-aware search (structural and symbols) needs a linked grammar — see the next table. Language tokens like rust, typescript, or csharp also work as scope filters. |
| Workspace root | Required | Resolved from the working directory; override with --root <path> when the MCP client starts elsewhere. |
| Ignore rules | Supported | Respects .gitignore, .ignore, and global git excludes, matching what developers expect from modern search tools. |
| Editor-fresh results | Supported | A resident watcher feeds the index, and every query flushes delivered changes before answering. |
| Workspace writes | None to source | Scout never mutates workspace source. Its index lives under .glider/scout/ and is excluded from git status automatically. |
These nine grammars are linked into the binary, so target: structural and target: symbols answer natively for them. Any other language still answers from lexical and semantic search, with meta.degraded set to say the syntax-aware tier had no grammar for it. Symbol kinds differ by language because the languages differ — only C# has properties and events, only Rust has traits.
| Language | Extensions | Symbol kinds |
|---|---|---|
| Rust | .rs | function, method, struct, enum, trait, type, module |
| TypeScript | .ts .mts .cts .tsx | function, method, class, interface, enum, type, namespace |
| C# | .cs | function, method, class, struct, interface, enum, type, namespace, property, event |
| JavaScript | .js .mjs .cjs .jsx | function, method, class |
| Python | .py .pyi | function, method, class |
| Go | .go | function, method, struct, interface |
| Java | .java | method, class, interface, enum |
| Ruby | .rb | function, method, class, module |
| Markdown | .md, .markdown | section |
| Area | Current support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Linux x64 / arm64 | Supported | Static binaries that run on any distribution. |
| macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) | Supported | Native binaries for both architectures. Apple Silicon also offers an optional GPU backend for the semantic index. Set device = "metal" to build the index on the GPU. That build takes longer and uses about a thirtieth of the CPU. |
| Windows x64 | Supported | Native binary via the npm package. |
| npm / npx | Supported | npx -y @glidermcp/scout resolves the right platform binary automatically (Node.js 18+). |
| No-Node install | Supported | curl -fsSL https://glidermcp.com/install.sh | sh (Linux/macOS) or brew install glidermcp/tap/scout install the same binary without Node. |
| Area | Current support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Supported | Use stdio project scope; user scope is reasonable since Scout works in any repository. |
| Codex | Supported | Use config.toml with a stdio command. |
| Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Pi | Supported | Use direct command-based MCP configuration where available. |
| Stdio | Default | The only transport in this release; an MCP client launches scout or npx -y @glidermcp/scout as a local process. |
| Streamable HTTP | Not yet | Scout is stdio-only in this release. |
| Area | Current support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Glider (C#) | Detected | When installed, prefer Glider for C#; Scout hints name the upgrade on C# results. |
| TGlider (TypeScript/JavaScript) | Detected | When installed, prefer TGlider for TS/JS; Scout hints name the upgrade on TS/JS results. |
| Everything else | Scout | Scout is the universal fallback for every language, including C# and TS/JS when the siblings are absent. |
npx -y @glidermcp/scout@latest (or update the installed binary) to guarantee the newest release.structural and symbols answer natively wherever a grammar is linked, and fall back to lexical search elsewhere. semantic is on by default and provisions its model on first start. Pass --no-semantic, or set semantic.enabled = false, to turn it off. On Apple Silicon, set semantic.device = "metal" to build the index on the GPU. Whenever a target is answered by a tier other than its own, meta.degraded says so and data.route names the tier that actually replied.