Item detail
github.com

oraios/serena

oraios/serena is an MCP server in RepoRadar's Radar section, holding Gold tier and a 'try now' verdict. Its strongest signal is workflow potential, scored 10.0 out of 10.

Score8.9
Popularity64.0
Riskconditional
TierGold
Score breakdown
Usefulness9.0
Novelty7.0
Momentum8.0
Maturity8.2
Open-source/build8.4
Evidence7.2
Workflow potential10.0
Setup ease6.4

Popularity is tracked separately. Support, ads, sponsorships, and tips never affect these signals.

Why it matters

Useful for developers who want coding agents to navigate and change larger repositories with less blind text search and less prompt glue.

Who should use it

AI coding users software teams with large codebases developers reviewing agent edits builders wiring MCP into coding workflows

Who should skip it

Consider oraios/serena lower priority if you already have a working solution in this category.

About this signal

oraios/serena is tracked by RepoRadar as an MCP server in the Radar section. First seen 2026-06-20; the source record was last checked on 2026-06-20. The current verdict is 'try now' with a Gold tier and moderate setup difficulty. Across RepoRadar's eight signals, oraios/serena is strongest on workflow potential (10.0) and practical usefulness (9.0) and weakest on setup ease (6.4) — a profile worth weighing against your own priorities. This page summarizes the public evidence on the linked source page and states where additional review is still needed.

How this item is evaluated

The oraios/serena record combines a 8.9/10 composite score with separate popularity (64.0), risk (conditional), and setup (moderate) signals. See the scoring methodology for the current weights and evidence definitions.

Putting this into practice? Read How to vet an AI agent or MCP server before you wire it in for the checklist behind this score.

Risk explanation

The server can expose full local source trees and project memory to the connected model, so keep it inside repositories and providers you already trust; Semantic edit tools can rewrite symbols across multiple files quickly, so use version control and review diffs before letting an agent apply broad changes.

Evidence links
Closest alternatives / related signals
ai-coding mcp semantic-code code-editing developer-tools
Verification record

What RepoRadar actually verified

Tested in a bounded workflow

Bounded representative workflow retained by RepoRadar verification harness. Last checked 2026-07-14T05:32:05.691954Z.

passed · cohort-20260714-serena-mcp-semantic-rename-workflow

Tester
RepoRadar automated local verification harness
Started
2026-07-14T05:31:44.918409Z
Completed
2026-07-14T05:32:05.691954Z
Environment
Windows 10 AMD64; Python 3.11.9; credential-stripped child environment; disposable home/cache
Install/setup time
1 minute(s)
Evidence scope
Bounded representative workflow
Cleanup
Per-check temporary home and work directory removed. Shared cohort package cache removed.
Actions exercised
  • Created a disposable home, work directory, and isolated package cache with credential-like environment variables excluded.
  • Created 4 synthetic fixture file(s) inside the disposable work directory; retained hashes prove the exact inputs.
  • Installed pinned Serena and Pyright packages in an isolated uv environment and started Serena's official MCP stdio server with dashboard and usage reporting disabled.
  • Listed the MCP tools, inspected the service module's symbol overview and function body, and resolved the consumer module as a cross-file reference.
  • Invoked Serena's semantic rename tool, verified both files changed from route_incident to route_alert, and re-queried the renamed symbol through the language server.
  • Executed bounded check: Run Serena's official MCP server over stdio against a synthetic Python project, inspect a symbol and its cross-file reference, then perform and verify a semantic rename.
  • Captured the complete sanitized stdout, stderr, exit status, artifact checks, and 20.77-second wall time.
Observed results
  • Command exited 0 after 20.77 seconds.
  • Serena's MCP tools found the function and its consumer reference, completed the semantic cross-file rename, and immediately resolved the new symbol name in the updated project.
  • Expected marker 'CHECK_OK symbol=route_incident references=consumer.py renamed=route_alert files=2 usage=off' was observed in retained output.
  • Validated result.json: 5 required marker(s) present and 0 excluded marker(s) absent; size and SHA-256 are retained.
  • Validated transcript.json: 5 required marker(s) present and 0 excluded marker(s) absent; size and SHA-256 are retained.
  • Validated service.py: 1 required marker(s) present and 1 excluded marker(s) absent; size and SHA-256 are retained.
  • Validated consumer.py: 2 required marker(s) present and 1 excluded marker(s) absent; size and SHA-256 are retained.
Observed strengths
  • The server combines MCP tool contracts with language-server symbol intelligence, allowing a refactor to be checked through both tool responses and exact filesystem postconditions.
Friction
  • Starting the language server is heavier than text replacement and meaningful production use still requires human review for behavior, scope, and repository conventions.
  • Setup or runtime emitted 144 stderr line(s); the complete warnings/errors are preserved in the retained log.
Limitations
  • The two-file Python fixture validates Serena's Pyright-backed overview, symbol body, reference lookup, and rename tools in IDE context; it does not test model reasoning, a real IDE UI, large or multilingual repositories, git integration, ambiguous refactors, or production safety review.
  • This credential-free disposable workflow does not establish operator use, production scale, model quality, reliability under sustained use, or team adoption.

Pricing assessment: The open-source Serena and local Pyright workflow used no account, hosted IDE, model provider, API key, or paid service.

Privacy assessment: Only two synthetic Python files were processed by local stdio and language-server processes; usage reporting and the web dashboard were disabled, and no project content left the machine.

Open retained test log →

Verification sources

Longitudinal intelligence

How this decision record is moving

Raw history JSON →

45 dated snapshots retained from 2026-06-20 through 2026-08-13; see the snapshot index for explicit coverage gaps. Stars, version, release, pricing, integration, risk, maintenance, verdict, score, and momentum fields remain explicit even when a source has not reported them. Repository momentum is a normalized 0–10 RepoRadar signal; GitHub stars appear only where the popularity monitor retained exact timestamped observations.

RepoRadar score8.9 current · +0.0 net
Repository momentum9.6 current · +1.6 net
GitHub stars (observed)27,965 current · +1,533 net
GitHub stars27,965 exact observation
Versionv1.7.0
Last release2026-08-09T18:38:06Z
Maintenanceactive
Current riskconditional
Current verdicttry now
Pricing baselineNo structured commercial pricing baseline
Pricing checkedNot applicable or not recorded
Pricing freshnessNo dated commercial pricing review
Integrations baselineClaude, Claude Code, OpenAI Codex

Recent dated points

DateScoreMomentumStarsRiskVerdictMaintenance
2026-08-138.99.627,965conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-128.99.627,926conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-118.99.627,844conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-108.99.627,805conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-098.99.627,773conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-088.99.627,734conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-078.99.627,456conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-068.98.0Not recordedconditionaltry nownot recorded
2026-08-058.98.0Not recordedconditionaltry nownot recorded
2026-08-048.99.627,456conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-038.99.627,456conditionaltry nowactive
2026-08-028.99.627,392conditionaltry nowactive

Why the record changed

stars changed

Stars changed: 27926 → 27965.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27844 → 27926.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27805 → 27844.

version changed

Version changed: v1.6.1 → v1.7.0.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27773 → 27805.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27734 → 27773.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27456 → 27734.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27392 → 27456.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27330 → 27392.

stars changed

Source-observed stars changed: 27291 → 27330. This reports the retained observation delta and does not infer why the upstream change occurred.

stars changed

Source-observed stars changed: 27288 → 27291. This reports the retained observation delta and does not infer why the upstream change occurred.

stars changed

Stars changed: 27071 → 27134.