Serena MCP: the IDE for your agent

What you can do with Serena MCP: the IDE for your agent

Serena gives coding agents IDE-like semantic tools: symbol-level code retrieval, editing and refactoring backed by language servers (or a JetBrains IDE), so the agent works with symbols and references instead of grepping whole files.

• ·Find symbols, file outlines and references
• ·Replace a symbol body or insert code around it
• ·Rename a symbol across files
• ·Run builds, tests and linters from the agent
• ·Keep project knowledge in memories across sessions

What Serena MCP: the IDE for your agent can and cannot do

What you need before using Serena MCP: the IDE for your agent

Runtime

uv with Python 3.13 (uv tool install -p 3.13 serena-agent)

Credentials

None

Payment

Free; the optional JetBrains plugin backend is paid

Also needed

Language servers for your languages, or a JetBrains IDE for the JetBrains backend

Connect Serena MCP: the IDE for your agent and confirm it works

1. Install uv
2. Run uv tool install -p 3.13 serena-agent and confirm the serena command exists
3. Run serena init (add -b JetBrains for the JetBrains backend)
4. Point your MCP client at the launch command, or run the server in HTTP mode and give the client its URL

claude mcp add serena -- uvx -p 3.13 start-mcp-server --project-from-cwd --context desktop-app serena-agent

[mcp_servers.serena]
command = "uvx"
args = ["-p", "3.13", "start-mcp-server", "--project-from-cwd", "--context", "desktop-app", "serena-agent"]

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "-p",
        "3.13",
        "start-mcp-server",
        "--project-from-cwd",
        "--context",
        "desktop-app",
        "serena-agent"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "-p",
        "3.13",
        "start-mcp-server",
        "--project-from-cwd",
        "--context",
        "desktop-app",
        "serena-agent"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "serena": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "-p",
        "3.13",
        "start-mcp-server",
        "--project-from-cwd",
        "--context",
        "desktop-app",
        "serena-agent"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "-p",
        "3.13",
        "start-mcp-server",
        "--project-from-cwd",
        "--context",
        "desktop-app",
        "serena-agent"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "-p",
        "3.13",
        "start-mcp-server",
        "--project-from-cwd",
        "--context",
        "desktop-app",
        "serena-agent"
      ]
    }
  }
}

When to choose another server

• MCP Language Server#3,451

  You want a thin wrapper around a single language server with fewer tools.

• mcp-jetbrains#3,136

  You already work in a JetBrains IDE and want its own MCP bridge.

What changed, and when this was checked

First listed

Apr 1, 2025

Latest version published

May 26, 2026

Version history

1 version tracked (below)

Requirements evidence

Declared by Glama, last synced Oct 16, 2026. Not independently verified by MCP Toplist.

Profile checked

Oct 9, 2026 against README

Ranking data as of

Oct 16, 2026

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