SourceAnt

Getting started

SourceAnt helps you understand your code, how your systems fit together, and the knowledge your team builds as it works. That understanding makes reviews a quality gate for changes, including those that affect other repositories in the same system.

Start on the cloud

You need a GitHub repository, permission to install the SourceAnt GitHub App on it, and an API key for the model you want to use. You do not need to install the CLI.

  1. Sign in to SourceAnt and choose a personal or team workspace. This is where you will connect the repository and keep its knowledge.
  2. Install the SourceAnt GitHub App on the account or organisation that owns the repository, granting it access to that repository.
  3. Select the repository in SourceAnt and click Connect & continue.
  4. Choose a model provider and model, enter your API key, and save them.
  5. Click Start scan to read the repository in the background. Review the resulting knowledge and system structure in the dashboard.
  6. Open a pull request on the connected repository and check GitHub for the review.

For screenshots, optional steps and setup checks, follow Cloud setup.

Work locally with the CLI

Use SourceAnt locally to explore your code and knowledge, manage skills, and check changes against them before sharing your work. 

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sourceant/cli/main/scripts/install.sh | sh
sourceant setup
sourceant ui

Add a repository from the panel. To use it from your editor, connect an MCP client to http://127.0.0.1:8930/mcp. MCP is the protocol your coding assistant uses to call SourceAnt's tools.

See Local setup for installation, model configuration and editor access.

Run your own server

To host the review API on your own server using Docker images, follow the GitHub App setup guide to receive pull request events on your server. This is separate from installing the hosted SourceAnt App on GitHub.

Check what SourceAnt learned

Open Knowledge to inspect the decisions and constraints it found. Open Systems to check how the repositories are grouped and connected. Correct those records before relying on them as context for later reviews.

Next steps