githits

GitHits Claude Code Plugin

Code examples from global open source for developers and AI assistants.

GitHits gives your AI coding assistant access to verified, canonical code examples drawn from all of open source. When your assistant is stuck, needs an up-to-date API example, or encounters a vague error, GitHits helps it find a working solution in seconds.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or later
• A GitHits account

Installation

Quick Install (recommended)

Open Claude Code first (claude), then run these in the Claude input box:

1. Add the GitHits marketplace:

   /plugin marketplace add githits-com/githits-claude-code-plugin
   

2. Install the plugin:

   /plugin install githits@githits-plugins
   

If you prefer terminal commands (outside a Claude session), use:

claude plugin marketplace add githits-com/githits-claude-code-plugin
claude plugin install githits@githits-plugins

Commands

Command	Description
/githits:search <query>	Search for code examples from open source
/githits:login	Authenticate with your GitHits account
/githits:status	Show your current authentication status
/githits:logout	Remove stored credentials
/githits:help	Show available commands and usage

The plugin expects the githits CLI to be published on npm. Marketplace installs should happen after the CLI package is live.

How It Works

This plugin connects to the GitHits MCP server via the githits npm package, started with npx -y githits mcp start over stdio. Claude Code gets three tools:

Tool	Purpose
search	Find code examples by describing what you need
search_language	Look up supported programming language names
feedback	Rate search results to improve future quality

Claude decides when to call these tools on its own — typically when it's stuck, needs a working example for an unfamiliar API, or encounters an error it can't resolve from its training data alone.

License Filtering

Search results respect license filtering by default, excluding copyleft-licensed code. Three modes are available:

• strict (default) — excludes copyleft licenses
• yolo — includes all licenses, no filtering
• custom — uses your custom blocklist configured at githits.com

Authentication

GitHits requires authentication. Claude handles login automatically — if your session isn't authorized, it opens your browser for quick OAuth approval and retries once you're logged in.

Manual Login

If you run into issues with automatic login, you can authenticate directly:

npx -y githits login

This opens your browser for secure OAuth authentication. Tokens are stored locally and refreshed automatically.

Useful flags:

• --no-browser — prints a URL instead of opening a browser (useful for SSH, CI, or containers)
• --force — re-authenticate even if already logged in
• --port <port> — use a specific port for the local callback server

Check your current authentication status:

npx -y githits auth status

Log out and remove stored credentials:

npx -y githits logout

API Token

For CI or headless environments, set an environment variable:

export GITHITS_API_TOKEN=your-token-here

Local Development & Testing

Test the plugin locally

Use the --plugin-dir flag to load the plugin without installing it from a marketplace:

claude --plugin-dir ./githits-claude-code-plugin

This starts Claude Code with the plugin loaded for that session. You can verify it loaded by running /mcp.

Test CLI changes locally with npm link

To test unpublished githits-cli changes with the plugin, link your local build globally:

cd /path/to/githits-cli
bun run build
npm link
githits --version    # verify the linked version

Then load the plugin as usual:

claude --plugin-dir ./githits-claude-code-plugin

License

MIT