Explains how requests, auth, persistence, and integrations connect across the codebase.
DESCRIPTION
Reach for this when the risk is in the flow, not in one symbol. It is the tool for understanding how a request enters the system, what middleware runs, what services get called, and where data or side effects land.
GOOD FIT
AVOID IT WHEN
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| path | string | No | Absolute project path. If omitted, the current project is analyzed. |
PATH PARAMETER
Use the absolute path to the project root on the machine where the code is available. In Cursor, VS Code, or Windsurf that usually means the workspace root you already have open. On a remote dev box, pass the absolute path on that remote machine. If the path does not exist or the service cannot access it, the tool returns an explicit error instead of guessing. Results are best when the folder is a real project root with .git or package.json. Private GitHub repos are not fetched automatically.
BEST FOR
This tool is most valuable when a change crosses trust boundaries or external systems. It is especially useful for understanding auth, billing, usage metering, webhook handling, and other high-risk paths where changing one file without understanding the flow causes regressions.
{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 6, "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "explain_architecture", "arguments": { "path": "/Users/name/projects/zephex" } }}Entry: dashboard/src/app/api/mcp/route.tsAuth flow: Authorization header -> validateApiKey -> user + tier lookupRate limits: endpoint limiter before tool dispatch, tool-specific limiters for heavy toolsPersistence: usage and telemetry written through Supabase, Redis used for fast limit checksIntegrations: Stripe for billing, Upstash Redis for throttling, Sentry for error monitoringTOKEN EFFICIENCY
Architecture summaries usually land in the 700 to 1,400 token range. Tracing the same request path manually across middleware, services, handlers, and data layers often costs 12,000 to 30,000 tokens of file reading.