Non-Git Repo practices

[DieFinsternis]

Hi,

we're currently evaluating the tool for AI-assisted code search, but our repositories are based on SVN rather than Git.

So far, things actually look pretty good. Indexing completed without any issues, and Claude was able to answer questions about our codebase. From the context it showed, it also looks like the graph is being used correctly, so my first impression is quite positive. The only confusing thing was that neither the MCP or supposedly installed skill were visible in the Win desktop App UI, making me think I did something wrong.

One thing that doesn't seem to work, though, is automatic change detection. From what I understand, the watcher relies on Git, so with SVN we'd have to rebuild the index manually whenever the code changes. From this I assume there is no point in sharing a ".codebase-memory/graph.db.zst" as a dev needs to reindex his source anyways.
Maybe I need to make a regular reminder somehow. (I'm rather new to this agent game, maybe that is more trivial as I make it out to be)

Are there any recommended workflows or best practices for using the tool with non-Git repositories? Is there any git dependency (in regards to working with the graphs) other than the watcher?
Currently my idea is that every devs checks the exact branch out he wants to edit and effectivly reindexes on any svn update he does.

[DeusData]

Thanks for testing this with SVN and for the detailed report.

Indexing and normal graph queries do not require Git. The current Git dependency is primarily in automatic change detection and detect_changes. The watcher intentionally skips non-Git repositories today.

For SVN, the supported workflow is therefore to run index_repository after svn update, switching branches, or applying a substantial local change. The shared graph artifact can still reduce initial indexing time, but it should be treated as a bootstrap snapshot rather than an automatically fresh index. Each developer should reindex after updating their working copy.

We are tracking possible SVN-aware freshness support in #1113. That work is targeted to 0.9.2-rc and remains under design and security review. In particular, we have not accepted an additional system SVN runtime dependency yet.