ScatMan

Improvising over unknown APIs since 2026.

A good jazz musician doesn't read the whole score before playing — they listen, explore, respond. ScatMan does the same with NuGet packages: drop it a package and a type name, and it riffs back with everything you need to know. No throwaway reflection projects. No hunting through decompilers. Just you and the API, trading phrases.

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Install

dotnet tool install --global ScatMan.Cli

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Commands

versions — list available versions of a package

scatman versions <package> [--pre] [--head <n>]

scatman versions NAudio.Lame --pre

NAudio.Lame — 15 version(s)

prerelease
  (none)

stable
  2.1.0    2023-05-30
  2.0.1    2022-01-17
  2.0.0    2021-02-10
  ...

Without --pre, only stable versions are shown. With --pre, both sections are always displayed. Use --head N to show only the N most recent versions; the header will read N of total so you always know how many exist.

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types — list all public types in a package

scatman types <package> <version> [--namespace <nsOrGlob>] [--filter <nameOrGlob>]

<version> also accepts aliases: latest and latest-pre.

scatman types NAudio.Wasapi 2.2.1 --namespace NAudio.CoreAudioApi --filter Capture

NAudio.Wasapi 2.2.1 [NAudio.CoreAudioApi] ~Capture — 2 public type(s)

NAudio.CoreAudioApi
  class      AudioCaptureClient
  class      WasapiCapture

--namespace supports exact namespace or glob pattern. --filter supports glob pattern; plain text remains a case-insensitive substring match.

Glob syntax follows Microsoft.Extensions.FileSystemGlobbing. Supported tokens: *, ?, exact names, directory separators (/), and ** for arbitrary directory depth. Character classes [abc] and alternation {foo,bar} are not supported.

Examples:

• --namespace "ScatMan.*"
• --namespace "*.Core"
• --filter "*Capture*"

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search — search types and members across a package

scatman search <package> <version> <queryOrGlob> [--namespace <nsOrGlob>]

<version> also accepts aliases: latest and latest-pre.

scatman search NAudio.Wasapi 2.2.1 GetDefaultCaptureDevice

NAudio.Wasapi 2.2.1 — search "GetDefaultCaptureDevice"

Types (0)
  (none)

Members (1)
  WasapiCapture
    method       static MMDevice GetDefaultCaptureDevice()

Cross-type search — useful when you know a method name exists somewhere in the package but not which type owns it. Both type names and member names are searched.

<query> accepts glob patterns. Plain text is still treated as case-insensitive substring.

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members — list public members of a type

scatman members <package> <version> <typeName> [--kind <kind>]

<version> also accepts aliases: latest and latest-pre.

--kind filters by member type: constructor, method, property, field, or event (case-insensitive).

Long signatures are automatically expanded to one parameter per line when they would exceed the terminal width.

scatman members NAudio.Wasapi 2.2.1 NAudio.CoreAudioApi.WasapiCapture

NAudio.CoreAudioApi.WasapiCapture — 13 public member(s)

constructors
  .ctor()
  .ctor(MMDevice captureDevice)
  .ctor(MMDevice captureDevice, bool useEventSync)
  .ctor(
    MMDevice captureDevice,
    bool useEventSync,
    int audioBufferMillisecondsLength)

events
  event EventHandler<WaveInEventArgs> DataAvailable
  event EventHandler<StoppedEventArgs> RecordingStopped

methods
  void Dispose()
  static MMDevice GetDefaultCaptureDevice()
  void StartRecording()
  void StopRecording()

properties
  CaptureState CaptureState { get; }
  AudioClientShareMode ShareMode { get; set; }
  WaveFormat WaveFormat { get; set; }

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ctors — list constructors of a type

Convenience alias — constructors are also included as the first group in members.

scatman ctors <package> <version> <typeName>

<version> also accepts aliases: latest and latest-pre.

scatman ctors NAudio.Wasapi 2.2.1 NAudio.CoreAudioApi.WasapiCapture

NAudio.CoreAudioApi.WasapiCapture — 4 public constructor(s)

  .ctor()
  .ctor(MMDevice captureDevice)
  .ctor(MMDevice captureDevice, bool useEventSync)
  .ctor(MMDevice captureDevice, bool useEventSync, int audioBufferMillisecondsLength)

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diff — compare API between two versions

scatman diff <package> <version1> <version2> [--type <typeNameOrFull>]

<version1> and <version2> also accept aliases: latest and latest-pre.

--type restricts the diff to a single type (full or simple name).

scatman diff Serilog 3.1.1 4.0.0

Serilog — 3.1.1 → 4.0.0

BREAKING CHANGES
  - method  Serilog.Core.ILogEventSink.void Emit(LogEvent logEvent)

DEPRECATIONS
  ! property  Serilog.Log.string OutputTemplate { get; set; }

ADDITIONS
  + type  Serilog.Core.IBatchedLogEventSink
  + method  Serilog.Core.ILogEventSink.Task EmitBatchAsync(IEnumerable<LogEvent> batch)

Results are grouped by severity:

• BREAKING CHANGES — removed types, removed members, and members whose signature changed
• DEPRECATIONS — members newly marked [Obsolete] compared to the previous version
• ADDITIONS — added types and added members

scatman diff Serilog 3.1.1 4.0.0 --type LoggerConfiguration

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sources — list configured package sources

scatman sources

Lists all enabled package sources from your nuget.config hierarchy (project → user → machine).

Configured Package Sources

Name                               URL
nuget.org                          https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json
internal-nexus                     https://nexus.company.com/nuget/v3/index.json

Use source names or URLs with the --source option (see below).

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Package Sources

All commands support a --source option to specify which NuGet package source to use:

scatman types <package> <version> --source <sourceNameOrUrl>
scatman versions <package> --source <sourceNameOrUrl>
scatman members <package> <version> <type> --source <sourceNameOrUrl>
scatman search <package> <version> <query> --source <sourceNameOrUrl>
scatman ctors <package> <version> <type> --source <sourceNameOrUrl>
scatman diff <package> <version1> <version2> --source <sourceNameOrUrl>

<sourceNameOrUrl> can be:

• A source name from scatman sources — e.g. nuget.org, internal-nexus
• A full V3 NuGet index URL — e.g. https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json

If --source is omitted, defaults to nuget.org.

Examples:

# Use a named source from nuget.config
scatman types NAudio.Wasapi 2.2.1 --source internal-nexus

# Use a URL directly
scatman versions Newtonsoft.Json --source https://myget.org/F/myorg/api/v3/index.json

# Resolve "latest" from a custom source
scatman types Newtonsoft.Json latest --source internal-nexus

Note: Your system's nuget.config file must be properly configured with authentication for private sources. The --source option respects the same credentials and settings that dotnet CLI tools use.

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All commands support --json for machine-readable output. Packages and their transitive dependencies are cached in ~/.scatman/cache/ after the first download.

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MCP Server

ScatMan ships as an MCP stdio server — use it directly from Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or any MCP-compatible client without ever opening a terminal.

dotnet tool install --global ScatMan.Mcp

Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user -t stdio ScatMan scatman-mcp

--scope user is required so the server is available globally, not just within one project directory.

Claude Desktop

~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scatman": {
      "command": "scatman-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools

Tool	Description
get_versions	List available versions of a package (packageId, includePrerelease?, source?)
get_types	List all public types (packageId, version, ns?, filter?, source?)
search	Search types and members by name (packageId, version, query, ns?, source?)
get_members	List all public members incl. constructors (packageId, version, typeName, kind?, source?)
get_diff	Compare API between two versions — added/removed types and members (packageId, version1, version2, typeName?, source?)

Version aliases: For tools with a version parameter, aliases are supported: latest (latest stable, fallback to latest if no stable exists) and latest-pre.

Package sources: All tools support an optional source parameter (source name or URL) to query from custom NuGet sources. If omitted, defaults to nuget.org. See Package Sources section above.

For MCP tools with ns, filter, or query, glob syntax follows Microsoft.Extensions.FileSystemGlobbing (*, ?, **, exact names, /). Character classes [abc] and alternation {foo,bar} are not supported.

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Roadmap

Command	Description	Status
versions <pkg>	List available versions (optional --pre)	✅ done
ctors <pkg> <ver> <type>	List public constructors	✅ done
types <pkg> <ver>	List all public types (optional --namespace)	✅ done
members <pkg> <ver> <type>	List all public members of a type	✅ done
search <pkg> <ver> <query>	Search types and members by name	✅ done
serve	Expose everything as an MCP stdio server	✅ done (Phase 2)
diff <pkg> <v1> <v2>	Detect added/removed types and members between versions	✅ done

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Architecture

• ScatMan.Core — NuGet download + MetadataLoadContext inspection. No UI. Usable as a standalone library.
• ScatMan.Cli — dotnet tool, Spectre.Console.Cli for argument parsing and output.
• ScatMan.Mcp — MCP stdio server, powered by Core. Installable as dotnet tool install -g ScatMan.Mcp.