Amazon Q Developer

Overview

Connect CodeAlive with Amazon Q Developer for AI-powered development with deep codebase understanding. Amazon Q has two integration points: the CLI and the IDE plugin (VS Code / JetBrains).

Quick install: Run npx @codealive/installer to automatically configure CodeAlive for your agents. See the Installation Guide for details.

Prerequisites

Amazon Q Developer CLI or IDE plugin
CodeAlive account with API key (Sign up here)
Indexed repositories in your CodeAlive dashboard

Setup

Q Developer CLI
Q Developer IDE (VS Code / JetBrains)

Locate Config File

Amazon Q CLI reads MCP configuration from:

Global: ~/.aws/amazonq/mcp.json
Workspace: .amazonq/mcp.json

Add CodeAlive Server

HTTP (Recommended)
Docker (STDIO)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codealive": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.codealive.ai/api",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codealive": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-e", "CODEALIVE_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
        "ghcr.io/codealive-ai/codealive-mcp:main"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual CodeAlive API key.

Restart Q Developer CLI

Restart the CLI to pick up the new configuration.

Locate Config File

Amazon Q IDE plugin reads from:

Global: ~/.aws/amazonq/agents/default.json
Workspace: .aws/amazonq/agents/default.json

Add CodeAlive Server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "codealive": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.codealive.ai/api",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      },
      "timeout": 310000
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual CodeAlive API key.Or use the IDE UI: Q panel → Chat → tools icon → Add MCP Server → choose HTTP or STDIO.

Restart IDE

Restart VS Code or your JetBrains IDE to load the configuration.

Usage

Once connected, Amazon Q Developer can:

Search your codebase semantically across all indexed repositories
Answer architecture questions with full project context
Find patterns and implementations across multiple services

"Find all API endpoints in the user service"
"Explain how the payment flow works"
"Show me error handling patterns"

Troubleshooting

MCP server not detected

Verify the config file location matches your setup (CLI vs IDE)
Check JSON syntax
Restart the CLI or IDE

Authentication errors

Verify your API key is correct
Ensure Bearer prefix is included in the Authorization header
Try regenerating your API key in the dashboard

IDE UI setup not persisting

Use the config file method instead of the UI for reliable persistence.

For more solutions, see the Troubleshooting Guide.

Instruct Your Agent

Connecting CodeAlive makes its tools available, but the agent may still default to its built-in search. For reliable results, add a short instruction in the agent’s native format telling it to prefer semantic_search and grep_search when exploring indexed code. See Instructing Coding Agents.

Getting Started

Features

Model Context Protocol

Agent Skills & Plugins

Instructing Agents

Amazon Q Developer

Overview

Prerequisites

Setup

Usage

Troubleshooting

Instruct Your Agent

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Setup

​Usage

​Troubleshooting

​Related Resources

​Instruct Your Agent

Overview

Prerequisites

Setup

Usage

Troubleshooting

Related Resources

Instruct Your Agent