context-mode
Installation

Antigravity

Install context-mode in the Antigravity IDE as an MCP-only host: register an MCP server with npx and let a GEMINI.md routing file steer data-heavy output into the sandbox.

Antigravity is Google's AI-powered IDE, a Gemini fork built on Electron and VSCode. It integrates context-mode as an MCP-only host — Antigravity exposes no hook surface, so routing is steered by an instruction file the host reads natively. The ctx_* tools are always available; the host decides whether to send data-heavy output through them.

As an MCP-only host, large-output routing is advisory rather than a hard intercept. The agent follows the instruction file most of the time — roughly 60% adherence — but is not forced to, so savings vary by session.

Install

Antigravity has no plugin marketplace, so context-mode runs as an MCP server. Launching it with npx means no global install is required.

Register the MCP server

Add an MCP server entry to the Antigravity MCP config. Antigravity shares the ~/.gemini/ directory with Gemini CLI but reads MCP servers from a separate file: ~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json. If you installed context-mode globally with npm install -g context-mode, point the server at the context-mode binary:

~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context-mode": {
      "command": "context-mode"
    }
  }
}

If you would rather not install globally, launch it with npx instead by setting "command": "npx" and "args": ["-y", "context-mode"]. Either path needs Node 22.5+ or Bun available on your PATH. context-mode detects Antigravity from the MCP client handshake (clientInfo.name reports antigravity-client); if detection is ever ambiguous, set CONTEXT_MODE_PLATFORM=antigravity in the server env to force it.

Confirm the routing instruction file

On first server startup context-mode writes a GEMINI.md routing file at your project root, which Antigravity reads natively. It tells the agent to send data-heavy output through the ctx_* tools. You do not need to create it by hand. Because Antigravity shares ~/.gemini/ with Gemini CLI, session data lives under ~/.gemini/context-mode/sessions/, where each session DB file is prefixed by a project hash so different projects never collide. For the exact path derivation and the file contents, see configuration.

What you get on this host

The ctx_* tools are fully available: the agent can run code with ctx_execute, search prior results with ctx_search, and index content with ctx_index. What differs from a hooked host is enforcement. On a hooked host the routing of large output is mandatory; here it is advisory, carried by the GEMINI.md file the host reads. See tool selection for how the agent decides which tool to reach for.

Verify

Confirm the install with the doctor. It checks language runtimes, the FTS5 knowledge base, and MCP server registration, then reports anything that needs attention. Since the npx path installs no global binary, run the doctor with npx too:

Verify the setup
npx -y context-mode doctor

If you ran npm install -g context-mode, context-mode doctor works as well. A clean run means the MCP server is reachable and the routing file is in place.

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