Athena: A Local-First Git & AST Change-Intelligence Engine and MCP Server

Athena is a new open-source, local-first engine designed to provide intelligent analysis of Git changes by parsing Abstract Syntax Trees (AST). Unlike traditional tools that rely solely on commit messages, which can be misleading, Athena examines the actual code structure to detect breaking changes, such as positional parameter shifts or recursive function defects. The project leverages open-weights models like Gemma 7B and Qwen 2.5 Coder to generate release narratives and impact explanations while ensuring data privacy by running entirely on local hardware. Athena also functions as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing developers to integrate its findings directly into IDEs like Cursor or VS Code. By combining deterministic code analysis with a zero-hallucination verification layer, Athena offers a secure, reliable solution for engineering teams to audit codebases, automate release notes, and prevent silent regressions in shared packages without sending proprietary code to cloud-based LLMs.