how we fit together

Wystan + Sourcegraph

Sourcegraph indexes massive codebases for search and intelligence at scale. Wystan abstracts those files into features and flows. Different abstraction layers; both can run together, or Wystan alone if your codebase fits in one repo.

What Sourcegraph does best

The best code-search tool ever built. Cross-reference across hundreds of repositories, batch changes, code ownership, mature at huge-monorepo scale. Code search is Enterprise-only today; their self-serve product is Amp, the coding agent ($20 / $200 per month with usage credits).

Code search across hundreds of repositories
Code intelligence + cross-reference
Batch changes across repos
Code ownership at scale
Mature at 100+ repo / huge-monorepo scale

What Wystan adds

A higher-abstraction layer over code. Sourcegraph indexes every file; Wystan groups files into features and surfaces business-level context. Sourcegraph’s audience moved enterprise; Wystan covers the small-to-mid SaaS segment.

Feature + flow map of the codebase
Hotspots, churn, ownership per feature
Sentry + PostHog attribution per feature
MCP server for Cursor, Claude Code, Cline, Aider
Source-available CLI (FSL), free for public repos forever

using both

How they actually combine

Engineer asks Sourcegraph: “find every usage of chargeCustomer across our 50 repos.”

Sourcegraph returns 47 call sites with full cross-reference and symbol intelligence.

Wystan tells you which features those 47 sites belong to: 32 in Billing, 8 in Reports, 7 in shared utility — and that Billing had 47 errors last week. The refactor scope just clarified itself.

or alone

Just Wystan, on its own

Wystan isn’t a code-search engine. For “where is this symbol referenced across 50 repos?” you want Sourcegraph (or GitHub code search). For “what feature is this function part of, and what’s its health?” you want Wystan. If your codebase fits in one repo and is under 1.5M LOC, Wystan alone covers most search-style questions through its MCP server. If you’re a 100-repo enterprise, Sourcegraph plus Wystan is the natural pairing.

side by side

Where each one focuses

Focus area	Sourcegraph	Wystan
Primary unit	File + symbol index	Feature + flow map
Cross-repo search	✓ best-in-class	—
Symbol intelligence	✓	via MCP
Behavioural analysis (hotspots)	—	✓
Runtime signal	—	Sentry + PostHog
Pricing	Amp $20–200 / mo; Sourcegraph Enterprise from ~$16k / yr	$99–299 / org / mo, unlimited developers
Best fit	100+ repo monorepo / multi-repo	8–50 dev SaaS teams

honest take

No vendor pressure

Sourcegraph is the best code-search tool ever built. They explicitly moved upmarket in 2025 — small / mid SaaS teams aren’t their priority anymore. Wystan covers that abandoned segment with a different abstraction layer (features instead of files). Huge org with cross-repo search needs →Sourcegraph . SaaS team that wants AI-agent context + feature-level intelligence → Wystan. Both? Run them together.

also comparing

Other tools we work alongside