code-search_skill

Overview

This skill uses ripgrep (rg) to search file contents quickly and precisely. It helps locate code patterns, function or type definitions, references, TODOs, and configuration values across a project. Use it when you need fast, configurable text searches scoped by file type, directory, or regex.

How this skill works

The skill constructs rg commands with common options (file-type filters, context lines, glob includes/excludes, case rules, and multiline mode) and runs them against the repository. Results can be limited, formatted (line numbers, counts, matched text), or emitted as JSON for downstream parsing. It favors a broad-to-narrow strategy: list matching files first, then inspect with context.

When to use it

• Find where a function, class, or type is defined across the repo
• Locate all usages or references of a symbol with context
• Search for TODO/FIXME or configuration keys across multiple file types
• Quickly scan specific directories or file patterns (e.g., src/, *.ts, *.clj)
• Perform fast, repeated searches while debugging or refactoring

Best practices

• Start with rg -l to list files before dumping matches (cheaper and faster)
• Filter by file type (-t) or globs (-g) to reduce noise and improve speed
• Use -C, -A, -B for readable context around matches when investigating usage
• Use -m to limit matches per file and --json for programmatic consumption
• Combine -g "!pattern" to exclude tests, vendor, or node_modules directories

Example use cases

• Find a JavaScript function definition: rg -t js "function\s+myFunction|const\s+myFunction\s*="
• Locate all references to a Clojure symbol with two lines of context: rg -t clojure -C 2 "my-function"
• Search YAML/JSON config keys like database or password across env files: rg "database|password" -g "*.{yml,yaml,json,env}"
• List files mentioning authentication before inspecting details: rg -l "authentication" then rg -C 5 "authentication" src/
• Search multiline patterns such as start/end blocks: rg -U "start.*?end"