Semantic Search Skill

When to Use

•Finding all usages of a function or method
•Searching for code patterns (error handling, loops, etc.)
•Locating implementations by purpose rather than exact text
•Finding files by content patterns
•Codebase exploration and architecture discovery
•Identifying refactoring targets

Search Strategies

1. Semantic Search (Function/Purpose)

Use semantic-search for natural language queries about code:

code

Find all functions that handle authentication
Where is the database connection configured?
How is the API error handling implemented?

2. Pattern Search (grep)

Use grep for exact text patterns and regex:

bash

# Find function definitions
grep -n "func.*authenticate" .

# Find error handling patterns
grep -rn "try.*catch\|except\|throw" .

# Find specific imports
grep -rn "from.*import\|require(" .

3. File Pattern Search (glob)

Use glob to find files by name patterns:

bash

# Find all test files
glob("**/*test*.{js,ts,py}")

# Find configuration files
glob("**/*config*.{json,yaml,yml}")

# Find all TypeScript files
glob("**/*.ts")

4. Code Structure Search (semantic-search_dfg/semantic-search_cfg)

Use for data flow and control flow analysis:

code

Trace how user input flows through authentication
What functions call the main API handler?

Step-by-Step Guidance

Quick Search (Most Common)

•
Start with semantic search - Ask what you're looking for:
code
```
semantic-search("user authentication flow")
```

•

Refine with grep if you know the pattern:

code

grep("login|authenticate|credential", {include: ["*.ts", "*.js"]})

•

Locate the files and read them:

code

glob("**/auth*.ts")
read("/path/to/auth.ts")

Deep Search (Architecture Discovery)

•

Search for main entry points:

code

semantic-search("main function entry point app startup")

•
Trace dependencies:
code
```
semantic-search_impact("main")
```

•

Explore related modules:

code

grep("import.*from.*auth", {type: "ts"})

Pattern-Based Search

•
Identify the pattern type:
- •API endpoints: router|route|get\(|post\(|api\.
- •Database queries: query|select|insert|update
- •Error handling: catch|except|throw|error

•

Search with grep:

code

grep("router\\.(get|post|put|delete)", {type: "ts"})

•

Filter results:

code

grep("SELECT.*FROM", {include: ["*.py", "*.sql"]})

Search Combinations

Find Files Then Search Content

bash

# 1. Find relevant files
glob("**/*controller*.ts")

# 2. Search within those files
grep("authenticate", {paths: ["/found/files"]})

Multi-Pattern Search

bash

# Find files containing multiple patterns
grep("(auth|login|credential)", {include: ["*.ts", "*.js"]})

Exclude Patterns

bash

# Search excluding node_modules and tests
grep("password|secret|api_key", {exclude: ["node_modules", "**/*test*"]})

Output Interpretation

semantic-search Results

Returns structured information:

•Function/class definitions
•File paths and line numbers
•Brief descriptions of what code does

grep Results

Returns matching lines with:

•File path
•Line number
•Matching content

glob Results

Returns array of file paths matching the pattern

Best Practices

•Start broad, narrow down - Begin with semantic search, refine with patterns
•Use file type filters - Limit searches to relevant file types
•Exclude non-source - Skip node_modules, build artifacts, tests when exploring
•Combine strategies - Use glob + grep for targeted searching
•Check imports - Understanding imports reveals dependencies

Common Search Patterns

Finding API Endpoints

code

grep("router\\.(get|post|put|delete|patch)", {type: "ts"})

Finding Database Operations

code

grep("(SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE).*FROM", {type: "ts"})

Finding Error Handling

code

grep("catch|throw|Error\\(|new Error", {include: ["*.ts", "*.js"]})

Finding Configuration

code

glob("**/{config,settings}.{json,yaml,yml,js,ts}")

Finding Tests for a File

code

glob("**/*" + baseName + "*.test.{js,ts}")

Resources

Related Skills

•git-master - Git operations and history exploration
•code-analyzer - Deep code analysis and refactoring
•test-generator - Generate tests for found code