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file-search

file-search

github.com/netresearchDevelopment42528 installsUpdated 3d ago
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About file-search

File Search Skill guides AI agents in choosing command-line search tools for text, filenames, code structure, rule scanning, documents, and code metrics. It includes command examples, flag guidance, and instructions for handing off searches that require remote context.

Key features

  1. 01Choose CLI tools by search task
  2. 02Search text, filenames, and code structure
  3. 03Scan rules and search document archives
  4. 04Measure code volume and complexity
  5. 05Use command examples and remote handoff guidance

Use cases

  1. 01Find text or syntax patterns in code
  2. 02Locate test files by filename
  3. 03Search PDFs, Office documents, or archives
  4. 04Measure a project's code size and complexity

Install

Copy the command and run it in a terminal.

$npx skills add https://github.com/netresearch/file-search-skill --skill file-search

After installing, type/file-searchin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.

Bundled files

References and scripts installed along with SKILL.md.

evals/
evals.json
references/
ast-grep-patterns.md
code-metrics.md
enforcement-hook.md
fd-guide.md
remote-handoff.md
rga-guide.md
ripgrep-patterns.md
search-strategies.md
semgrep-patterns.md

Details

From the project README

File Search Skill

Efficient CLI search tools for AI agents.

Tool Selection Guide

TaskUseInstead of
Search text in code filesrg (ripgrep)grep, grep -r
Find files by name/pathfdfind, ls -R
Structural/syntax-aware code searchsg (ast-grep)regex hacks
Apply rule packs (security/lint, taint)semgrepregex CI checks
Search PDFs, Office docs, archivesrga (ripgrep-all)manual extraction
Count lines of code by languagetokeicloc, wc -l
Code stats with complexity metricsscccloc, tokei

Decision flow: text → rg | structural → sg | rule packs → semgrep | filenames → fd | PDFs/archives → rga | LOC → tokei/scc

Quick Examples

rg 'def \w+\(' -t py src/          # rg: text search in Python files
rg -c 'TODO' -t js | wc -l         # rg: count first, then drill down
sg --pattern 'console.log($$$)' --rewrite 'logger.info($$$)' --lang js  # sg: structural replace
fd -g '*.test.ts' --changed-within 1d  # fd: -g for compound suffixes (NOT -e)
fd -g '*_test.go' -X rg 'func Test'   # fd+rg: find files, verify contents
rga 'quarterly revenue' docs/       # rga: search inside PDFs/archives
tokei --sort code                   # tokei: language stats
scc --wide                          # scc: complexity + COCOMO

Best Practices

  1. Start narrow. Specify types (-t, --lang, -e), scope dirs, count first (rg -c).
  2. Exclude noise (-g '!vendor/', fd -E node_modules).
  3. Batch independent queries. Union patterns with rg -e P1 -e P2 -e P3 (one walk), or issue distinct queries as parallel tool calls in one message — never sequential && chains.
  4. --json for programmatic processing.
  5. rg ≠ fd types. rg -t ts includes .tsx; fd -e ts does NOT. No -t tsx in rg.

See references/search-strategies.md.

Beyond Local Files

If local search finds nothing and context lives in issues/PRs/external docs — hand off (gh, Jira, WebFetch). Issue keys in comments signal this.

See references/remote-handoff.md.

References

TopicFile
rg flags, patterns, recipesreferences/ripgrep-patterns.md
ast-grep patterns by languagereferences/ast-grep-patterns.md
semgrep rules and taint modereferences/semgrep-patterns.md
fd flags, usage, fd+rg combosreferences/fd-guide.md
rga formats, usage, cachingreferences/rga-guide.md
tokei and scc usagereferences/code-metrics.md
PreToolUse nudge (ships with plugin)references/enforcement-hook.md
Search targeting strategiesreferences/search-strategies.md
Remote context handoff guidereferences/remote-handoff.md
Modern CLI tools comparison (legacy→modern, all domains)cli-tools SKILL.md#preferred-modern-tools

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