yetidevworks/ygrep/claude-code

IMPORTANT: Try ygrep First

Always try ygrep "query" via Bash before using built-in Grep, Glob, or Task explore agents for code searches. ygrep uses a pre-built full-text index and returns results in milliseconds vs seconds/minutes for built-in tools.

Searching an unindexed workspace builds a text index automatically on the first search, so there is nothing to set up. That first call takes a few seconds; every later one is instant.

If ygrep returns no results, fall back to built-in Grep or Glob — not every file may be indexed.

When to Invoke This Skill

Invoke this skill immediately when:

• You need to find files, code, functions, classes, or variables
• User asks to search or find something in the codebase
• You need to understand where something is defined or used
• You need to explore an unfamiliar codebase

Usage

All flags are global — they work in any position with or without the search subcommand:

ygrep "search query"                  # Search (AI-optimized output)
ygrep "query" -n 10                   # Limit results
ygrep "query" -e rs -e ts             # Filter by extension
ygrep "query" -p 'src/api/'           # Filter by path prefix
ygrep "query" -p 'src/*/tests/'       # Glob pattern in path filter (quote it!)
ygrep search "query" -p 'lib/' -n 5   # Explicit search subcommand
ygrep "fn\\s+main" -r                 # Regex search
ygrep "Config" -s                     # Case-sensitive search
ygrep "error" -A 3                    # 3 lines of context after match
ygrep "error" -B 2                    # 2 lines of context before match
ygrep "error" -K 3                    # 3 lines of context before and after
ygrep "query" --json                  # JSON output with full metadata
ygrep "query" --text-only             # Force text-only search

IMPORTANT: Quote glob patterns in -p to prevent shell expansion:

• Right: -p 'user/plugins/*/tests/' — ygrep receives the glob and matches internally
• Wrong: -p user/plugins/*/tests/ — shell expands into multiple args, causes errors

Output Format

Default output shows: path:line (score%) [indicator]

• + = hybrid match (text AND semantic)
• ~ = semantic only
• No indicator = text match

Tips

• Uses literal text matching by default (like grep) — special characters work: $variable, ->get(, {% block
• Subtoken matching: camelCase and snake_case are split into subtokens — searching send also finds sendCampaign, send_email, etc.
• Multi-word queries: "campaign sending" finds files where all terms appear (AND logic), not just exact phrases
• The | pipe character is literal, not OR — use -r for regex OR: ygrep "foo|bar" -r
• Use -r for regex patterns
• Use -s for case-sensitive search (default is case-insensitive)
• Use -A/-B/-K to control context lines around matches
• An unindexed workspace indexes itself on the first search. Run ygrep index yourself only to refresh an existing index or to build a --semantic one
• If a search reports the index is still building, wait a moment and retry rather than falling back
• If ygrep returns results but they look out of date, run ygrep index to refresh
• If ygrep returns no results, the file may not be indexed — fall back to Grep or Glob
• ygrep index --dry-run reports what would be indexed without building anything

Keywords

search, grep, find, code search, semantic search, local files, Grep, Glob, explore, locate, where is, definition