CLI Search

The code-search search command lets you search across all indexed repositories.

Basic Usage

# Simple text search
code-search search "foo"

# Search for a phrase
code-search search "func main"

# Regex search
code-search search "func\s+\w+\(" --regex

Command Syntax

code-search search <query> [flags]

Command Options

--regex, -r

Treat the search query as a regular expression.

# Match function definitions
code-search search "func\s+\w+\(" --regex

# Match version numbers
code-search search "v\d+\.\d+\.\d+" --regex

--repos, -R

Filter results to specific repositories (can be used multiple times or comma-separated).

# Single repo
code-search search "foo" --repos myorg/myrepo

# Multiple repos
code-search search "foo" --repos myorg/frontend,myorg/backend

# Or specify multiple times
code-search search "foo" -R myorg/frontend -R myorg/backend

--langs, -l

Filter by programming languages (can be specified multiple times).

code-search search "class" --langs python
code-search search "interface" --langs typescript,javascript

Supported languages: go, python, javascript, typescript, java, ruby, rust, c, cpp, csharp, php, swift, kotlin, and more.

--files, -f

Filter by file path patterns (can be specified multiple times).

# By extension
code-search search "import" --files "*.py"

# By directory
code-search search "config" --files "src/**"

# By filename
code-search search "main" --files "main.go,main.ts"

--case-sensitive

Enable case-sensitive search (default is case-insensitive).

code-search search "foo" --case-sensitive
code-search search "foo" --case-sensitive  # Different results

--context, -C

Number of lines to show before and after each match.

code-search search "error" --context 5

--stream

Stream results as they arrive for faster time-to-first-result. Useful for interactive searches with large result sets.

# Stream results as they're found
code-search search "TODO" --stream

# Combine with other filters
code-search search "deprecated" --repos myorg/backend --stream

Tip

Streaming mode shows results immediately as they’re found, which can feel faster for large searches. Without this flag, results are fetched all at once before display.

--limit, -n

Maximum number of results to return.

code-search search "foo" --limit 50

Global Options

These options are available on all commands:

Option	Description
--config	Path to config file
--api-url	API server URL (default: localhost:8080)
--output	Output format: text, json, table

Examples

Symbol search

# Find function definitions
code-search search "func Create" --lang go

# Find class definitions
code-search search "class User" --lang python

Import search

# Find where a package is imported
code-search search 'import "github.com/pkg/errors"' --lang go
code-search search "from flask import" --lang python

Security patterns

# Find hardcoded secrets (be careful!)
code-search search 'password\s*=' --regex
code-search search 'api_key\s*=' --regex

Performance Tips

1. Use filters - Narrow results with --repo, --lang, --file
2. Limit results - Use --limit for large result sets
3. Be specific - More specific queries are faster

Tip

Start with a broad search, then add filters to narrow down results.

Next Steps

• Replace Commands - Bulk replace operations
• Find Commands - Find files and symbols