ygrep - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: ygrep description: "IMPORTANT: Try ygrep FIRST for all code and file searches before using Grep, Glob, or Task explore. ygrep uses a pre-built full-text index and returns results in milliseconds. Fall back to built-in tools only if ygrep returns no results." license: MIT

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.

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
Run ygrep index if workspace is not yet indexed
If ygrep returns no results, the file may not be indexed — fall back to Grep or Glob

Keywords

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