cheez-search

cheez-search

Hard dependency: If mcp__tilth__tilth_search is unavailable, stop immediately and report "tilth MCP server is not loaded — cannot proceed." Do NOT fall back to Grep, Glob, or any host tool.

AST-aware code search via tilth MCP (tilth_search, tilth_deps). Tree-sitter finds where symbols are defined — not just where strings appear. Understand dependencies instead of blindly grepping.

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Core Principle: Definitions First

Traditional grep finds text matches. tilth_search finds semantic matches:

• Definitions: where a symbol is declared
• Usages: where it's called or referenced
• Implementations: where interfaces are implemented

Each match includes its surrounding file structure, so you know what you're looking at without a second read.

Why this matters:

• "handleAuth" appears 47 times, but it's DEFINED in one place
• tilth shows the definition first, then usages ranked by relevance
• You understand the code faster with fewer tool calls

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Choose your search kind

All six rows below are first-class — picking the right one is the difference between one call and a long grep walk.

Goal	Tool	Example
Find where a symbol is defined / used	tilth_search (default kind: "symbol")	tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: "src/")
Find every call site of a function	tilth_search(kind: "callers")	tilth_search(query: "validateToken", kind: "callers")
Find literal strings, TODOs, error messages	tilth_search(kind: "content")	tilth_search(query: "TODO: fix", kind: "content")
Find lines matching a regex	tilth_search(kind: "regex")	tilth_search(query: "rate.?limit", kind: "regex")
Match an AST shape (template with metavars)	sg (ast-grep, via Bash)	sg --lang typescript -p 'JSON.parse(JSON.stringify($X))' --json src/
Module import / blast-radius graph	tilth_deps	tilth_deps(path: "src/auth.ts")

Rule of thumb: stay in tilth for anything name-shaped or text-shaped. Drop to sg only when the pattern needs structural metavariables ($X, $$$BODY) that tilth can't express.

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MCP Tool Reference

tilth_search — Symbol and Content Search

Basic symbol search:

tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: "src/")

Output:

# Search: "handleAuth" in src/ — 6 matches (2 definitions, 4 usages)

## src/auth.ts:44-89 [definition]
  [24-42]  fn validateToken(token: string)
→ [44-89]  export fn handleAuth(req, res, next)
  [91-120] fn refreshSession(req, res)

  44 │ export function handleAuth(req, res, next) {
  45 │   const token = req.headers.authorization?.split(' ')[1];
  ...
  88 │   next();
  89 │ }

  ── calls ──
  validateToken  src/auth.ts:24-42  fn validateToken(token: string): Claims | null
  refreshSession  src/auth.ts:91-120  fn refreshSession(req, res)

## src/routes/api.ts:34 [usage]
→ [34]   router.use('/api/protected/*', handleAuth);

Key features:

• [definition] vs [usage] — know what you're looking at
• Context lines show surrounding structure (what else is in this file)
• ── calls ── footer shows what the function calls (one-hop callees)
• Expanded source blocks include full implementation

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Multi-Symbol Search

Trace across files in one call:

tilth_search(query: "ServeHTTP, HandlersChain, Next", scope: ".")

Each symbol gets its own result block. The expand budget is shared — at least one expansion per symbol, deduplicated across files.

Use cases:

• Understanding a flow that spans multiple types
• Tracing request handling through middleware chains
• Investigating related symbols together

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Callers Query — Find All Call Sites

Find all places that call a specific function using structural tree-sitter matching (not text search):

tilth_search(query: "isTrustedProxy", kind: "callers", scope: ".")

Output:

# Callers of "isTrustedProxy" — 5 call sites

## context.go:1011 [caller: ClientIP]
→ trusted = c.engine.isTrustedProxy(remoteIP)

## context.go:1045 [caller: RemoteIP]  
→ if c.engine.isTrustedProxy(ip) {

## context_test.go:234 [caller: TestClientIP]
→ assert.True(t, engine.isTrustedProxy(testIP))

Why this beats grep:

• Only finds actual calls, not comments or string literals
• Shows the calling function context
• Works across languages with tree-sitter support

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Content Search — Strings and Comments

Search for text that isn't a code symbol:

tilth_search(query: "TODO: fix", kind: "content", scope: ".")

Use content search for:

• Finding TODOs, FIXMEs, NOTEs
• Searching error messages
• Locating specific literal strings

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Regex Search — kind: "regex"

For patterns that aren't a single literal, switch kinds rather than embedding slashes in a content query:

tilth_search(query: "rate.?limit", kind: "regex", scope: ".")
tilth_search(query: "FIXME\\(.*?\\):", kind: "regex", scope: "src/")

• Full regex syntax — alternation, character classes, lookarounds depending on the engine version.
• Use glob to bound the file set; regex is the most expensive kind.
• Don't wrap the pattern in /.../ delimiters — pass the bare regex.

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AST-shape Patterns — ast-grep fallback

tilth covers names and text. For shapes with metavariables — “any call to JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(…))”, “any for loop with time.Sleep in its body” — use sg (ast-grep) via Bash. The agent template's tools: frontmatter must list bash for these calls to land.

# AST template: $X is a metavar that matches any single node.
sg --lang typescript -p 'JSON.parse(JSON.stringify($X))' --json src/

# $$$BODY matches a sequence of statements.
sg --lang rust -p 'impl std::fmt::Display for $TYPE { $$$BODY }' --json src/

# Bound the scan; never splice unvalidated user input as the path.
SCOPE=$(realpath "$SCOPE_INPUT")
sg --lang python -p 're.match($PATTERN, $INPUT)' --json "$SCOPE"

When sg is the right pick:

• The pattern needs metavars ($X, $$$BODY) or specific node kinds.
• You're surveying a structural shape across a directory (NIH scans, anti-pattern sweeps, refactor previews).
• Tree-sitter symbol search would over-match because the name isn't fixed.

When to stay in tilth:

• Looking for a known symbol name → kind: "symbol".
• Looking for a known string or comment → kind: "content".
• Looking for callers of a known function → kind: "callers".
• Need the result inlined with file outline + ── calls ── footer → tilth.

Hard rules for sg invocations:

• Validate any path that flows from user input or $ARGUMENTS before splicing it into the command line. Reject ;, &, |, backtick, $(, >, <, newline. Resolve to an absolute path with realpath (or tilth_files) and confirm it sits under the repo root.
• Always pass --json and parse defensively — the JSON shape varies between ast-grep versions.
• Filter test/build/vendor directories with --globs or by post-filtering the JSON output.

See agents/nih-scanner.md.eta for the canonical multi-language sg recipe.

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Glob Filtering

Focus search on specific file types:

# Only Rust files
tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: ".", glob: "*.rs")

# Exclude test files
tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: ".", glob: "!*.test.ts")

# Multiple extensions
tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: ".", glob: "*.{go,rs}")

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Context Parameter — Boost Nearby Results

When editing a file, pass it as context to boost related results:

tilth_search(query: "validateToken", scope: ".", context: "src/auth.ts")

Results from the same file or nearby directories rank higher.

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Expand Budget — Control Detail Level

The expand parameter controls how many matches show full source:

# Default: 2 expansions
tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: ".")

# More detail
tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: ".", expand: 5)

# Compact (outlines only)
tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: ".", expand: 0)

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tilth_deps — Dependency Graph

For understanding module relationships (not searching):

tilth_deps(path: "src/auth.ts")

Output:

# Dependencies for src/auth.ts

── imports ──
  express        external
  jsonwebtoken   external
  @/config       src/config/index.ts

── imported by ──
  src/routes/api.ts:5
  src/routes/admin.ts:8
  src/middleware/auth.ts:3

Use for:

• Understanding blast radius before refactoring
• Finding all consumers of a module
• Tracing import chains

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Session Deduplication

tilth tracks what you've already seen:

• Previously expanded definitions show [shown earlier]
• Saves tokens when revisiting symbols
• Forces you to reference your notes instead of re-reading

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Search Protocol

Finding Where Something is Defined

1. Search for the symbol:

   tilth_search(query: "UserService", scope: ".")
   

2. Look for [definition] results — these are the declarations

3. Check ── calls ── to understand what it depends on

Tracing a Call Chain

1. Start with the entry point:

   tilth_search(query: "handleRequest", scope: ".")
   

2. Follow the calls footer to see what it calls

3. Search for callees if needed:

   tilth_search(query: "validateInput, processData, saveResult", scope: ".")
   

Finding All Callers (Reverse Trace)

1. Use callers kind:

   tilth_search(query: "deprecated_function", kind: "callers", scope: ".")
   

2. All call sites are shown with their caller context

Understanding Module Dependencies

1. Check what a file imports/exports:

   tilth_deps(path: "src/core/auth.ts")
   

2. Search for specific symbols from imports:

   tilth_search(query: "JWTConfig", scope: "src/config/")
   

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Tree-sitter Advantages

tilth uses tree-sitter for AST parsing, which means:

Grep finds...	tilth_search finds...
All occurrences of text	Definitions vs usages
No structure awareness	File context (what else is nearby)
No call understanding	Callee resolution in results
False positives in strings	Only semantic code matches

Languages supported: Rust, TypeScript, TSX, JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, Scala, C, C++, Ruby, PHP, C#, Swift

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Common Patterns

"Where is X defined?"

tilth_search(query: "AuthManager", scope: ".")
# Look for [definition] results

"What calls X?"

tilth_search(query: "validateToken", kind: "callers", scope: ".")

"What does X call?"

tilth_search(query: "handleAuth", scope: ".", expand: 1)
# Check the ── calls ── footer in expanded result

"Find all implementations of interface"

tilth_search(query: "UserRepository", scope: ".", kind: "symbol")
# Implementations show as [impl] tags

"Search error messages"

tilth_search(query: "invalid token format", kind: "content", scope: ".")

"What depends on this module?"

tilth_deps(path: "src/auth/index.ts")
# Check ── imported by ── section

"Find every JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(…)) deep-clone hack"

sg --lang typescript -p 'JSON.parse(JSON.stringify($X))' --json src/
# Switch to sg whenever the pattern needs metavars; tilth has no $X.

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DO NOT

• DO NOT use Grep/rg — use tilth_search. sg (ast-grep) is the only sanctioned shell escape, and only for AST-shape patterns tilth can't express.
• DO NOT blind text search — use a semantic kind (symbol, callers, content, regex) before reaching for sg.
• DO NOT re-read expanded results — they're already shown
• DO NOT use for file reading — use cheez-read (tilth_read)
• DO NOT use for editing — use cheez-write (tilth_edit)
• DO NOT overuse expand — start with default, increase if needed

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What This Skill Doesn't Do

• Read entire files — use cheez-read
• Edit code — use cheez-write
• Run tests — use test/build skills
• Git operations — use gh skill or commit skill