Claude-ast-index-search: Instructions file for Claude Code

ast-index — Contributor Guide for AI Coding Agents

Fast multi-language code-search CLI written in Rust. Builds a SQLite index of symbols, references, and file paths for ~30 languages via tree-sitter, then answers queries in milliseconds.

.claude/rules/*.md is loaded into every Claude Code session automatically — read those for focused guidance (architecture, commands, parsers, commits, testing, release). This file is the starting point.

Tech stack

• Language: Rust (edition 2021), MSRV tracks stable.
• Parsers: tree-sitter grammars (tree-sitter-<lang> crates) + regex fallbacks for Perl, WSDL/XSD, Vue/Svelte scripts.
• Storage: SQLite via rusqlite, cache at ~/Library/Caches/ast-index/<hash>/ on macOS and $XDG_CACHE_HOME/ast-index/<hash>/ on Linux.
• CLI: clap derive with a single global --format {text,json} flag.
• Workspace: two crates — root ast-index (library + binary), crates/ast-index-mcp (MCP server). Default build produces only the root binary; the MCP crate is opt-in via cargo build -p ast-index-mcp.

Folder layout

src/
  main.rs              # clap CLI + dispatch to commands::*
  lib.rs               # re-exports db, indexer, parsers, commands
  db.rs                # SQLite schema, migrations, queries
  indexer.rs           # filesystem walk + dispatch to parsers + writes
  commands/
    mod.rs             # shared helpers: PathResolver, search_files, relative_path
    {index,files,grep,management,modules,analysis,project_info}.rs
    {android,ios,perl}.rs  # ecosystem-specific commands
  parsers/
    mod.rs             # FileType enum, parse_file_symbols entry point
    treesitter/
      mod.rs           # LanguageParser trait + get_treesitter_parser()
      {kotlin,swift,...}.rs   # one file per language
      queries/<lang>.scm      # tree-sitter S-expression queries
    {perl,typescript,wsdl}.rs # regex fallbacks
crates/ast-index-mcp/  # MCP server (spawns `ast-index <sub>` per tool call)
tests/                 # integration tests, one *_tests.rs file per concern
scripts/bump.sh        # version bump — never edit versions by hand