grep-app-cli

grep.app CLI

Overview

Query mcp.grep.app from the terminal to find real code from public repositories. grep.app indexes over a million public GitHub repos and matches literal code (like grep), not keywords or natural-language topics.

This skill wraps the grep.app MCP server with a small CLI so the agent can run scoped, reproducible code searches and cite concrete examples instead of guessing at usage.

When to Use

Trigger this skill when you are about to search for code rather than docs. Concretely:

• The user asks for "real examples of …", "how do people actually use …", or "show me usage of <token>".
• You need to verify how a library, framework, config format, or language feature is used in production before writing code.
• You need concrete API usage, call signatures, or config fragments that official docs do not cover clearly.
• You want repository-scoped examples (a specific org or repo).

Do not trigger this skill for:

• Documentation, prose explanations, or conceptual questions — use a docs/web search instead.
• Authoritative specs or version guarantees — prefer official docs.

Workflow

1. Translate the user's need into a literal code pattern that would actually appear in source files.
2. Start with the narrowest useful query.
3. Add filters for --language, --repo, or --path before broadening the pattern.
4. Use --use-regexp only when a literal string is too restrictive.
5. Summarize the returned pattern and why it is relevant instead of dumping raw matches.

Query Design

• Search for code, not topics.
• Prefer tokens such as useState(, getServerSession, CORS(, server.listen(, FROM node:, or name: ci.
• Avoid natural-language queries such as react auth example or python cors tutorial.
• Keep the first pass short and exact; broaden only if the result set is empty or obviously too narrow.

Filter Strategy

• Use --language when syntax or framework usage is language-specific.
• Use --repo when the user asks about a known project, organization, or ecosystem.
• Use --path when the pattern is expected in files like package.json, Dockerfile, .github/workflows/, or /route.ts.
• Combine filters before switching to regex. Narrowing scope is usually cheaper than making the pattern more complex.