grepai-search-basics

GrepAI Search Basics

This skill covers the fundamentals of semantic code search with GrepAI.

When to Use This Skill

• Learning GrepAI search
• Performing basic code searches
• Understanding semantic vs. text search
• Interpreting search results

Prerequisites

1. GrepAI initialized (grepai init)
2. Index created (grepai watch)
3. Embedding provider running (Ollama, etc.)

What is Semantic Search?

Unlike traditional text search (grep, ripgrep), GrepAI searches by meaning:

Type	How it Works	Example
Text search	Exact string match	"login" → finds "login"
Semantic search	Meaning similarity	"authenticate user" → finds login, auth, signin code

Basic Search Command

grepai search "your query here"

Example

grepai search "user authentication flow"

Output:

Score: 0.89 | src/auth/middleware.go:15-45
──────────────────────────────────────────
func AuthMiddleware() gin.HandlerFunc {
    return func(c *gin.Context) {
        token := c.GetHeader("Authorization")
        if token == "" {
            c.AbortWithStatus(401)
            return
        }
        claims, err := ValidateToken(token)
        if err != nil {
            c.AbortWithStatus(401)
            return
        }
        c.Set("user", claims.UserID)
        c.Next()
    }
}

Score: 0.82 | src/auth/jwt.go:23-55
──────────────────────────────────────────
func ValidateToken(tokenString string) (*Claims, error) {
    token, err := jwt.Parse(tokenString, func(t *jwt.Token) (interface{}, error) {
        return []byte(secretKey), nil
    })
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }
    if claims, ok := token.Claims.(*Claims); ok && token.Valid {
        return claims, nil
    }
    return nil, errors.New("invalid token")
}

Score: 0.76 | src/handlers/login.go:10-35
──────────────────────────────────────────
func HandleLogin(c *gin.Context) {
    var req LoginRequest
    if err := c.ShouldBindJSON(&req); err != nil {
        c.JSON(400, gin.H{"error": "invalid request"})
        return
    }
    user, err := userService.Authenticate(req.Email, req.Password)
    // ...
}