memtrace-search

name

memtrace-search

description

Find source code with Memtrace hybrid BM25+semantic search: symbols, functions, classes, types, constants, definitions, implementations, logic, or error strings inside code. Use when the user wants to find, search, locate, or look up code or asks where code lives. Do not use Grep, Glob, rg, find, or manual file search for code discovery. If Memtrace returns 0 results, broaden the Memtrace query and diagnose/reindex; do not switch to grep.

Overview

Find code using hybrid BM25 + semantic search (RRF). Primary discovery tool — use before relationship or impact analysis.

Quick Reference

Tool	Best For
find_code	Natural-language queries, broad searches
find_symbol	Exact identifier names
get_source_window	Bounded source read when harness lacks Read(offset, limit)

Parameter types: Numbers must be JSON numbers — not strings.

find_code parameters

Param	Required	Default	Notes
query	yes	—	Natural language or symbol text
repo_id	no	all repos
limit	no	20	Max 100
file_path	no	—	Path/directory substring filter
as_of	no	now	ISO-8601 time-travel
include_diagnostics	no	false	Set true for id, score in results

No kind param on find_code — use find_symbol(kind=...) to filter by symbol type.

{ "query": "authentication middleware", "repo_id": "memdb", "limit": 20 }

find_symbol parameters

Param	Required	Default	Notes
name	yes	—	Symbol name to search
repo_id	no	all repos
fuzzy	no	false	API field exists; currently exact-match in backend
edit_distance	no	2	Only when fuzzy enabled
kind	no	—	Function, Class, Method, etc.
file_path	no	—	Path substring filter
limit	no	10	Max 50

{ "name": "validateToken", "repo_id": "memdb", "file_path": "auth" }

Full parameter spec for every Memtrace tool: references/mcp-parameters.md (bundled at the memtrace-skills plugin root).

Steps

1. Choose the tool

• Exact name → find_symbol
• Behaviour description → find_code
• All repos → omit repo_id

2. Execute search

Result shape: see Output below.

3. Hand off to graph tools

Save name, scope_path, and file_path — not internal IDs:

{ "repo_id": "memdb", "symbol": "validateToken" }
{ "repo_id": "memdb", "target": "validateToken", "direction": "both" }
{ "repo_id": "memdb", "target": "validateToken", "query_type": "find_callers" }

Read source only when editing — bounded Read(offset, limit) at returned lines.

Multi-word queries

1. Try verbatim find_code query.
2. If weak, fan out: camelCase, snake_case, domain identifiers.
3. Dedupe top hits by file_path:start_line.

Output

One find_code / find_symbol result entry:

{
  "name": "validateToken",
  "kind": "Function",
  "file_path": "src/auth/token.rs",
  "start_line": 42,
  "scope_path": "auth::token"
}

score (and id) appear only with include_diagnostics: true.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Reality
find_code(kind=...)	kind only on find_symbol
Passing symbol id to graph tools	Use name as symbol / target
Assuming fuzzy: true always works	Backend is exact-match today — try spelling variants
Skipping list_indexed_repositories	Verify repo is indexed first