| name | private-github-search |
| description | Full-text search across all of the user's GitHub repos (including private ones) using a local mirror and ripgrep. Use for "where did I put X", "which repo has X", or any search spanning the user's repos - gh search code / the REST API cannot reliably search private repos. |
Private GitHub search
GitHub's modern code search (the one that indexes private repos) is web-only; gh search code uses the legacy engine and often returns nothing for private repos. Instead, search a local mirror of all the user's repos - it covers the same content as GitHub's index (default branch, non-fork) and a full search takes milliseconds.
Searching
Find the bundled sync script (works for plugin installs and manual symlinks):
find ~/.claude ~/.codex -name "private-github-search-sync.sh" 2>/dev/null | sort -V | tail -1
Always refresh first - it exits instantly if the mirror was synced within the last hour, and takes ~15s otherwise (--force syncs regardless of age):
bash <script-path>
rg -il 'pattern' ~/repo-mirror/repos
rg -in 'pattern' ~/repo-mirror/repos | head
First-time setup
If ~/repo-mirror/owners.txt doesn't exist: ask the user which GitHub accounts to mirror (don't guess - they may manage several), write them one per line to ~/repo-mirror/owners.txt, then run the sync script in the background (initial clone takes a few minutes; needs gh auth with access to those accounts).
Caveats
- Only the default-branch tip is mirrored - for history or other branches, use
git log -S in a full clone or GitHub web search.
- The mirror may contain private data: keep it out of synced folders and never commit or publish its contents.
