code-intelligence

name	code-intelligence
description	Use GitKB code intelligence tools instead of grep for finding callers, definitions, usages, and dead code. Trigger when exploring code relationships or searching for symbol usage.

/code-intelligence

Use GitKB code intelligence instead of grep for code relationships. These tools understand the AST, not just text matches.

When to Use

• Finding callers of a function or method
• Finding what a function calls (callees)
• Locating symbol definitions
• Assessing change blast radius
• Finding dead code (symbols with zero callers)
• Diagnosing index/resolution health before changing matching behavior
• Inspecting inferred entrypoints, execution flows, and typed graph queries

Preferred Tools (CLI)

# List/search symbols
git-kb code symbols --file <path>       # All symbols in a file
git-kb code symbols "<name>"            # Search by name

# Call graph
git-kb code callers "<symbol>"          # Who calls this?
git-kb code callees "<symbol>"          # What does this call?

# Impact and dead code
git-kb code impact <file>               # Transitive blast radius
git-kb code dead <file-or-dir>          # Symbols with zero callers

# Index health and derived graph primitives
git-kb code doctor                      # Index and call-resolution health
git-kb code entrypoints --refresh       # Inferred entrypoints
git-kb code flows --refresh             # Entrypoint-derived flows
git-kb code flow <flow-id>              # Inspect one flow
git-kb code query <template>            # hotspots, entrypoints, public-api, unresolved-by-reason, cross-service-impact, dead-code-explain

If MCP tools are available, prefer kb_symbols, kb_callers, kb_callees, kb_impact, kb_dead_code, kb_code_doctor, kb_code_entrypoints, kb_code_flows, kb_code_flow, and kb_code_query for structured JSON output and parallel invocation.

Instead of Grep

Instead of	Use
grep for function callers	git-kb code callers — actual call sites from call graph
grep for definitions	git-kb code symbols — finds by name with signature and location
grep to understand dependencies	git-kb code callees — actual callees from call graph
grep to assess change impact	git-kb code impact — transitive blast radius analysis
grep + manual review for dead code	git-kb code dead — symbols with zero callers
manual DB inspection for index health	git-kb code doctor — symbol/call/unresolved breakdowns and recommendations
manual entrypoint tracing	git-kb code entrypoints and git-kb code flows --refresh
ad hoc SQL for graph questions	git-kb code query <template>

Grep is still appropriate for config files, string literals, error messages, and non-code content.

Disambiguating Symbols

When a symbol name matches multiple definitions:

# Ambiguous — multiple functions named "apply"
git-kb code callers "apply"
# → hint: Re-run with the full symbol ID

# Disambiguated — use file::kind::name
git-kb code callers "src/store.rs::function::apply"

Prerequisites

Code must be indexed first:

git-kb code index

After indexing, run git-kb code doctor when results look empty or suspicious. In nested meta/worktree checkouts, the installed CLI may resolve the KB root incorrectly; if git-kb code index reports Indexed 0 symbols from 0 files with many skipped files, verify you are running the intended binary and KB root before trusting git-kb code output.

After initial indexing, the file watcher keeps the index current automatically.