Basemind Code Search

basemind-code-search — navigate code without reading it

basemind pre-indexes the repo into a tree-sitter code map across 300+ languages. Structural questions — where a symbol lives, what calls it, what shape a file has — resolve from the index in milliseconds and return paths, line numbers, and signatures, not file bodies. That is a fraction of the tokens of reading source, so it is the default, not an optimization.

basemind first, grep/read fallback. If a question is about where, what calls, what shape, or what implements, a basemind tool answers it cheaper than grep/rg or opening files. Drop to raw shell only when no tool covers the question.

The discipline

• Use code mode outline before you open a file. A 1000-line file becomes a 30-line table of contents. Read the actual source only once you have the exact span, then read that range, not the file.
• Use code mode symbols instead of grep for a definition. It matches indexed symbol names and returns path:line, skipping the comment/string/test-name noise grep drowns you in.
• Use code modes references / callers instead of grepping call sites. Indexed call edges, not text matches.
• Use code mode grep instead of shelling out to ripgrep when you genuinely need regex over content — it runs over the in-RAM index and returns capped, structured hits.
• Do not re-read a file basemind already mapped. If the outline answered the question, stop.
• Use admin mode rescan after you edit code, not a server reconnect. Pass paths: [...] to limit it.

Tool routing

Examples

code { mode: "symbols", name: "MapCache" }
→ src/mcp/mod.rs:79:1 MapCache (struct)
  src/mcp/mod.rs:88:1 MapCache (impl)

code { mode: "references", name: "process_file" }
→ src/scanner.rs:142:9 process_file
  src/scanner.rs:201:13 process_file

code { mode: "outline", path: "src/mcp/tools.rs" }
→ 21 code router (function)
  112 code helper (function)

Notes

• Matching on symbol names is substring: code mode references with name: "bar" matches Foo::bar() and bar() alike. There is no scope resolution — cross-check with code mode outline when disambiguation matters.
• Lists are capped (limit, default 100, max 1000). Index scanners use scan_cap = limit * 8 to bound work on common names.
• Needs an index in the machine-global cache (Linux ~/.local/share/basemind/, macOS ~/Library/Application Support/basemind/; override BASEMIND_DATA_HOME) — run basemind scan first (see the basemind-scan skill). "No indexed files" means the scan hasn't run in this repo yet.

For git history / blame / diffs see basemind-git-history; for document RAG and semantic search see basemind-documents; for agent coordination see basemind-comms.