Gitquarry Operator

Gitquarry Operator

Use this skill to drive gitquarry as a tool, not just to pick one benchmarked search preset.

Start Here

Load the version-matched copy from the installed CLI before choosing commands:

gitquarry skills get gitquarry

Use gitquarry agent as a shorthand for the same core guide.

Workflow

1. Classify the task as auth, search, inspect, compare, tree, code, recipe, mcp, config, or scripting.
2. Verify the effective host before assuming credentials or config state.
3. Start with the narrowest command that solves the task.
4. Prefer native search first. Turn on discover mode only when the request actually needs broader coverage, reranking, README evidence, or explain output.
5. Prefer structured flags over stuffing GitHub qualifiers into the free-text query.
6. Keep enhanced behavior explicit. Do not imply that discover, readme, or reranking are the default path.
7. Prefer json or compact plus --progress off for scripts, CI, and agent runs.

Command Selection

• Use gitquarry auth login|status|logout for credential work.
• Use gitquarry search for repository discovery and ranking.
• Use gitquarry inspect <owner/repo> when the target repository is already known.
• Use gitquarry compare <owner/repo>... when several known repositories need side-by-side evidence.
• Use gitquarry tree <owner/repo> when the task needs repository paths without cloning.
• Use gitquarry code <owner/repo> <pattern> when the task needs remote code search without cloning.
• Use gitquarry recipe run <file> when a checked-in TOML search recipe should be executed reproducibly.
• Use gitquarry mcp only when an MCP client will launch gitquarry as a stdio server.
• Use gitquarry config path|show when the task is about effective config state.

Tree And Code Rules

• Prefer tree over source path when path inspection is enough and no local checkout is needed.
• Prefer code over source path for bounded literal or regex code search inside one known repository.
• Add --path filters, --depth, --limit, or --max-file-bytes when a broad remote scan could be noisy or API-heavy.
• Use --reference when a branch, tag, or commit matters.
• Use --mode regex only when regex semantics are required; literal search is the default.

Search Rules

• Start with gitquarry search "<query>" unless the user explicitly needs enhanced discovery behavior.
• Add structured filters such as --language, --topic, --org, --user, star ranges, or date windows before escalating to discover mode.
• Use --mode discover only for broader candidate collection, local reranking, README-aware reranking, or explain-driven ranking analysis.
• If discover mode is used and the task does not specify a rank, remember that gitquarry itself defaults to blended.
• If you are recommending a safer advanced preset to a human, prefer --mode discover --depth balanced --rank quality --explain.
• Add --readme only as an explicit second pass when evidence matters more than latency.
• Use --plan before network execution when the task is to debug compiled query, effective mode, rank, sort, limit, or estimated request count.
• Use --probe-path and --probe-code when search results need explicit no-clone evidence without changing result order.
• Keep probes bounded with --probe-limit, --probe-match-limit, path filters, and --probe-max-file-bytes when scanning broad repositories.

Compare And Recipe Rules

• Use compare only for explicit known repositories. It does not discover candidates or compute a trust score.
• Add --tree-summary only when file-layout counts matter.
• Add --readme only when README text is needed in the comparison output.
• Prefer recipe run for shared, reviewed workflows in repos, docs, CI, or incident runbooks.
• Do not put credentials in recipes. Use normal host-scoped auth or token environment variables.
• Treat CLI --host as higher precedence than recipe host.

MCP Rules

• gitquarry mcp is a stdio JSON-RPC server for MCP clients; do not run it as an interactive terminal command unless you are testing JSON-RPC manually.
• Register it with clients as gitquarry mcp, for example codex mcp add gitquarry -- "$(command -v gitquarry)" mcp.
• Use --host before mcp for GitHub Enterprise, for example gitquarry --host https://ghe.example.com mcp.
• MCP tools return JSON command output as text content. Parse that text as JSON when structured fields matter.
• Available tools are gitquarry_search, gitquarry_inspect, gitquarry_tree, gitquarry_code, gitquarry_compare, and gitquarry_skill.
• Credentials come from the same environment, config, and host-scoped auth paths as normal CLI commands.

Output Rules

• Use pretty for human terminal reading.
• Use json for structured automation.
• Use compact for machine pipelines or logs.
• Use csv for flat exports.
• Prefer --progress off in non-interactive runs.

Host And Auth Rules

• Treat credentials as host-scoped.
• Use --host when the target is GitHub Enterprise or a non-default API host.
• Prefer host-specific env vars such as GITQUARRY_TOKEN_GITHUB_COM when scripting against multiple hosts.
• Use GITQUARRY_CONFIG_DIR to isolate state in CI, tests, or agent runs.
• Do not assume insecure credential fallback is allowed unless GITQUARRY_ALLOW_INSECURE_STORAGE=1 is explicitly set.

Failure Rules

• If a discover-only flag is used without --mode discover, fix the command instead of guessing around the error.
• If a raw query qualifier conflicts with a structured flag, remove one side of the conflict.
• If inspect input is not owner/repo, correct the repository shape before auth debugging.
• If compare input is not owner/repo, correct the repository shape before auth debugging.
• If recipe run fails with E_RECIPE_INVALID, fix unknown keys, malformed TOML, or invalid mapped search flags.
• If tree or code is too broad, narrow with --path, --depth, or --limit before escalating to source path.
• If auth fails, verify token, host, and resolution order before changing search flags.

References

Read these only when needed:

• references/benchmark-operator-playbook.md for the full operator playbook, command patterns, host/auth/scripting rules, and benchmark-backed discover heuristics.
• ../docs/commands/search.mdx when exact search flag behavior matters.
• ../docs/commands/inspect.mdx when the task is repository inspection rather than search.
• ../docs/commands/tree.mdx when the task is remote repository tree inspection.
• ../docs/commands/code.mdx when the task is no-clone code search.
• ../docs/commands/compare.mdx when the task is side-by-side explicit repository comparison.
• ../docs/commands/recipe.mdx when the task is checked-in search recipe execution.
• ../docs/commands/mcp.mdx when the task is MCP server setup.
• ../docs/guides/output-and-scripting.mdx when the task is CI, pipeline, or agent-safe usage.
• ../docs/guides/github-enterprise-hosts.mdx when the task involves non-default hosts.

When recommending commands, explain whether the operator is buying native fidelity, broader coverage, or stronger evidence, and what latency or complexity that choice adds.