Smart Explore

Smart Explore

Structural code exploration using AST parsing. This skill overrides your default exploration behavior. While this skill is active, use smart_search/smart_outline/smart_unfold as your primary tools instead of Read, Grep, and Glob.

Core principle: Index first, fetch on demand. Give yourself a map of the code before loading implementation details. The question before every file read should be: "do I need to see all of this, or can I get a structural overview first?" The answer is almost always: get the map.

Your Next Tool Call

This skill only loads instructions. You must call the MCP tools yourself. Your next action should be one of:

smart_search(query="<topic>", path="./src")    -- discover files + symbols across a directory
smart_outline(file_path="<file>")              -- structural skeleton of one file
smart_unfold(file_path="<file>", symbol_name="<name>")  -- full source of one symbol

Do NOT run Grep, Glob, Read, or find to discover files first. smart_search walks directories, parses all code files, and returns ranked symbols in one call. It replaces the Glob → Grep → Read discovery cycle.

3-Layer Workflow

Step 1: Search -- Discover Files and Symbols

smart_search(query="shutdown", path="./src", max_results=15)

Returns: Ranked symbols with signatures, line numbers, match reasons, plus folded file views (~2-6k tokens)

-- Matching Symbols --
  function performGracefulShutdown (services/infrastructure/GracefulShutdown.ts:56)
  function httpShutdown (services/infrastructure/HealthMonitor.ts:92)
  method WorkerService.shutdown (services/worker-service.ts:846)

-- Folded File Views --
  services/infrastructure/GracefulShutdown.ts (7 symbols)
  services/worker-service.ts (12 symbols)

This is your discovery tool. It finds relevant files AND shows their structure. No Glob/find pre-scan needed.

Parameters:

• query (string, required) -- What to search for (function name, concept, class name)
• path (string) -- Root directory to search (defaults to cwd)
• max_results (number) -- Max matching symbols, default 20, max 50
• file_pattern (string, optional) -- Filter to specific files/paths

Step 2: Outline -- Get File Structure

smart_outline(file_path="services/worker-service.ts")

Returns: Complete structural skeleton -- all functions, classes, methods, properties, imports (~1-2k tokens per file)

Skip this step when Step 1's folded file views already provide enough structure. Most useful for files not covered by the search results.

Parameters:

• file_path (string, required) -- Path to the file

Step 3: Unfold -- See Implementation

Review symbols from Steps 1-2. Pick the ones you need. Unfold only those:

smart_unfold(file_path="services/worker-service.ts", symbol_name="shutdown")

Returns: Full source code of the specified symbol including JSDoc, decorators, and complete implementation (~400-2,100 tokens depending on symbol size). AST node boundaries guarantee completeness regardless of symbol size — unlike Read + agent summarization, which may truncate long methods.

Parameters:

• file_path (string, required) -- Path to the file (as returned by search/outline)
• symbol_name (string, required) -- Name of the function/class/method to expand

When to Use Standard Tools Instead

Use these only when smart_* tools are the wrong fit:

• Grep: Exact string/regex search ("find all TODO comments", "where is ensureWorkerStarted defined?")
• Read: Small files under ~100 lines, non-code files (JSON, markdown, config)
• Glob: File path patterns ("find all test files")
• Explore agent: When you need synthesized understanding across 6+ files, architecture narratives, or answers to open-ended questions like "how does this entire system work end-to-end?" Smart-explore is a scalpel — it answers "where is this?" and "show me that." It doesn't synthesize cross-file data flows, design decisions, or edge cases across an entire feature.

For code files over ~100 lines, prefer smart_outline + smart_unfold over Read.

Workflow Examples

Discover how a feature works (cross-cutting):

1. smart_search(query="shutdown", path="./src")
   -> 14 symbols across 7 files, full picture in one call
2. smart_unfold(file_path="services/infrastructure/GracefulShutdown.ts", symbol_name="performGracefulShutdown")
   -> See the core implementation

Navigate a large file:

1. smart_outline(file_path="services/worker-service.ts")
   -> 1,466 tokens: 12 functions, WorkerService class with 24 members
2. smart_unfold(file_path="services/worker-service.ts", symbol_name="startSessionProcessor")
   -> 1,610 tokens: the specific method you need
Total: ~3,076 tokens vs ~12,000 to Read the full file

Write documentation about code (hybrid workflow):

1. smart_search(query="feature name", path="./src")    -- discover all relevant files and symbols
2. smart_outline on key files                           -- understand structure
3. smart_unfold on important functions                  -- get implementation details
4. Read on small config/markdown/plan files             -- get non-code context

Use smart_* tools for code exploration, Read for non-code files. Mix freely.

Exploration then precision:

1. smart_search(query="session", path="./src", max_results=10)
   -> 10 ranked symbols: SessionMetadata, SessionQueueProcessor, SessionSummary...
2. Pick the relevant one, unfold it

Token Economics

4-8x savings on file understanding (outline + unfold vs Read). 11-18x savings on codebase exploration vs Explore agent. The narrower the query, the wider the gap — a 27-line function costs 55x less to read via unfold than via an Explore agent, because the agent still reads the entire file.

Language Support

Smart-explore uses tree-sitter AST parsing for structural analysis. Unsupported file types fall back to text-based search.

Bundled Languages

Files with unrecognized extensions are parsed as plain text — smart_search still works (grep-style), but smart_outline and smart_unfold will not extract structured symbols.

Custom Grammars (.claude-mem.json)

You can register additional tree-sitter grammars for file types not in the bundled list. Create or update .claude-mem.json in your project root:

{
  "grammars": {
    "solidity": {
      "package": "tree-sitter-solidity",
      "extensions": [".sol"],
      "query": "solidity-query.scm"
    }
  }
}

Each key is a language name. package is the npm package of the tree-sitter grammar and extensions lists the file extensions it covers; the package must be installed in the project's node_modules (npm install tree-sitter-solidity). query (optional) is a path, relative to the config file, to a tree-sitter query whose captures (@func, @cls, @method, @iface, @enm, @struct_def, @imp) extract symbols. Without query, a minimal generic pattern is used — it only matches grammars that define function_declaration/class_declaration node types, and query compilation fails silently (0 symbols) for grammars that lack them, so a custom query is effectively required for most languages. Once registered, smart_outline and smart_unfold parse those extensions structurally instead of falling back to plain text.

Markdown Special Support

Markdown files (.md, .mdx) receive special handling beyond the generic plain-text fallback:

• smart_outline — extracts headings (#, ##, ###) as the symbol tree. Use it to navigate long documents without reading the full file.
• smart_search — searches within code fences as well as prose, so queries for function names inside ```ts ``` blocks work as expected.
• smart_unfold — expands heading sections rather than function bodies; each section up to the next same-level heading is returned as a chunk.
• Frontmatter — YAML frontmatter (lines between leading --- delimiters) is included in smart_outline output under a synthetic frontmatter symbol so metadata like title: and description: is visible without reading the whole file.

Source: thedotmack/claude-mem → plugin/skills/smart-explore/SKILL.md