Codebase - Semantic Code Search Tool

A fast, offline semantic code search tool powered by tree-sitter that lets you search for code patterns using natural language queries.

Features

• Natural Language Queries: Search using plain English like "find functions", "show structs", "find enums"
• Semantic Search: Find code by what it does, not just by pattern matching (use -i flag)
• Multi-Language Support: Rust, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, C, and C++
• Ranked Results: Relevance scoring for semantic searches
• Context Lines: View surrounding code with the --context option
• Syntax-Aware: Uses tree-sitter for accurate parsing, not just text matching
• Fast: Recursively scans directories and filters by file extension
• Colored Output: Beautiful terminal output with syntax highlighting

Installation

Option 1: Install from crates.io (Recommended)

cargo install codebase

This installs the codebase command globally on your system.

Option 2: Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/AshishSatish/codebase.git
cd codebase
cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/codebase.exe (Windows) or target/release/codebase (Linux/Mac).

To install globally:

cargo install --path .

Option 3: Download Pre-built Binary

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases:

• Windows: codebase-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
• macOS: codebase-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• Linux: codebase-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Extract and add to your PATH.

Usage

Basic Search (Pattern Mode)

# Find all functions in current directory
codebase "find functions"

# Find structs in a specific directory
codebase "find structs" --path src

# Search only Rust files
codebase "find functions" --ext rs

# Search multiple file types
codebase "find classes" --ext "py,js,ts"

Semantic Search (Implementation Mode)

# Find functions that parse files (ranked by relevance)
codebase "parse file tree-sitter" --path src --ext rs -i

# Show why each function matched
codebase "authentication validate user" --ext py -i --verbose

# Search for specific functionality across languages
codebase "handle http requests" --ext "js,ts,py" -i

Semantic mode (-i flag) searches by what the code does, not just patterns:

• Extracts function names and bodies
• Scores matches based on keyword relevance
• Ranks results by score (highest first)
• Shows match reasons in verbose mode

Context Lines

# Show 2 lines of context before and after each match
codebase "find structs" --context 2

# Short form
codebase "find impl" -C 3

Supported Query Patterns

Rust

• Functions: "find functions", "find fn", "find methods"
• Structs: "find structs"
• Enums: "find enums"
• Traits: "find traits", "find interface"
• Implementations: "find impl"
• Constants: "find const"
• Imports: "find import", "find use"

Python

• Functions: "find functions", "find def"
• Classes: "find classes"
• Decorators: "find decorators"
• Imports: "find imports"

JavaScript

• Functions: "find functions"
• Arrow Functions: "find arrow"
• Classes: "find classes"
• Variables: "find var", "find let", "find const"
• Imports/Exports: "find import", "find export"

TypeScript

• Functions: "find functions"
• Classes: "find classes"
• Interfaces: "find interface"
• Type Aliases: "find type"
• Enums: "find enum"
• Imports/Exports: "find import", "find export"

C/C++

• Functions: "find functions"
• Structs: "find structs"
• Classes (C++): "find classes"
• Enums: "find enums"
• Typedefs (C): "find typedef"
• Namespaces (C++): "find namespace"
• Templates (C++): "find template"

Examples

# Find all Rust implementations with context
$ codebase "find impl" --ext rs -C 2

src\parser.rs

  20:1
  19
  20 → impl SupportedLanguage {
  21       /// Detect language from file extension
  22       pub fn from_extension(ext: &str) -> Option<Self> {

# Find all TypeScript interfaces
$ codebase "find interface" --ext ts

src/types.ts
  12:1 → interface UserConfig {
  45:1 → interface DatabaseConnection {

Command Line Options

• <QUERY>: Natural language query (required)
• -p, --path <PATH>: Path to search (default: current directory)
• -e, --ext <EXT>: Filter by file extensions (e.g., "rs,py,js")
• -C, --context <N>: Show N lines of context around matches
• -v, --verbose: Show verbose output including parse errors
• -h, --help: Show help information

How It Works

1. File Walking: Recursively scans the specified directory
2. Language Detection: Identifies language from file extension
3. Tree-sitter Parsing: Parses files into Abstract Syntax Trees (AST)
4. Pattern Matching: Maps your natural language query to tree-sitter queries
5. Results: Displays matches with file paths, line numbers, and optional context

Supported Languages & Extensions

License

This project uses tree-sitter and various tree-sitter language parsers.