Grepai Search Tips

# GrepAI Search Tips

This skill provides tips and best practices for writing effective semantic search queries.

## When to Use This Skill

- Improving search result quality
- Learning semantic search techniques
- Understanding how to phrase queries
- Troubleshooting poor search results

## Semantic Search Mindset

Think differently from text search:

| Text Search (grep) | Semantic Search (GrepAI) |
|--------------------|--------------------------|
| Search for exact text | Search for meaning/intent |
| "getUserById" | "retrieve user from database by ID" |
| Literal match | Conceptual match |

## Query Writing Principles

### 1. Describe Intent, Not Implementation

❌ **Bad:** `getUserById`
✅ **Good:** `fetch user record from database using ID`

❌ **Bad:** `handleError`
✅ **Good:** `error handling and response to client`

❌ **Bad:** `validateInput`
✅ **Good:** `check if user input is valid and safe`

### 2. Use Descriptive Language

❌ **Bad:** `auth`
✅ **Good:** `user authentication and authorization`

❌ **Bad:** `db`
✅ **Good:** `database connection and queries`

❌ **Bad:** `config`
✅ **Good:** `application configuration loading`

### 3. Be Specific About Context

❌ **Bad:** `validation`
✅ **Good:** `validate email address format`

❌ **Bad:** `parse`
✅ **Good:** `parse JSON request body`

❌ **Bad:** `send`
✅ **Good:** `send email notification to user`

### 4. Use 3-7 Words

| Length | Example | Quality |
|--------|---------|---------|
| Too short | "auth" | ⚠️ Vague |
| Good | "user authentication middleware" | ✅ Specific |
| Too long | "the code that handles user authentication and validates JWT tokens in the middleware layer" | ⚠️ Verbose |

### 5. Use English

Embedding models are trained primarily on English:

❌ `authentification utilisateur` (French)
✅ `user authentication`

Even if your code comments are in another language, English queries work best.

## Query Patterns

### Finding Code by Behavior

```bash
grepai search "validate user credentials before login"
grepai search "send notification when order is placed"
grepai search "calculate total price with discounts"
grepai search "retry failed HTTP requests"
```

### Finding Code by Purpose

```bash
grepai search "middleware that checks authentication"
grepai search "function that formats dates"
grepai search "service that sends emails"
grepai search "handler for payment processing"
```

### Finding Error Handling

```bash
grepai search "handle errors from API calls"
grepai search "catch and log exceptions"
grepai search "error response to client"
grepai search "validation error messages"
```

### Finding Data Operations

```bash
grepai search "save user to database"
grepai search "query products by category"
grepai search "cache frequently accessed data"
grepai search "transform data before storage"
```

### Finding Configuration

```bash
grepai search "load configuration from environment"
grepai search "database connection settings"
grepai search "API keys and secrets management"
grepai search "feature flags and toggles"
```

### Finding Security Code

```bash
grepai search "password hashing and verification"
grepai search "input sanitization to prevent injection"
grepai search "rate limiting for API endpoints"
grepai search "CORS configuration"
```

## Iterative Refinement

If results aren't good, iterate:

### Start Broad

```bash
grepai search "authentication"
# Results too varied
```

### Add Context

```bash
grepai search "JWT authentication"
# Better, but still broad
```

### Be Specific

```bash
grepai search "JWT token validation middleware"
# Precise results
```

## Using Synonyms

Semantic search understands synonyms. Try different phrasings:

```bash
# These may return similar results:
grepai search "user authentication"
grepai search "user login verification"
grepai search "credential validation"
grepai s