Search Hierarchy Skill for Claude

by parcadei

Search Tool Hierarchy

579 tokens

context cost

the whole folder, loaded on every use

files

instructions only

copies elsewhere

how many repositories repackaged it

3880

stars on the repo

on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository

npx skills add https://github.com/parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3 --skill search-hierarchy

The instruction itself

8 sections, as written by the author

Search Tool Hierarchy

Use the most token-efficient search tool for each query type.

Decision Tree

Query Type?
├── STRUCTURAL (code patterns)
│   → AST-grep (~50 tokens output)
│   Examples: "def foo", "class Bar", "import X", "@decorator"
│
├── SEMANTIC (conceptual questions)
│   → LEANN (~100 tokens if path-only)
│   Examples: "how does auth work", "find error handling patterns"
│
├── LITERAL (exact identifiers)
│   → Grep (variable output)
│   Examples: "TemporalMemory", "check_evocation", regex patterns
│
└── FULL CONTEXT (need complete understanding)
    → Read (1500+ tokens)
    Last resort after finding the right file

Token Efficiency Comparison

| Tool | Output Size | Best For |

|------|-------------|----------|

| AST-grep | ~50 tokens | Function/class definitions, imports, decorators |

| LEANN | ~100 tokens | Conceptual questions, architecture, patterns |

| Grep | ~200-2000 | Exact identifiers, regex, file paths |

| Read | ~1500+ | Full understanding after finding the file |

Hook Enforcement

The grep-to-leann.sh hook automatically:

Detects query type (structural/semantic/literal)
Blocks and suggests AST-grep for structural queries
Blocks and suggests LEANN for semantic queries
Allows literal patterns through to Grep

DO

Start with AST-grep for code structure questions
Use LEANN for "how does X work" questions
Use Grep only for exact identifier matches
Read files only after finding them via search

DON'T

Use Grep for conceptual questions (returns nothing)
Read files before knowing which ones are relevant
Use Read when AST-grep would give file:line
Ignore hook suggestions

Examples

# STRUCTURAL → AST-grep
ast-grep --pattern "async def $FUNC($$$):" --lang python

# SEMANTIC → LEANN
leann search opc-dev "how does authentication work" --top-k 3

# LITERAL → Grep
Grep pattern="check_evocation" path=opc/scripts

# FULL CONTEXT → Read (after finding file)
Read file_path=opc/scripts/z3_erotetic.py

Optimal Flow

1. AST-grep: "Find async functions" → 3 file:line matches
2. Read: Top match only → Full understanding
3. Skip: 4 irrelevant files → 6000 tokens saved

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How to use it

Copy the folder

Take parcadei/search-hierarchy from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.