Skip to main content

brokk-bifrost-searchtools

Fast, structured code search and analysis for Python, backed by a native Rust extension. This is the Python distribution of bifrost, the Tree-sitter-backed analyzer suite that powers Brokk.

It gives you one in-process client that talks straight to the Rust analyzer (no subprocess, no MCP server) and returns typed results plus ready-to-render text. It understands Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, Go, Python, C++, C#, PHP, and Scala.

  • Install: pip install brokk-bifrost-searchtools
  • Import as: bifrost_searchtools

What it does

Index a project once, then ask fast structural questions:

  • Symbol search: find classes, functions, and fields by name pattern.
  • Locations and sources: jump to a symbol's definition or pull its source.
  • Summaries and listings: get signature-level file/class outlines, immediate git-visible directory children, or package types and child packages.
  • Usages and call graph: scan references to a symbol, or build the whole-workspace caller/callee graph (feed it to PageRank for a code map).
  • Most-relevant files: rank the files most related to one or more seed files.
  • Semantic search: find code by meaning, using ONNX embeddings and a cross-encoder reranker (opt-in).

Quick start

from bifrost_searchtools import SearchToolsClient

with SearchToolsClient("/path/to/project") as client:
    # Signature-level outline of a file
    print(client.get_summaries(["src/main.py"]).render_text())

    # Find symbols by name pattern
    for file in client.search_symbols(["parse_*"], limit=10).files:
        print(file.path)

    # Rank the files most related to a seed file
    print(client.most_relevant_files(["src/main.py"]).render_text())

The client indexes on first use, keeps the index warm for the session, and watches the filesystem so later queries see your edits. Every result has typed fields plus a render_text() helper.

For a runnable end-to-end demo, examples/searchtools_demo.py declares its dependency inline (PEP 723), so uv fetches the package and runs it with no manual install:

uv run examples/searchtools_demo.py --root /path/to/repo Calculator compute

API overview

SearchToolsClient(root, library_path=None, render_line_numbers=True, manual=False) exposes:

Method Purpose
search_symbols(patterns, *, include_tests=False, limit=20) Find symbols by name pattern.
query_code(pattern=None, *, union=None, intersect=None, except_=None, inside=None, not_inside=None, where=None, languages=None, steps=None, limit=None, result_detail=None, schema_version=None, execution_mode=None) Query normalized code structure, compose compatible typed branches, and optionally explain or profile execution.
get_symbol_locations(symbols, *, kind_filter=...) Resolve symbols to definition sites.
get_symbol_ancestors(symbols, *, kind_filter=...) Walk the enclosing type/scope chain.
get_symbol_sources(symbols, *, kind_filter=...) Pull full source for symbols.
get_declarations_by_location([{"path": ..., "line": ..., "column": ...}]) Resolve references to declaration contracts at known file locations.
get_definitions_by_location([{"path": ..., "line": ..., "column": ...}]) Resolve references to concrete definitions at known file locations.
get_definitions_by_reference([{"symbol": ..., "context": ..., "target": ...}]) Resolve copied references inside symbol source blocks.
get_type_by_location(path, *, line=..., column=...) Resolve the type of an expression or identifier at a known file location.
get_summaries(targets) Signature-level file/class outlines; immediate directory children; or exact-package types and direct child packages.
list_symbols(file_patterns) Skim the symbols declared in matching files.
scan_usages_by_reference(symbols, *, include_tests=False, paths=None) Find references to known symbols.
scan_usages_by_location(targets, *, include_tests=False, paths=None) Find references from declaration line/column targets.
rename_symbol(path, *, line=..., column=..., new_name=...) Return a non-mutating edit plan for a symbol rename.
usage_graph(*, include_tests=False, paths=None) Whole-workspace caller/callee graph; each edge carries its {path, line} call sites.
most_relevant_files(seed_files, *, limit=20, ...) Rank files related to seed files.
semantic_search(query, *, k=10) Meaning-based code search (opt-in).
semantic_search_status() Report whether the semantic index is ready.
refresh() Force a full re-index (recovery escape hatch).
update_paths(paths) Incrementally re-analyze specific paths (with manual=True).
activate_workspace(path) / get_active_workspace() Switch / read the active workspace root.
get_file_contents(file_paths) Read whole files by path.
find_filenames(patterns, *, limit=None) Find files by path glob.
search_file_contents(patterns, *, file_path=None, context_lines=None, case_insensitive=False) Grep contents with context.
find_files_containing(patterns, *, limit=None, case_insensitive=False) Find files whose contents match.
list_files(directory_path="", *, max_entries=None) List files under a directory.
jq(file_path, filter_expr, *, max_files=None, matches_per_file=None) Run a jq filter over JSON files.
xml_skim(file_path, *, max_files=None) Summarize XML element structure.
xml_select(file_path, xpath, *, output=XmlSelectOutput.TEXT, attr_name=None, max_files=None) Evaluate an XPath over XML files.
compute_cyclomatic_complexity(file_paths, *, threshold=None) Per-function cyclomatic complexity.
compute_cognitive_complexity(file_paths, *, threshold=None) Per-function cognitive complexity.
report_comment_density_for_code_unit(fq_name, *, max_lines=None) Comment density for one symbol.
report_comment_density_for_files(file_paths, *, max_top_level_rows=None, max_files=None) Comment density per file.
report_exception_handling_smells(file_paths, *, min_score=None, max_findings=None, options=None) Suspicious exception handlers.
report_test_assertion_smells(file_paths, *, min_score=None, max_findings=None, options=None) Low-value test assertions.
report_structural_clone_smells(file_paths, *, min_score=None, max_findings=None, options=None) Structural code clones.
report_long_method_and_god_object_smells(file_paths, *, max_findings=None, max_files=None, options=None) Oversized functions / god objects.
report_dead_code_and_unused_abstraction_smells(*, file_paths=None, fq_names=None, min_score=None, max_findings=None, options=None) Likely dead code (Rust).
report_secret_like_code(*, max_findings=None, max_commits=None, include_history_only=False, include_low_confidence=False) Secret-looking strings in files / history.
analyze_git_hotspots(*, since_days=None, since_iso=None, until_iso=None, max_commits=None, max_files=None) Churn × complexity hotspots.

Pass render_line_numbers=False to drop line numbers from rendered text while keeping the structured line metadata on the result objects.

The slopcop tools return a CodeQualityReport (.report), and the rest return structured dataclasses from bifrost_searchtools.models. The per-rule tuning knobs on the smell reports are passed through options (keys map 1:1 to the Rust tool arguments).

Location navigation results expose a NavigationOperation. Declarations use DeclarationLookupResult.declarations; definitions use DefinitionLookupResult.definitions. Their statuses distinguish no_declaration, no_definition, and ambiguous. Reference-based definition lookup is unchanged, and there is no declaration-by-reference method.

Exact source positions use 1-based lines and 1-based Unicode code-point columns, with an exclusive end position. Individual usage hits carry line, column, end_line, and end_column; definition, declaration, and nested type candidates carry start_line, start_column, end_line, and end_column. Column fields are absent for aggregate rows or candidates whose exact name token cannot be proven. Byte offsets remain internal.

query_code detail and ranges

query_code is a versioned typed query surface. Omit schema_version for the compatible head, currently v6, or pass schema_version=2 to pin the pre-CFG vocabulary. Pass schema_version=3 to pin CFG without typestate or schema_version=4 to pin typestate without declaration-bounded containment. Pass schema_version=5 to pin containment without value flow. Pass exactly one of pattern, union, intersect, or except_; set operands are complete query-plan dictionaries with compatible terminal domains. A structural pattern or composed set can be followed by ordered steps using enclosing_decl, file_of, imports_of, importers_of, supertypes, subtypes, members, owner, procedure_of, cfg_entry, cfg_exits, cfg_successor_edges, cfg_predecessor_edges, cfg_edge_source, cfg_edge_target, typestate, value_flow, and witness. Import operations traverse one direct project-local edge per step. Hierarchy operations are direct by default and accept a positive depth or transitive: true. Declaration results are limited to declarations indexed by the workspace analyzer, so references into an unindexed library do not manufacture library declarations. Results are tagged as structural matches, declarations, reference sites, call sites, expression sites, receiver analyses, procedures, program points, control edges, typestate findings, typestate witnesses, flow endpoints, flow witnesses, or files. The CFG operations are procedure-local and one-hop. Schema v4 can consume a host-registered typestate protocol/binding pair and project its already-retained bounded witnesses; the Python call sends only protocol_ref. Schema v5 adds inside_decl, which matches containment only until a nested function, method, constructor, or lambda boundary. Schema v6 consumes a host-registered ValueFlowPlan by plan_ref and preserves reachability, exact/may certainty, ambiguity, completion, and budget status as independent diagnostic-neutral fields. It does not classify policy findings. Compact output retains minimal pipeline provenance. Pass result_detail="full" when follow-up tooling needs deterministic IDs and precise ranges.

Omit execution_mode (or pass "results") for the ordinary CodeQueryResult. Pass execution_mode="explain" to receive a CodeQueryExplain containing the normalized query, logical DAG, selected physical plan, and scheduling decision without executing the query. Pass execution_mode="profile" to execute it and receive a CodeQueryProfile; its .result is the ordinary typed result, while .explain, .timings_ns, .work, .cache_layers, .scheduling, and .operators expose structured observations. Explain physical nodes declare any semantic_request, while profile .work.semantic accounts materialization, cache reuse, CFG rows, retained bytes, traversal, and budget exhaustion; .work.semantic.typestate accounts solver reuse, findings, retained witnesses, and termination; .work.semantic.value_flow reports flow solves, meetings, endpoints, witnesses, and termination. Profile timings are elapsed nanoseconds, and temporary_capacity_bytes_lower_bound is deliberately only a lower-bound container-capacity estimate. In the public v2 profile contract, top-level and per-operator .cache_layers are lists of {layer, metrics} records. The nested metrics object has kind="structural_facts" for seed_structural_facts and kind="complete_value" for every other layer. The direct_import_topology layer additionally reports snapshot build files, edges, time, retained bytes, cancellation/unavailability, and request-local fallbacks.

For decorated or annotated declarations, node_range is the matched normalized node's parser-backed range. decorator_ranges are the decorator or annotation role spans extracted by the language adapter. decorated_range is the union of node_range and those decorator ranges. Matching semantics are unchanged by requesting full detail; these fields only make the span policy explicit.

Current structural precision

query_code normalizes common syntax across Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, C/C++, Rust, PHP, Scala, C#, and Ruby, but it is still a syntactic structural query tool. Use these caveats when writing reusable rules or prompts; the public Code Querying guide is the canonical reference:

Area Current behavior
Constructor calls Java object creation and JS/TS new expressions are normalized as call; constructors are also refined as constructor declarations where the adapter can identify them.
Keyword arguments Python, PHP, Scala, C#, and Ruby support normalized kwargs; other adapters report unsupported-role diagnostics.
Imports and aliases Import matching is based on syntactic module/import spans. It does not resolve aliases or follow re-exports.
Receiver and callee callee.name and receiver.name are derived from AST fields and terminal names, not type resolution. Chained calls stay syntactic.
Decorators and annotations Decorators/annotations are exposed through the decorators role. Full detail reports node_range, decorator_ranges, and decorated_range.
Positional arguments args patterns match positional arguments in order as a subsequence; v2 does not require exact positions or arity.
Typed pipelines Declaration, hierarchy, and ownership steps preserve exact indexed identities; import steps follow direct workspace file edges and may be repeated; schema-v3 CFG steps expose source-backed procedure-local points and explicit one-hop edges.
Unsupported capabilities Queries against unsupported normalized kinds or roles return diagnostics instead of silently pretending the language can answer them.

Semantic search

semantic_search(...) searches code by meaning rather than name and returns the three retrieval legs directly: function-oriented vector and BM25 rankings over function-level chunks, plus a file-oriented co-edit ranking. It searches code, not prose.

It is opt-in. Set BIFROST_SEMANTIC_INDEX=auto to enable background indexing; the models load via ONNX and download from the HuggingFace hub on first use. The semantic search docs list every environment override.

License

LGPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.md.

Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distribution

brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17.tar.gz (7.9 MB view details)

Uploaded Source

Built Distributions

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl (24.7 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+Windows x86-64

brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl (26.2 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+manylinux: glibc 2.17+ x86-64

brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl (25.6 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+manylinux: glibc 2.17+ ARM64

brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl (24.3 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+macOS 11.0+ ARM64

brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl (25.4 MB view details)

Uploaded CPython 3.12+macOS 10.12+ x86-64

File details

Details for the file brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17.tar.gz.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17.tar.gz
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 441024a9dee9b67eafd870b1cc1ee84b2838cc52c904b87c837702974182f9d2
MD5 e08c8d61396cbe87034d564f195dd223
BLAKE2b-256 1e39d1c7ccb7f7c754ab46cdb27e042670a3510434059d3a8dcc200060d7c63d

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17.tar.gz:

Publisher: release.yml on BrokkAi/bifrost

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 1d00503c17f07659379789088528d3d50f169b94ed795bf42813ddc4e9fedecf
MD5 cd1a050279fd519c6823cd1b345a6c64
BLAKE2b-256 eca98cde5023939853aa64966e962f95d4257a18c88f836cc24372ecd8283599

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-win_amd64.whl:

Publisher: release.yml on BrokkAi/bifrost

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 322cb76e166b89a441b30f7c59578b13e022af4de3e42398b16a583ac4506c87
MD5 47d13e8c06a2b56e364cfc5d3abd5eda
BLAKE2b-256 488abf6f1a1f9d3b9fc2eed77555017488ae89f8d698d7710c42920ad9abae87

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl:

Publisher: release.yml on BrokkAi/bifrost

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 dafe53bf2c681ae9b1629fa3fe3fa4055cc479effbef94328e2fd6092ea20000
MD5 9db08d7694009d7847533d12d5c83099
BLAKE2b-256 7adddf54c8def2d76d9bd1afa8caddf63653604fc9e1b65bc28123ed2b8b5452

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl:

Publisher: release.yml on BrokkAi/bifrost

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 6dbd54c00141a6ba9c5e40dcc7b161e1813730ca75f0e73f25b100afbea61be1
MD5 6e3357a4498e96f2ad33731eacab8b64
BLAKE2b-256 c233dcd3adc6cc1907e5ad5f2bc55129260802db8bfa7943cb0722ff3895963e

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl:

Publisher: release.yml on BrokkAi/bifrost

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 c93cc965f5d61822406242df26b61eb920c03f0aa798a137473478b977cc1e70
MD5 2c3b456361f6baa55ef97b23c50b451b
BLAKE2b-256 8b7102f5ff37bd91defea8ce2f600a67ab3a6bd1ffcdc443eeb34afbb223a499

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for brokk_bifrost_searchtools-0.8.17-cp312-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl:

Publisher: release.yml on BrokkAi/bifrost

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

Supported by

AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Depot Continuous Integration Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Pingdom Monitoring Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page