Fast native Rust CLI for structural code search in Android/Kotlin/Java, iOS/Swift/ObjC, TypeScript/JavaScript, Rust, Ruby, C#, Perl, Python, Go, C++, and Proto projects using SQLite + FTS5 index.

ALWAYS use ast-index FIRST for any code search task. These rules are mandatory:

1. ast-index is the PRIMARY search tool — use it before grep, ripgrep, or Search tool
2. DO NOT duplicate results — if ast-index found usages/implementations, that IS the complete answer
3. DO NOT run grep "for completeness" after ast-index returns results
4. Use grep/Search ONLY when:
   • ast-index returns empty results
   • Searching for regex patterns (ast-index uses literal match)
   • Searching for string literals inside code ("some text")
   • Searching in comments content

Why: ast-index is 17-69x faster than grep (1-10ms vs 200ms-3s) and returns structured, accurate results.

Install the CLI before use:

brew tap defendend/ast-index
brew install ast-index

Initialize index in project root:

cd /path/to/project
ast-index rebuild

The index is stored at ~/.cache/ast-index/<project-hash>/index.db and needs rebuilding when project structure changes significantly.

Project type is auto-detected by marker files (build.gradle.kts, Package.swift, Makefile.PL, etc.). Python, Go, Proto, WSDL, and C++ files are indexed alongside main project type.

search - Perform universal search across files, symbols, and modules simultaneously.

ast-index search "Payment"           # Finds files, classes, functions matching "Payment"
ast-index search "ViewModel"         # Returns files, symbols, modules in ranked order

file - Find files by name pattern.

ast-index file "Fragment.kt"         # Find files ending with Fragment.kt
ast-index file "ViewController"      # Find iOS view controllers

symbol - Find symbols (classes, interfaces, functions, properties) by name.

ast-index symbol "PaymentInteractor" # Find exact symbol
ast-index symbol "Presenter"         # Find all presenters

class - Find class, interface, or protocol definitions.

ast-index class "BaseFragment"       # Find Android base fragment
ast-index class "UIViewController"   # Find iOS view controller subclass

usages - Find all places where a symbol is used. Critical for refactoring.

ast-index usages "PaymentRepository" # Find all usages of repository
ast-index usages "onClick"           # Find all click handler usages

Performance: ~8ms for indexed symbols.

implementations - Find all classes that extend or implement a given class/interface/protocol.

ast-index implementations "BasePresenter"  # Find all presenter implementations
ast-index implementations "Repository"     # Find repository implementations

hierarchy - Display complete class hierarchy tree.

ast-index hierarchy "BaseFragment"   # Show fragment inheritance tree

callers - Find all places that call a specific function.

ast-index callers "onClick"          # Find all onClick calls
ast-index callers "fetchUser"        # Find API call sites

call-tree - Show complete call hierarchy going UP (who calls the callers).

ast-index call-tree "processPayment" --depth 3 --limit 10

imports - List all imports in a specific file.

ast-index imports "path/to/File.kt"  # Show Kotlin file imports

outline - Show all symbols defined in a file.

ast-index outline "PaymentFragment.kt"    # Show fragment structure

todo - Find TODO/FIXME/HACK comments in code.

ast-index todo                           # Find all TODO comments
ast-index todo --limit 10                # Limit results

deprecated - Find @Deprecated annotations.

ast-index deprecated                     # Find deprecated items

changed - Show symbols changed in git diff.

ast-index changed                        # Changes vs HEAD
ast-index changed --base main            # Changes vs main branch

api - Show public API of a module.

ast-index api "core"                     # Public classes/functions in module

ast-index init                           # Initialize index for current project

ast-index rebuild                    # Full rebuild with dependencies
ast-index rebuild --no-deps          # Skip module dependency indexing
ast-index rebuild --no-ignore        # Include gitignored files
ast-index update                     # Incremental update
ast-index stats                      # Show index statistics

ast-index version                    # Show CLI version
ast-index help                       # Show help message
ast-index help <command>             # Show help for specific command
ast-index install-claude-plugin      # Install Claude Code plugin to ~/.claude/plugins/

Consult: references/android-commands.md

• DI Commands: provides, inject, annotations
• Compose Commands: composables, previews
• Coroutines Commands: suspend, flows
• XML Commands: xml-usages, resource-usages
• Code Quality: deprecated, suppress, todo
• Extensions: extensions
• Navigation: deeplinks

Consult: references/ios-commands.md

• Storyboard & XIB: storyboard-usages
• Assets: asset-usages
• SwiftUI: swiftui
• Swift Concurrency: async-funcs, main-actor
• Combine: publishers

Consult: references/typescript-commands.md

• Index: class, interface, type, function, const, decorators
• Supports: React (hooks, components), Vue SFC, Svelte, NestJS, Angular
• outline and imports work with TS/JS files

Consult: references/rust-commands.md

• Index: struct, enum, trait, impl, fn, macro_rules!, mod
• Supports: Derives, attributes (#[test], #[derive])
• outline and imports work with Rust files

Consult: references/ruby-commands.md

• Index: class, module, def, Rails DSL
• Supports: RSpec (describe, it, let), Rails (associations, validations)
• outline and imports work with Ruby files

Consult: references/csharp-commands.md

• Index: class, interface, struct, record, enum, methods, properties
• Supports: ASP.NET attributes, Unity (MonoBehaviour, SerializeField)
• outline and imports work with C# files

Consult: references/python-commands.md

• Index: class, def, async def, decorators
• outline and imports work with Python files

Consult: references/go-commands.md

• Index: package, type struct, type interface, func
• outline and imports work with Go files

Consult: references/perl-commands.md

• Exports: perl-exports
• Subroutines: perl-subs
• POD: perl-pod
• Imports: perl-imports
• Tests: perl-tests

Consult: references/module-commands.md

• Module Search: module
• Dependencies: deps, dependents
• Unused Dependencies: unused-deps
• Public API: api

1. Run ast-index rebuild once in project root to build the index
2. Use ast-index search for quick universal search when exploring
3. Use ast-index class for precise class/interface lookup
4. Use ast-index usages to find all references before refactoring
5. Use ast-index implementations to understand inheritance
6. Use ast-index changed --base main before code review
7. Run ast-index update periodically to keep index fresh

For detailed platform-specific commands, consult:

• references/android-commands.md - DI, Compose, Coroutines, XML
• references/ios-commands.md - Storyboard, SwiftUI, Combine
• references/typescript-commands.md - React, Vue, Svelte, NestJS, Angular
• references/rust-commands.md - Structs, traits, impl blocks, macros
• references/ruby-commands.md - Rails, RSpec, classes, modules
• references/csharp-commands.md - ASP.NET, Unity, controllers, interfaces
• references/perl-commands.md - Perl exports, subs, POD
• references/python-commands.md - Python classes, functions
• references/go-commands.md - Go structs, interfaces
• references/cpp-commands.md - C/C++ classes, JNI functions
• references/proto-commands.md - Protocol Buffers messages, services
• references/wsdl-commands.md - WSDL services, XSD types
• references/module-commands.md - Module dependencies