Terminal tools fs search

Filesystem search

terminal-tools provides two structured search tools: terminal_rg (ripgrep for content) and terminal_find (find for predicates). Everything else (tree, stat, du) is just terminal_exec.

When to use what

Task	Tool
Find code/text matching a pattern in your project	files-tools.search_files (project-aware, ranks by relevance)
Find code/text matching a pattern in /var/log, /etc, archives, system dirs	terminal_rg
Find files matching name/glob/predicate	terminal_find
List a directory	terminal_exec("ls -la /path")
Tree view	terminal_exec("tree -L 2 /path")
Single-path stat	terminal_exec("stat /path")
Disk usage	terminal_exec("du -sh /path") or terminal_exec("du -h --max-depth=2 /")
Count matches across files	terminal_rg(pattern, count=True via extra_args=["-c"])

terminal_rg — content search

ripgrep is fast, gitignore-aware, and has a deep flag surface. The structured wrapper exposes the most useful flags directly; extra_args covers the rest.

Common patterns

# All Python files containing "TODO"
terminal_rg(pattern="TODO", path=".", type_filter="py")

# Case-insensitive, with context
terminal_rg(pattern="error", path="/var/log", ignore_case=True, context=2)

# Search hidden files (rg ignores them by default)
terminal_rg(pattern="api_key", path="~", hidden=True)

# Don't respect .gitignore (find files git would ignore)
terminal_rg(pattern="generated", path=".", no_ignore=True)

# Multi-line pattern (e.g., function definitions spanning lines)
terminal_rg(pattern=r"def\s+\w+\(.*\n.*\n", path="src", extra_args=["--multiline"])

# Specific filename glob
terminal_rg(pattern="version", path=".", glob="*.toml")

rg flag idioms

Flag	Effect
-tpy (type_filter="py")	Only Python files
-uu	Don't respect any ignores (incl. .git/)
--multiline (extra_args)	Allow regex spanning lines
--max-count (max_count)	Stop after N matches per file
--max-depth (max_depth)	Limit recursion
-w (extra_args)	Whole word match
-F (extra_args)	Fixed string (no regex)

See references/ripgrep_cheatsheet.md for the long form.

terminal_find — predicate search

find excels at "files matching N criteria". The wrapper surfaces the most common predicates; combine via the structured arguments.

# All .log files modified in the last 7 days, larger than 1MB
terminal_find(path="/var/log", iname="*.log", mtime_days=7, size_kb_min=1024)

# All directories named ".git" (find Git repos under a tree)
terminal_find(path="~/projects", name=".git", type_filter="d")

# Only the top three levels
terminal_find(path="/etc", max_depth=3, type_filter="f")

# Symlinks
terminal_find(path=".", type_filter="l")

See references/find_predicates.md for combinations not directly exposed.

Output truncation

Both tools return truncated: true when their output exceeded the inline cap. For terminal_rg, this means matches were dropped (refine the pattern or narrow the path); for terminal_find, results past max_results (default 1000) are dropped. Tighten predicates rather than raising the cap.

Anti-patterns

• Don't terminal_rg your project tree — files-tools.search_files is project-aware and ranks results.
• Don't reach for terminal_find to list one directory — terminal_exec("ls -la /path") is shorter.
• Don't use terminal_exec("grep ...") when terminal_rg exists — rg is faster, gitignore-aware, and returns structured matches.
• Don't use terminal_exec("find ...") to invent your own predicate combinations — use terminal_find and report missing capabilities.