Ctags

Index the codebase using Universal ctags when LSP is unavailable for a language. Generates a JSON symbol table with name, kind, file, line, and end line for all detected symbols. Supports 40+ languages natively.From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add benmarte/codemunch --skill ctags

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

2 things to look at

6 stars6 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.
runs commandsInstructs the agent to run 3 commands, including `ctags --version 2>&1 | grep -i universal` and 2 more.

SKILL.md

2.4 KB, 615 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it

ctags Indexing Skill

Use Universal ctags to build a symbol index when LSP is not available.

Check ctags version

# Universal ctags has --output-format=json — we need this
ctags --version 2>&1 | grep -i universal
# If not universal ctags, basic ctags won't have JSON output
# Fall back to parsing classic ctags format instead

Run ctags

universal-ctags \
  --recurse=yes \
  --output-format=json \
  --fields=+n+e+K+S+Z \
  --extras=+q+r \
  --exclude=node_modules \
  --exclude=.git \
  --exclude=target \
  --exclude=__pycache__ \
  --exclude=.claude/codemunch \
  --exclude=dist \
  --exclude=build \
  --exclude=vendor \
  -f - \
  . 2>/dev/null

Field reference

n — line number
e — end line
K — kind (long form: "function", "class", etc.)
S — signature
Z — scope (container class/module)

Parse output into codemunch format

ctags JSON output per line:

{"_type":"tag","name":"validateToken","path":"src/auth/tokens.ts","pattern":"/^async function validateToken/","kind":"function","line":142,"end":163,"signature":"(token: string): Promise<User | null>","scope":"AuthService","scopeKind":"class"}

Filter noise kinds: Skip noise kinds: constant, property, variable, enumerator. These inflate the index 15x without adding useful navigation value. Only keep symbols where kind is one of: function, method, class, interface, type, enum, namespace.

Map each kept symbol to codemunch format:

{
  "name": "validateToken",
  "kind": "function",
  "file": "src/auth/tokens.ts",
  "start_line": 142,
  "end_line": 163,
  "signature": "(token: string): Promise<User | null>",
  "container": "AuthService",
  "engine": "ctags"
}

Classic ctags fallback (non-universal)

If only basic/exuberant ctags is available (no JSON support):

ctags -R --fields=+iaS --extra=+q -f .claude/codemunch/tags .

Parse the tab-separated .claude/codemunch/tags file:

# format: name TAB file TAB pattern TAB kind TAB extensions...
validateToken  src/auth/tokens.ts  /^async function validateToken/  f  line:142

End line is not available in classic ctags — use the rg-fallback skill's brace-counting heuristic.

What ships with it

Read from the repository

Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.