Smart Search

Intelligent VS Code extension for contextual search with ripgrep and Solr indexing.

What's New in v2.1.3

v2.1.3 streamlines the sidebar by moving all search-option toggles into the results panel toolbars and improves auto-suggestions.

Consolidated toolbars — Case Sensitive, Whole Word, Regex, File Stats, Filter, and Refine controls are now embedded directly in the Ripgrep / Solr Results panels; the separate Live Tools and Session Tools sidebar views have been removed
Mode-aware suggestions — Live Search suggestions now query across all sessions for broader results; Session Search suggestions are scoped to the active session
Post-query Solr filtering — Case Sensitive and Whole Word toggles are applied as client-side post-filters on session results for accurate matching
Suggestions dropdown fix — the autocomplete dropdown no longer clips behind the search panel border

See the Changelog for the complete list of changes.

Features

Streamlined Sidebar UI: Three dedicated sections – Search, Recent Searches, Health Check – with search-option toggles embedded in result panel toolbars
Named Filter Presets: Save include/exclude glob patterns as named presets (global or workspace scope); reuse them instantly across searches via the Choose Filter QuickPick or Live Tools toolbar
Search Refinement Panel: Full-featured editor panel with a folder/extension tree, glob chip rows, custom glob inputs, live ripgrep-flags preview, and a Test button that runs rg --files against the workspace
Health Check panel: Instant diagnostic view showing ripgrep availability, Solr connectivity, index statistics, and actionable fix suggestions
Dual Search Modes: Live Search (workspace files via ripgrep) and Session Search (stored Solr results)
Panel Toggle Toolbars: Case Sensitive, Whole Word, Regex, and File Stats controls in compact toolbars inside each results panel; Ripgrep panel also has one-click Filter and Refine action buttons
Recent Searches Panel: Tabbed view showing clickable search history and stored sessions; clicking a history item fills the search box; clicking a session switches to Session mode automatically
Multi-Folder Search: Automatically searches across all workspace folders with intelligent parallel processing
Fast Text Search: Uses ripgrep for lightning-fast text search across your workspace
Session-Based Search: Search within previously stored results for rapid exploration and refinement
Interactive Search Settings: Fine-tune search results with customizable settings panels
- Ripgrep Settings: Adjust context lines, file patterns, and result limits
- Solr Settings: Control result scoring, sorting, file filtering, and session management
Intelligent Indexing: Optional Solr integration for advanced search and indexing capabilities
Auto-Suggestions: Smart query suggestions based on your search history and stored results
Rich Results: Interactive search results panel with file navigation
Settings Persistence: Search settings are automatically saved and applied to new searches

Installation

Install the extension from the VS Code marketplace
(Optional) Set up Solr for advanced indexing - see Configuration Guide
Make sure ripgrep is installed on your system

Solr Configuration for Enhanced Highlighting

To get the best highlighting experience, configure Solr with optimized settings:

Quick Setup (Automated)

# Windows
npm run configure-solr

# Linux/Mac
npm run configure-solr-unix

Manual Setup

See the detailed configuration guide: SOLR_HIGHLIGHTING_CONFIG.md

What You Get:

🎯 Advanced highlighting with phrase and proximity matching
📝 Smart snippets with context-aware fragment generation
⚡ Better performance with optimized analyzers and field types
🎨 Rich visual formatting with multiple highlighting styles
🛡️ XSS protection with safe HTML rendering

Usage

Activity Bar Layout

When you open the Smart Search panel you will see three collapsible sections in the sidebar:

🔍 Search

The main query input. Use the Live Search / Session Search tabs to switch modes. Press Enter or the Search button to execute.

🕐 Recent Searches

Tabbed panel with two views:

Recent tab – Full search history. Click any item to load the query into the main search input and bring the Search panel into focus.
Sessions tab – All stored sessions with timestamp and result count. Click a row to select it as the target for Session Search; use the Search action button to immediately switch the main view to Session mode for that session.

🩺 Health Check

Live diagnostic panel that checks all external dependencies:

Ripgrep status — detected version, resolved path, or install instructions if not found
Solr status — connectivity, core presence, and live index statistics (document count, deleted docs, index size, last-modified)
Actionable suggestions — OS-specific install commands, Solr start commands, core creation steps, and inline links to open relevant VS Code settings
Use the ↻ Refresh button to re-run checks at any time

Results Panel Toolbars

Each results panel includes an embedded toggle toolbar:

Ripgrep Results toolbar:

Icon	Option	Effect
`Aa`	Case Sensitive	Match exact letter case
`ab`	Whole Word	Match complete words only
`.*`	Regex	Interpret query as a regular expression
`F#`	File Stats	Next search returns per-file match counts
`⋮`	Filter	Open the Choose Search Filter QuickPick
`⋱`	Refine	Open the Search Refinement Panel

Solr Results toolbar: Case Sensitive (Aa) and Whole Word (ab) toggles — applied as post-query filters on session results.

Basic Search

Press Ctrl+Shift+F (or Cmd+Shift+F on Mac) to open Smart Search
Choose your search mode (Live or Session)
Set any toggle options in the results panel toolbar
Enter your search query and press Enter
Results will appear in a dedicated panel

Two Search Modes

🔍 Live Search Mode

Purpose: Search your workspace files in real-time using ripgrep
Best for: Finding content across your entire project
Toggle options: Set in the Live Tools panel (Case, Word, Regex)
Usage: Select the "Live Search" tab and enter your query

🗂️ Session Search Mode

Purpose: Search within previously stored search results
Best for: Refining and exploring previous search results
Toggle options: Set in the Session Tools panel (Case, Word)
Usage: Select the "Session Search" tab, or click a session in the Recent Searches panel

Session Management

Automatic Sessions: Each Live Search automatically creates a new session
Session Selection: Open the Recent Searches panel → Sessions tab → click a row
Session Info: The Session mode info bar shows which session is active
Recent Activity: The Recent Searches panel shows full history and sessions

Enhanced Query Syntax

Smart Search supports both simple queries and advanced Solr field-specific queries:

Simple Queries (Default)

function          → Searches in configured default fields (content_all, code_all)
"exact phrase"    → Phrase search across default fields
test AND bug      → Boolean search across default fields

Advanced Field-Specific Queries

file_name:*.js                           → Find JavaScript files
match_text:function AND file_extension:ts → Functions in TypeScript files  
ai_summary:"bug fix"                     → Files with "bug fix" in AI summary
relevance_score:[50 TO *]               → High relevance results only
line_number:[1 TO 100]                  → Results from first 100 lines
file_path:src/services/*.ts             → Files in services directory
search_session_id:session_*             → Results from specific sessions

Available Search Fields

Content Fields: content_all, code_all, match_text, full_line, ai_summary
File Fields: file_name, file_path, file_extension
Metadata Fields: line_number, column_number, relevance_score, file_size
Session Fields: search_session_id, original_query, search_timestamp
Boolean Fields: case_sensitive, whole_word

Query Examples

# Find React components
file_name:*Component.tsx

# Find high-value functions  
match_text:function AND relevance_score:[75 TO *]

# Find recent bug fixes
ai_summary:bug AND search_timestamp:[NOW-7DAY TO NOW]

# Find large files with specific content
match_text:import AND file_size:[10000 TO *]

# Complex query combining multiple fields
file_extension:js AND match_text:async AND line_number:[1 TO 50]

Smart Suggestions

The search interface provides intelligent auto-suggestions based on:

Session Content: Terms and phrases from your current search session
Search History: Your recent queries
File Names: Relevant file names and paths
Global Terms: Popular terms across all stored results

Search Settings

Both ripgrep and Solr result panels include collapsible settings panels for fine-tuning search results:

Ripgrep Search Settings (Live Search Mode)

Context Lines Before/After: Control how many lines of context to show around matches (0-100, default: 30)
Include/Exclude Files: Filter results by file patterns (glob patterns, comma-separated)
Max Results: Limit the number of results displayed (1-1000, default: 100)

Solr Search Settings (Session Search Mode)

Max Results: Control the maximum number of results returned (1-1000, default: 100)
Min Score: Filter results by minimum relevance score (0-100, default: 0)
Sort Order: Choose how results are sorted (relevance, date, filename, line number)
File Types: Filter by specific file extensions (comma-separated, e.g., "js,ts,py")
Exclude Patterns: Exclude files matching certain patterns (e.g., "test,spec,node_modules")
Session Filter: Search within a specific search session

Settings Persistence

All search settings are automatically persisted and will be applied to new searches until manually changed or reset.

Advanced Features

Automatic Session Creation

Every Live Search automatically creates a new session with stored results
Sessions are automatically named and timestamped
Previous sessions remain available for future Session Search

Session-Scoped Search

Latest Session Priority: Session Search defaults to your most recent session
Session Switching: Open Recent Searches → Sessions tab and click any session
Session Metadata: View session details including result count and creation time

Workspace Indexing

Use the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run "Smart Search: Index Workspace"
This will index your workspace for faster searches (requires Solr)

Key Workflows

Typical Search Workflow

Start with Live Search: Use the Live Search tab; set Case/Word/Regex as needed in the Live Tools panel
Review Results: Examine the ripgrep results panel
Refine with Session Search: Switch to Session Search; adjust options in the Session Tools panel
Iterate: Use the Recent Searches panel to reload previous queries or switch sessions
Session Management: Open Recent Searches → Sessions tab at any time

Using Named Filter Presets

Run a search and open the Search Refinement Panel (⋱ Refine button in Live Tools or command palette)
Use the tree to include/exclude folders and extensions, or type custom glob patterns
Click Test globs with ripgrep to verify which files match before committing
Click Apply & Re-run to immediately re-run the last query with the new globs
Click Save as filter… to persist the glob set as a named preset
Use the Filter button (⋮) in Live Tools to quickly switch presets via QuickPick

Best Practices

Live Tools panel – toggle Case/Regex before a Live Search to avoid re-running
Session Tools panel – adjust Case/Word for session refinements without losing the active session
Recent Searches panel – keep it open alongside the Search panel for quick navigation
Refinement Panel – use the Test button before Apply to avoid running an empty search
Global vs Workspace presets – save team-shared filters as Workspace presets, personal ones as Global
Leverage Suggestions for faster query composition
Monitor Session Info bar to know the scope of your current session search

Configuration

The extension can be configured through VS Code settings:

smart-search.solrUrl: Solr server URL (default: http://localhost:8983/solr)
smart-search.ripgrepPath: Optional absolute path to a custom rg executable; leave empty to use rg from the system PATH (default: "")
smart-search.maxFiles: Maximum number of files to return results from (default: 100)
smart-search.defaultSolrFields: Default Solr fields for simple queries (default: "content_all,code_all")
smart-search.maxParallelFolders: Maximum folders for parallel search (default: 5)
smart-search.enableDebugLogging: Enable debug logging for searches (default: false)
smart-search.filters.globalFilters: Named filter presets stored in global (user) settings — array of SearchFilterPreset objects (application scope)
smart-search.filters.workspaceFilters: Named filter presets stored in workspace settings — array of SearchFilterPreset objects (resource scope)

Filter Preset Shape

Each preset stored in globalFilters or workspaceFilters follows this structure:

{
  "name": "TypeScript only",
  "includeGlobs": ["**/*.ts", "**/*.tsx"],
  "excludeGlobs": ["**/node_modules/**"],
  "customIncludeGlobs": [],
  "customExcludeGlobs": ["**/dist/**"],
  "description": "TypeScript source files, no dist or node_modules"
}

Default Search Fields Configuration

{
  "smart-search.defaultSolrFields": "content_all,code_all,ai_summary"
}

Multi-Folder Search Configuration

{
  "smart-search.maxParallelFolders": 5,
  "smart-search.enableDebugLogging": false
}

Search Strategy

2-5 folders: Parallel search for optimal performance
1 folder or 6+ folders: Sequential search to avoid system overload
Error resilience: Failed folders don't break the entire search

Requirements

VS Code 1.74.0 or higher
ripgrep (for text search)
Apache Solr (optional, for advanced indexing)

Development

See the Development Guide for information on building and contributing to this extension.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Smart Search with Ripgrep and Solr

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