What is Probe?
Probe is an AI-friendly, fully local, semantic code search tool designed to power the next generation of AI coding assistants. It combines the speed of ripgrep with the understanding of tree-sitter to provide intelligent code search and extraction capabilities.
Why Probe?
Most AI-assisted editors treat your code like plain text, splitting it into chunks that may or may not cover the full context—especially in large projects. Probe tackles this by combining ripgrep's speed with tree-sitter's AST parsing to return only the relevant blocks. No forced cloud indexing, no partial context.
This means:
- Complete Context: Get entire functions, classes, and code blocks—not just fragments.
- Local Processing: Probe runs entirely locally without requiring embedding generation. Your code stays on your machine during search operations.
- AST Understanding: Search based on code structure, not just text patterns.
- Customizable Ranking: Fine-tune how results are sorted using BM25, TF-IDF, or hybrid approaches.
Core Capabilities
Code Understanding
- Complete Code Blocks: Extracts entire functions, classes, or structs
- AST Parsing: Understands code structure using Abstract Syntax Trees
- Semantic Search: Finds code by concept and meaning
- Language Awareness: Recognizes language-specific patterns
- Symbol Extraction: Extracts code by function/class name
Performance
- Ripgrep Engine: Fast initial text scanning
- Optimized Parsing: Efficient AST generation
- Multi-Core Processing: Parallel search operations
- Session-Based Caching: Avoids duplicate results
Intelligent Ranking
- TF-IDF: Weighs terms based on frequency and importance
- BM25: Better relevance with document length normalization
- Hybrid Ranking: Multiple signals combined for superior ordering
- Position Weighting: Considers term position within code blocks
Query Capabilities
- Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT for complex queries
- Grouping: Parentheses for logical term grouping
- Term Modifiers: +/- prefixes for required/excluded terms
- Field Specifiers: Target specific code elements
- Smart Token Matching: Stemming and compound word handling
Privacy
- Local Search Engine: All search processing happens on your machine without requiring embedding generation
- No Telemetry: Zero data collection
- Open Source: Transparent codebase
- AI Integration Note: When using Probe with external AI services (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.), code snippets are sent to those services as part of the AI interaction
Language Support
- Modern Languages: Rust, Go, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript
- Mainstream Languages: Java, C++, C#, PHP
- Documentation: Markdown and other text formats
- Language-Specific Parsing: Tailored to each language's structure
AI Integration
Probe offers powerful AI integration capabilities that allow you to leverage large language models to understand and navigate your codebase more effectively:
- AI Chat Mode: Interactive CLI interface for asking questions about your codebase
- MCP Server Integration: Seamless integration with AI editors and assistants
- Node.js SDK: Programmatic access to Probe's code search capabilities
AI-Specific Features
- Token-Aware: Limits results to fit AI context windows
- Structured Output: AI-friendly formats (JSON, XML)
- Multi-Model Support: Works with various LLM models
- Streaming Responses: Real-time AI interaction
Usage Modes
Probe can be used in multiple ways, depending on your workflow:
- CLI Mode: Direct command-line interface
- MCP Server: Integration with AI tools
- AI Chat: Interactive AI assistant
- Web Interface: Browser-based exploration
- Node.js SDK: Programmatic access
Advanced Features
Pattern Matching
- AST-Grep Patterns: Search for specific code patterns using structural queries
- Tree-Sitter Queries: Language-aware structural search
- Placeholder Variables: Match function names, parameters, and bodies with variables
- Structure-Aware Matching: Finds code based on its structure, not just text content
NPM Integration
- Global Installation: Simple
npm install -g @buger/probefor system-wide access - NPX Execution: Run without installation via
npx -y @buger/probe-chat - Node.js API: Programmatic access via JavaScript
- Vercel AI SDK: Streaming AI responses in web applications
Getting Started
Ready to try Probe? Check out these resources:
- Installation: Get Probe set up on your system
- Quick Start: Learn the basics in minutes
- How It Works: Understand the technology behind Probe
Use Cases
Probe is designed for a variety of workflows:
- AI-Assisted Coding: Provide your AI assistant with accurate code context
- Code Exploration: Quickly find and understand code in large repositories
- Documentation Generation: Extract code examples for documentation
- Code Review: Find patterns and anti-patterns across your codebase
- Refactoring: Identify all instances of a pattern that needs to be changed
For more detailed information on specific features, see: