The current `search_code` query description is hand-wavy and gives the
model little usable guidance on GitHub code search syntax, which (per
analysis in #2390 across thousands of agent sessions) leads to repeated
422 ERROR_TYPE_QUERY_PARSING_FATAL responses from agents that guess at
plausible-but-invalid syntax.
Re-applies the spirit of #2442 by @jluocsa, originally suggested by
@danmoseley in #2390, but corrected against the actual endpoint this
tool calls.
Critically, this tool uses go-github's `client.Search.Code`, which hits
the legacy REST `/search/code` endpoint — NOT the new code search
("Blackbird"). Verified against the live API:
symbol:WithContext repo:github/github-mcp-server -> 0
/Get|Set/ repo:github/github-mcp-server -> 0
path:**/*.go func repo:github/github-mcp-server -> 0
filename:*.md repo:github/github-mcp-server -> 0
(Foo OR Bar) -path:vendor language:go -> 422
So `symbol:`, `/regex/`, path globs, filename globs, and parenthesized
boolean groups — features the proposal in #2442 listed — silently
return zero or fail. Documenting them would teach the model syntax
that doesn't work on this endpoint.
The new description focuses on what's actually supported by legacy
code search and the real bugs observed in #2390:
- `path:dir` is a prefix, NOT a glob (displaces `path:**/*.ts` guesses).
- `filename:exact.ext` is exact, NOT a glob (displaces `filename:*.md`).
- `/regex/` and `\|` inside quotes don't work — call this out so the
model stops generating them.
- `symbol:` doesn't work on this endpoint — call this out.
- Parenthesized boolean groups 422 — call this out so the model
stops wrapping `OR` chains in parens.
- Adds `extension:`, `in:file`, `in:path`, `size:`, `filename:`, `user:`
qualifiers that the previous text omitted.
- Implicit AND, `OR`, `NOT`, and `"quoted phrase"` for exact match are
documented positively.
- 256-char query limit.
All four examples in the new description are verified against the live
GitHub API and return non-zero results.
Co-authored-by: jluocsa <103165870+jluocsa@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: danmoseley <6385855+danmoseley@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Sort all JSON object keys alphabetically at every level in toolsnaps by
unmarshaling and remarshaling. This leverages Go's built-in behavior where
json.Marshal automatically sorts map keys alphabetically, ensuring
consistent field ordering and eliminating noop churn in diffs.
Co-authored-by: SamMorrowDrums <4811358+SamMorrowDrums@users.noreply.github.com>
Sam Morrow