Ripgrep

Blazingly fast text search tool - recursively searches directories for regex patterns with respect to gitignore rules.

Security Scan

The skill is an instruction-only ripgrep (rg) cheat-sheet and examples; its requirements and instructions are consistent with that purpose and do not request credentials or unusual system access.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description match the instructions (rg usage examples). One minor inconsistency: the registry-level metadata you provided lists no install spec or required binaries, but the included SKILL.md contains metadata declaring a dependency on the 'rg' binary and provides brew/apt install entries. That discrepancy is likely benign (the SKILL.md is supplying install hints), but it is worth noting.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md provides command-line examples and usage tips for ripgrep only. It does not instruct the agent to read unrelated system files or exfiltrate data. The only file/config reference is ~/.ripgreprc (user ripgrep config), which is reasonable. A replacement example uses piped xargs + sed -i which is potentially destructive if run without review, but that is a normal command-line pattern rather than covert behavior.

Install Mechanism

SKILL.md contains install metadata that suggests installation via standard package managers (brew, apt), which are low-risk sources. However, the registry entry shows 'No install spec' at the top-level while SKILL.md includes install hints — confirm which install mechanism the platform will actually execute or present to the user.

Credentials

No environment variables, credentials, or config paths are requested beyond an optional user ripgrep config (~/.ripgreprc). Nothing disproportionate is requested for the stated purpose.

Persistence & Privilege

Skill does not request always:true and is user-invocable only. It does not request or modify other skills' configs or persistent platform-wide privileges.

Assessment

This skill is an instruction-only reference for ripgrep and appears coherent with that purpose. Before using it: (1) Confirm whether your platform will actually install 'rg' automatically or merely show the brew/apt hints — the SKILL.md includes install suggestions but the registry entry at the top-level shows no install spec. (2) Be careful with the replacement examples that pipe to xargs sed -i; those will modify files in place — run previews first (e.g., --replace, -l, or review the matched file list) and back up files if needed. (3) Install ripgrep from your OS package manager or the official GitHub releases if you need the binary. (4) If you do not want the agent to run shell commands autonomously, keep the skill user-invocable only or review platform settings for autonomous invocation.

ripgrep (rg)

Fast, smart recursive search. Respects .gitignore by default.

Quick Start

Basic search

# Search for "TODO" in current directory
rg "TODO"

# Case-insensitive search
rg -i "fixme"

# Search specific file types
rg "error" -t py       # Python files only
rg "function" -t js    # JavaScript files

Common patterns

# Whole word match
rg -w "test"

# Show only filenames
rg -l "pattern"

# Show with context (3 lines before/after)
rg -C 3 "function"

# Count matches
rg -c "import"

Advanced Usage

File type filtering

# Multiple file types
rg "error" -t py -t js

# Exclude file types
rg "TODO" -T md -T txt

# List available types
rg --type-list

Search modifiers

# Regex search
rg "user_\d+"

# Fixed string (no regex)
rg -F "function()"

# Multiline search
rg -U "start.*end"

# Only show matches, not lines
rg -o "https?://[^\s]+"

Path filtering

# Search specific directory
rg "pattern" src/

# Glob patterns
rg "error" -g "*.log"
rg "test" -g "!*.min.js"

# Include hidden files
rg "secret" --hidden

# Search all files (ignore .gitignore)
rg "pattern" --no-ignore

Replacement Operations

# Preview replacements
rg "old_name" --replace "new_name"

# Actually replace (requires extra tool like sd)
rg "old_name" -l | xargs sed -i 's/old_name/new_name/g'

Performance Tips

# Parallel search (auto by default)
rg "pattern" -j 8

# Skip large files
rg "pattern" --max-filesize 10M

# Memory map files
rg "pattern" --mmap

Common Use Cases

Find TODOs in code:

rg "TODO|FIXME|HACK" --type-add 'code:*.{rs,go,py,js,ts}' -t code

Search in specific branches:

git show branch:file | rg "pattern"

Find files containing multiple patterns:

rg "pattern1" | rg "pattern2"

Search with context and color:

rg -C 2 --color always "error" | less -R

Comparison to grep

• Faster: Typically 5-10x faster than grep
• Smarter: Respects .gitignore, skips binary files
• Better defaults: Recursive, colored output, line numbers
• Easier: Simpler syntax for common tasks

Tips

• rg is often faster than grep -r
• Use -t for file type filtering instead of --include
• Combine with other tools: rg pattern -l | xargs tool
• Add custom types in ~/.ripgreprc
• Use --stats to see search performance

Documentation

GitHub: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep User Guide: https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/blob/master/GUIDE.md