Semanticfs

Search your local filesystem and codebase semantically. Use instead of grep/find/ls/cat chains when looking for files, functions, symbols, or code patterns....

Security Scan

The skill's requirements and runtime instructions are consistent with a local semantic code-search tool, but the SKILL.md suggests installing via a curl | bash script and references a user config path that the registry did not declare — review the install script and config before installing.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the actual requirements: the skill needs a local 'semanticfs' binary and runs a local HTTP server to provide semantic search over indexed files. These capabilities are appropriate for a local semantic-search tool.

Instruction Scope

Instructions are narrowly scoped to indexing and searching the filesystem via the local semanticfs binary and its localhost HTTP API. They reference a user config file (~/.semanticfs.toml) and running the server in the background; the registry metadata declared no config paths — this mismatch is worth noting so you know where the tool will read/write config and indexes.

Install Mechanism

There is no registry install spec, but SKILL.md directs users to install by piping a raw.githubusercontent.com script into bash (curl | bash). While GitHub raw is a common host, piping remote install scripts to shell is risky — inspect the script or prefer official releases/package managers before running.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables or credentials, which is proportional to a local read-only search tool. It does require a local binary and access to the directories you choose to index (expected).

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not always-enabled and does not request elevated or persistent platform privileges. It runs a local service and is user-invocable, which aligns with its purpose.

Assessment

This skill appears to do what it claims: run a local semantic search server over directories you index. Before installing, inspect the project's install script (the SKILL.md suggests curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/... | bash) rather than executing it blindly; prefer official release assets or a package manager when available. Be aware the tool will read all files in any directory you index (so only index directories you trust). Confirm where ~/semanticfs.toml and the index files are stored and whether you need to open the local server port (default 9464) to network interfaces — bind it to localhost if you want to avoid remote access.

SemanticFS Skill

SemanticFS provides semantic search over your local filesystem. Instead of running multiple grep/find/ls/cat commands to locate code or files, ask SemanticFS once and get back exact paths and line ranges.

When to use

Use this skill whenever you need to:

• Find a file, function, class, or symbol by name or description
• Locate where a concept is implemented (e.g. "authentication logic", "error handling for uploads")
• Navigate an unfamiliar codebase without reading every file
• Replace a chain of grep, find, ls, or cat commands

Do not use this skill if:

• The directory hasn't been indexed yet (run semanticfs index build first)
• You need to write or modify files (SemanticFS is read-only)

Prerequisites

SemanticFS must be installed and the target directory must be indexed:

# Install (Linux/macOS)
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Navneeth08k/semanticFS/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Index your workspace
semanticfs --config ~/semanticfs.toml index build

Starting the server

SemanticFS must be running before you can search:

# Start HTTP server (runs in background)
semanticfs --config ~/semanticfs.toml serve mcp &

# Check it's up
curl -s http://localhost:9464/health/live && echo "SemanticFS is running"

If you get a connection refused error, the server is not running. Start it with the command above.

Searching the codebase

Replace grep -r "pattern" . with:

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:9464/search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "YOUR QUERY HERE", "limit": 10}' \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for r in data.get('hits', []):
    print(f\"{r['path']}:{r['start_line']}-{r['end_line']}  {r.get('snippet','')[:100]}\")
"

Example queries:

• "Python function signature extraction"
• "CLI argument parsing entry point"
• "database connection pool"
• "error handling file upload"
• "AuthService login method"

Getting a directory map

Replace ls -la src/ or tree src/ with:

curl -s "http://localhost:9464/map?path=src" \
  | python3 -c "import sys, json; print(json.dumps(json.load(sys.stdin), indent=2))"

Use path=. for the workspace root.

Output format

Search results are returned as:

path/to/file.py:40-95  extract_signatures_python — extracts function signatures from...

Each result includes:

• path: file path relative to workspace root
• start_line / end_line: exact line range containing the relevant code
• snippet: short excerpt of the matching content

Always read the specific lines from the file to verify before acting on them.

Guardrails

• SemanticFS is read-only — it never modifies files
• Only searches directories that have been indexed (semanticfs index build)
• If results look wrong, re-run semanticfs index build to refresh
• Index automatically includes only source files (excludes node_modules, .venv, target/, .git, etc.)

Troubleshooting

No results returned:

• Check the index was built: semanticfs --config ~/semanticfs.toml health
• Try a broader query (e.g. "authentication" instead of "JWT token refresh logic")

Connection refused:

• Start the server: semanticfs --config ~/semanticfs.toml serve mcp &

Stale results after code changes:

• Re-index: semanticfs --config ~/semanticfs.toml index build
• Or run incremental update: semanticfs --config ~/semanticfs.toml index update

Diagnose the full setup:

semanticfs --config ~/semanticfs.toml doctor