Filtering

github-code-search provides three pre-query filtering options so you can exclude noise before results ever appear in the TUI or output.

--exclude-repositories

Excludes entire repositories from the results. The org prefix is optional.

# Short form (recommended)
github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll \
  --exclude-repositories legacy-monolith,archived-app

# Long form (also accepted)
github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll \
  --exclude-repositories fulll/legacy-monolith,fulll/archived-app

Pass a comma-separated list. There is no limit on the number of repos you can exclude.

TIP

The short form (without the org prefix) is recommended — it is easier to read and works regardless of organisation name.

--exclude-extracts

Excludes individual code extracts. The format is repoName:path/to/file:matchIndex.

# Exclude the first extract (index 0) of src/flags.ts in billing-api
github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll \
  --exclude-extracts billing-api:src/flags.ts:0

# Exclude multiple extracts
github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll \
  --exclude-extracts billing-api:src/flags.ts:0,auth-service:tests/unit/featureFlags.test.ts:1

# Long form (also accepted)
github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll \
  --exclude-extracts fulll/billing-api:src/flags.ts:0

The index is zero-based and corresponds to the position of the file in the GitHub API result list for that repository — not the position of the match within the file itself. Each (repo, file) pair is one extract with a unique index.

WARNING

An extract's index is relative to the GitHub API response for that repo. It may change if GitHub re-indexes the repository between calls. For greater stability, prefer --exclude-repositories when the entire repository should be excluded.

How to find the index

In the TUI, the extract rows are listed in API order: the first file shown for a repo has index 0, the second has index 1, and so on. In non-interactive mode, extracts are printed in the same order.

The replay command printed at the end of an interactive session automatically includes the correct --exclude-extracts values for any extracts you deselected — you don't need to figure out indices manually.

--include-archived

By default, archived repositories are excluded from results. Pass --include-archived to include them:

github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll --include-archived

INFO

Archived repos are silently filtered out in the aggregation step before the TUI is shown. This flag overrides that behaviour.

Combining filters

All three flags can be combined freely:

github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll \
  --include-archived \
  --exclude-repositories legacy-monolith \
  --exclude-extracts billing-api:src/flags.ts:0

In-TUI filtering

In addition to pre-query exclusions, the interactive mode offers a live filter bar (press f) to narrow the displayed results without permanently excluding anything.

Three filter targets

Press t (outside filter mode) or Shift+Tab (inside filter mode) to cycle between matching modes:

Target	Filters on	Unit visible/hidden
path	File path substring (default, case-insensitive)	Individual file
content	Code fragment returned by GitHub Search (case-insensitive)	Individual file
repo	Full repository name org/repo (case-insensitive)	Entire repo

With repo mode the matching portion of the repository name is highlighted in yellow in the result list.

Regex mode

Press Tab inside the filter bar to enable regex matching. The badge updates to [path·regex] (or [content·regex], etc.). If you enter an invalid regular expression, it is treated as matching nothing: the filter will show zero results but the UI remains responsive.

Filter vs. exclusions: when to use which

Use the TUI filter for exploration — it has no side effects and can be reset instantly with r.

Use --exclude-repositories / --exclude-extracts for reproducible exclusions that should be encoded in the replay command (e.g. for CI pipelines).