Interactive mode

When you run a search without --no-interactive (and outside a CI environment), github-code-search launches a full-screen TUI. This is the main advantage of the tool over GitHub's web search: results are grouped by repository, and you can fold, navigate, filter, and select exactly what you need.

Launching the TUI

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

TUI overview

 github-code-search  useFeatureFlag in fulll
3 repos · 4 files
← / → fold/unfold  ↑ / ↓ navigate  spc select  a all  n none  f filter  h help  ↵ confirm  q quit

▸   fulll/billing-api                                         3 matches
▾ ✓ fulll/auth-service                                       2 matches
      ✓ src/middlewares/featureFlags.ts
            …const flag = useFeatureFlag('new-onboarding'); if (!flag) return next();…
      ✓ tests/unit/featureFlags.test.ts
            …expect(useFeatureFlag('new-onboarding')).toBe(true);…
▸   fulll/legacy-monolith                                     1 match

• ▸ — folded repo (extracts hidden)
• ▾ — unfolded repo (extracts visible)
• ✓ — selected (green in the terminal)
• — deselected (space — keeps columns aligned)
• Match counts are right-aligned to the terminal width
• The header badge github-code-search is displayed on a violet background

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
↑ / ↓	Navigate between repos and extracts
←	Fold the repo under the cursor
→	Unfold the repo under the cursor
Space	Select / deselect the current repo or extract
a	Select all — on a repo row: all repos and extracts; on an extract row: all extracts in that repo. Respects any active filter.
n	Select none — same context rules as a. Respects any active filter.
f	Open the filter bar — type to narrow visible repos or files
t	Cycle the filter target: path → content → repo → path
r	Reset the active filter and show all repos / extracts
h / ?	Toggle the help overlay
Enter	Confirm and print selected results (also closes the help overlay)
q / Ctrl+C	Quit without printing

Selection behaviour

• Selecting a repo row (Space) cascades to all its extracts.
• Deselecting a repo row deselects all its extracts.
• Selecting an individual extract keeps the parent repo selected as long as at least one extract is selected.
• Deselecting the last extract in a repo automatically deselects the repo too.

Filter mode

Press f to enter filter mode. A two-line bar appears at the top of the results:

🔍 [path]  src/▌                            3 repos · 5 files
          ←→ move  ·  ⌥←→ word  ·  ⌥⌫ del word  ·  Tab regex  ·  Shift+Tab target  ·  ↵ OK  ·  Esc cancel

• Line 1: the filter input field with a text cursor (▌), plus live stats on the right (how many repos and files are currently visible).
• Line 2: available shortcuts, indented to align with the input text.

Filter targets

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

Badge	Target	What is matched	Unit shown/hidden
[path]	path	File path — default, case-insensitive substring	Individual file
[content]	content	Code fragment text returned by GitHub Search	Individual file
[repo]	repo	Full repository name (org/repo), case-insensitive	Entire repo

The matching part is highlighted in yellow in the result list so you can instantly see why a row is visible.

Regex mode

Press Tab in filter mode to toggle regular-expression matching. The badge updates to [path·regex] (or [content·regex], etc.) while regex is active. If the expression is invalid, it matches nothing (no results are shown until you correct the pattern).

Confirmed filter

After pressing Enter the filter is locked and the bar shows a compact summary:

🔍 [repo]  billing  3 matches in 1 repo shown · 2 hidden in 2 repos  r to reset

Press r at any time to clear the filter and show all results again.

INFO

a (select all) and n (select none) always operate only on the currently visible repos and extracts when a filter is active. The filter target is taken into account: with filterTarget=repo only repos whose name matches are affected.

Full workflow example

1 — Run the search:

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

2 — Navigate with ↑/↓, unfold repos with →.

3 — Filter to src/ files only:

Press f, type src/, press Enter.

4 — Select all visible extracts:

Press a on a repo row to select all its visible extracts.

5 — Deselect a specific extract:

Navigate to it with ↑/↓, press Space.

6 — Confirm:

Press Enter. The selected results are printed to stdout, along with a replay command.

Output and replay command

After pressing Enter:

2 repos · 2 files selected

- **fulll/auth-service** (1 match)
  - [ ] [src/middlewares/featureFlags.ts:2:19](https://github.com/fulll/auth-service/blob/main/src/middlewares/featureFlags.ts#L2)
- **fulll/billing-api** (1 match)
  - [ ] [src/flags.ts:3:14](https://github.com/fulll/billing-api/blob/main/src/flags.ts#L3)

replay command

github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll --no-interactive \
  --exclude-repositories legacy-monolith

The replay command encodes your exact selection (exclusions) so you can reproduce the result in CI without the UI. See Non-interactive mode for more.

Output format

By default output is Markdown. Pass --format json to get a JSON payload instead:

github-code-search "useFeatureFlag" --org fulll --format json

See Output formats for the full reference.