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 extracts)
▼ ◉  fulll/auth-service  (2 extracts)
      ◉  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 extract)

• ▶ — folded repo (extracts hidden)
• ▼ — unfolded repo (extracts visible)
• ◉ — selected
• ○ — deselected

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 a path substring to narrow visible files
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 prompt appears at the top of the results:

🔍 Filter: src/  ▌  Enter confirm · Esc cancel

Type any path substring (case-insensitive). The view updates live as you type. Press:

• Enter — confirm the filter
• Esc — cancel without applying

When a filter is active, the prompt is replaced by a stats line:

🔍 filter: src/  3 matches in 2 repos shown · 4 hidden in 1 repo  r to reset

INFO

a (select all) and n (select none) always operate only on the currently visible repos and extracts when a filter is active.

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

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.