@deepseek-ai/dsh-tool-fs-search

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The model-facing filesystem discovery tools—glob, grep—are backed by the packaged ripgrep binary (@vscode/ripgrep), not by ctx.fs provider methods and not by a system rg install. Registration is unconditional: the binary ships inside the npm dependency, so there is no load-time availability probe. Each call spawns the binary through the ctx.subprocess seam with a fixed argv vector (--no-config prepended so a host RIPGREP_CONFIG_PATH cannot inject a --pre preprocessor into the unconfined spawn; model-controlled values are plain argv elements — no shell layer exists, so no quoting applies), parses the raw rg output, and returns a workdir-relative canonical value. The package injects tools, systemPrompt, and subprocess—deliberately not fs; ctx.spillStore is read opportunistically with ctx.get() because formatted-result spill is optional.

// A deployment chooses how over-cap glob pages are selected.
await ctx.plugin(LocalSubprocessRuntime)                     // @deepseek-ai/dsh-subprocess-local
await ctx.plugin(ToolFsSearch, { sampleOverCapGlobResults: false })
// Optional: a spill backend makes capped results fully recoverable.
await ctx.plugin(LocalSpillStore)                           // @deepseek-ai/dsh-spill-local

Why spawn-backed: local workspace discovery is naturally a process-backed rg workflow, and putting search on ctx.fs would force every filesystem backend to grow a search API. The subprocess seam owns spawn execution, process-tree termination, environment scrubbing, and bounded output capture; this package owns schemas, argument validation, argv construction, parsing, retention, formatted-result spill, and timeout declaration. The tools never expose a background job — the call returns only after rg exits, is terminated by the cooperative timeout, is aborted, or fails.

Deployment requirement: no host rg, co-located workdir/filesystem

The binary ships with the package on every supported platform (macOS/Linux/Windows, x64/arm64), so no host rg install is required and the tools register on every deployment. Returned paths are displayed relative to the resolved workdir (the calling agent's session cwd when present, else process.cwd()) and are follow-up-readable with read only when that workdir and the filesystem root are the same workspace. That co-location requirement carries no runtime cross-service validation; remote or virtual filesystem search waits for a shared workspace contract or a provider-specific search backend.

Config

sampleOverCapGlobResults is required and has no fallback; deployments choose the over-cap ordering contract explicitly. The remaining keys are optional search caps with the defaults below.

Tools

Routine budgets stay out of the model-facing schema (no head_limit/offset/case_insensitive/output modes): a model that needs surrounding context reads the matched file with read; one that needs later results follows the returned spill locator's retrieval hint.

Two budgets, two artifacts

Raw rg stdout and stderr are internal transport details. Each search requests collect-mode budgets from the subprocess seam — complete stdout within rawOutputMaxBytes and a stderrMaxBytes diagnostic tail — with no spill files on either stream (the tool never reads a raw spill path). If the seam still reports a lossy stdout read, the search fails with SEARCH_RAW_OUTPUT_OVERFLOW and tells the model to narrow the query; a lossy stderr read only marks the diagnostic excerpt [stderr truncated]. A successful glob keeps the displayed search root and every acquired path in { root, paths }; when sampling is enabled, root lets the Native renderer group an explicit relative or absolute search path by entries beneath that root rather than by its workdir prefix. grep keeps every acquired { path, lineNumber, line } in { matches }. Inline item and per-line preview caps apply only in the Native renderer. For a direct surface call with more logical results than the inline cap, post-policy best-effort saves the complete formatted preview through ctx.spillStore.saveText() and replaces only presentation with the configured page plus locator. Nested Code dispatches skip that spill because their full canonical value does not enter model context. Missing/failed spill keeps the inline page and reports that the complete result could not be saved—never an isError.

Errors

Search failures carry the package-owned SearchError (a HarnessError subclass), surfaced as { name, code } on isError results: SEARCH_INVALID_PATTERN (ripgrep rejected the regex/glob), SEARCH_FAILED (a failed rg launch, inaccessible target, signal kill, malformed --json output), SEARCH_RAW_OUTPUT_OVERFLOW (raw output over rawOutputMaxBytes, or still lossy after the requested stdout capture budget), and SEARCH_ABORTED (cooperative tool timeout or caller cancellation). ripgrep exit semantics are tool-owned: exit 0 is success with results, exit 1 is a successful empty search (No files found / No matches found), and only other exits are failures. Model argument mistakes (blank pattern, a list-valued include) stay ordinary tool argument errors.

Model Experience

System prompt

What the model sees

Every request in this plugin's registration scope contains the independently registered glob and grep guidance below. Agent-scoped tool restrictions can hide either schema without removing its prompt section.

Glob guidance with sampleOverCapGlobResults: true

Use the glob tool — not shell find — to discover files by path pattern. A pattern with no "/" matches basenames at any depth, so "*" matches every file in the tree rather than its top level. Results are files only, never directories, and include hidden and ignored files: a result that fits comes back in modification-time order, while a larger one is sampled across top-level entries, so it spans the tree instead of one subtree.

Glob guidance with sampleOverCapGlobResults: false

Use the glob tool — not shell find — to discover files by path pattern. A pattern with no "/" matches basenames at any depth, so "*" matches every file in the tree rather than its top level. Results are files only, never directories, and include hidden and ignored files: a result that fits comes back in modification-time order, while a larger one keeps the modification-time-ordered head.

Grep guidance

Use the grep tool — not shell grep or rg — to search file contents. Use read on a matched file when you need surrounding context.

Token effect

Fixed guidance cost per request while the tools are registered; the required sampling choice selects one glob variant.

KV Cache effect

Prefix-stable while the plugin scope, sampling choice, and guidance text are unchanged. Activation, disposal, or changing the choice may invalidate reuse from this prompt section.

Tool schemas

What the model sees

The glob description states the configured over-cap ordering. The generated glob and grep schemas use sampleOverCapGlobResults: true; the tools are registered unconditionally.

Token effect

Fixed schema cost on every request where the tools are visible.

KV Cache effect

Prefix-stable while tool visibility and definitions are unchanged. Registration lifecycle or scoped restrictions may invalidate reuse from the first changed schema token.

Results and spill notices

What the model sees

glob returns one path per line; grep groups Line <line>: <preview> matches beneath each path. Empty searches return No files found or No matches found. A capped result ends with its omission count plus the spill locator and backend retrieval hint, or says the complete result could not be saved. With sampleOverCapGlobResults: true, an over-cap glob page takes paths round-robin across entries immediately beneath the actual search root, and the footer states the sampled basis and how many top-level entries it reached; when it cannot reach them all, the footer tells the model to narrow path. With false, the page is the modification-time-ordered head and keeps the plain capped-result footer. A result that fits inline is untouched, and a flat sampled result also keeps the plain footer because its sample equals the modification-time head. The spill artifact always holds the complete list in modification-time order.

Token effect

Inline paths and matches are bounded by globMaxResults, grepMaxMatches, and grepMaxLineBytes; the call and retained result remain in history until compaction.

KV Cache effect

Append-only; newly visible content follows the reusable request prefix and does not invalidate existing KV-cache entries.

Tool errors

What the model sees

Failures are normalized as Error: <message> with structured SEARCH_INVALID_PATTERN, SEARCH_FAILED, SEARCH_RAW_OUTPUT_OVERFLOW, or SEARCH_ABORTED metadata for callers.

Token effect

Only a failing call adds these retained tokens.

KV Cache effect

Append-only; newly visible content follows the reusable request prefix and does not invalidate existing KV-cache entries.

Known Limitations and Deferred Work

• Search and file access have no shared-workspace proof — returned paths are follow-up-readable only when the workdir and filesystem root denote the same workspace; the package performs no runtime cross-service validation.
• The packaged binary is fixed at dependency version — @vscode/ripgrep covers the platforms it ships (macOS/Linux/Windows, x64/arm64); an unsupported platform or a corrupted install fails calls with SEARCH_FAILED. Remote or virtual filesystems need a co-located workspace or another search consumer.
• The schemas expose one bounded page — offset pagination, case-mode switches, alternate output modes, and provider-backed discovery remain outside this package; capped complete output requires a spill backend.
• Sampling, when enabled, groups by first path segment beneath the search root only — an over-cap glob page balances across those top-level entries, so a result concentrated deeper (one busy directory inside an otherwise even tree) is still shown unevenly below that level; recursive balancing is deferred.