sqry

sqry is a semantic code search tool. It parses source code into an AST and builds a graph of symbols and relationships, so you can search by what code means rather than just what it says.

Website: https://sqry.dev

Example

# Index a codebase (creates .sqry/graph/snapshot.sqry)
sqry index

# Find all public async functions
sqry query "kind:function AND async:true AND visibility:public"

# Who calls this function?
sqry query "callers:authenticate"

# Trace a path between two symbols
sqry graph trace-path main handle_request

# Find circular dependencies
sqry cycles

# Ask in plain English (translates to sqry syntax, then searches)
sqry ask "find all error handling functions"

Why sqry?

If you just need text search, use ripgrep - it's faster and simpler for that job.

sqry is useful when you need to search by code structure: finding all callers of a function, tracing execution paths, detecting cycles, or querying by symbol kind, visibility, or return type. These are things text search can't do reliably.

What sqry is good at

• Relation queries: callers:X, callees:X, imports:X, returns:Result - exact answers from the call graph
• Graph analysis: trace paths between symbols, find cycles, detect unused code
• Structured queries: combine predicates with boolean logic (kind:function AND lang:rust AND async:true)
• Cross-language detection: FFI linking (Rust<>C/C++), HTTP route matching (JS/TS<>Python/Java/Go)
• AI assistant integration: MCP server with 33 tools, LSP server for editors

When NOT to use sqry

• Simple text search: Use ripgrep. It's faster for grep-style patterns.
• Pattern matching on syntax: Use ast-grep. It's better for "find this syntax pattern and replace it."
• Linting or rule enforcement: Use language-specific linters (clippy, eslint, semgrep).
• Full IDE features: Use your editor's built-in language server.
• Hosted code search: Use Sourcegraph if you need a web UI and team features.

sqry is focused on one thing: local semantic code search via AST analysis.

Install

Windows (recommended)

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/verivus-oss/sqry/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

This installs sqry.exe, sqry-mcp.exe, and sqry-lsp.exe into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\sqry\bin and adds that directory to the user PATH. By default the installer resolves the latest GitHub release; use .\install.ps1 -Version vX.Y.Z to pin a specific release tag. Review-first/signed variant:

Invoke-WebRequest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/verivus-oss/sqry/main/scripts/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
Get-Content .\install.ps1
.\install.ps1 -VerifySignatures

Pinned-release example:

.\install.ps1 -Version v4.8.16 -VerifySignatures

Manual fallback:

• download sqry-windows-x86_64.zip
• extract sqry.exe, sqry-mcp.exe, sqry-lsp.exe
• place them in a directory on PATH

macOS and Linux (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/verivus-oss/sqry/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- --component all

Installs sqry, sqry-mcp, and sqry-lsp into ~/.local/bin (override with --install-dir). Add --verify-signatures to enforce Cosign bundle verification (requires cosign). Current published macOS binaries target Apple Silicon (arm64) only.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/verivus-oss/sqry.git
cd sqry
cargo install --path sqry-cli
cargo install --path sqry-mcp
cargo install --path sqry-lsp

sqry --version

Requirements: Rust 1.90+ (Edition 2024). About 20 GB disk for a full build (35 tree-sitter grammars are compiled from source).

Package managers

Release packaging configs are generated from signed release checksums for:

• Homebrew (tap formula)
• Scoop
• Winget
• AUR
• Nix
• Snap

Look for these files in release assets (homebrew-sqry.rb, scoop-sqry.json, winget-*.yaml, aur-PKGBUILD, nix-*.nix, snap-snapcraft.yaml). Primary install methods should provide sqry, sqry-mcp, and sqry-lsp; raw binaries and .bundle files are advanced/manual verification assets.

Commands

Search and Query

# On-the-fly search (no index needed, slower)
sqry search "kind:function" src/

# Indexed query (fast, requires sqry index first)
sqry query "kind:class OR kind:struct"
sqry query "kind:function AND visibility:public AND callers:helper"

# Fuzzy search (typo-tolerant)
sqry --fuzzy "patern" .

# Hierarchical search (results grouped by file, useful for RAG)
sqry hier "kind:function visibility:public"

Relations

sqry query "callers:process_data"       # Who calls this?
sqry query "callees:main"               # What does this call?
sqry query "imports:utils"              # Who imports this?
sqry query "returns:Result"             # Functions returning Result

sqry graph direct-callers parse_config  # Direct callers
sqry graph direct-callees main          # Direct callees
sqry graph call-hierarchy parse_config --depth 3

Graph Analysis

sqry graph trace-path main handle_error    # Execution path between symbols
sqry graph dependency-tree module           # Transitive dependencies
sqry graph cross-language                   # Cross-language relationships
sqry cycles                                 # Circular dependencies
sqry duplicates                             # Duplicate code
sqry unused                                 # Dead code detection
sqry impact parse_config                    # Dependency impact analysis
sqry graph complexity                       # Complexity metrics
sqry diff HEAD~1 HEAD                       # Semantic diff between git refs

Natural Language

sqry ask "What functions handle error recovery?"
sqry ask "Find all public structs" --auto-execute

Export and Visualization

sqry export --format dot          # Graphviz DOT
sqry export --format mermaid      # Mermaid
sqry export --format d2           # D2 diagrams
sqry export --format json         # JSON

sqry visualize "callers:main" --format mermaid

See docs/user-guide/visualization.md for examples.

Output Formats

sqry --preview main                     # Text with context (default 3 lines)
sqry --json --preview 5 "pattern"       # JSON with context
sqry --csv --headers --columns name,file,line pattern > results.csv

CSV/TSV output escapes per RFC 4180 and prefixes formula-leading characters unless --raw-csv is set.

Cache Management

sqry cache stats                    # View cache statistics
sqry cache prune --days 30          # Remove old entries
sqry cache prune --size 1GB         # Cap cache size
sqry cache clear --confirm          # Clear all cached ASTs

Other

sqry shell                          # Interactive REPL
sqry batch commands.txt             # Batch processing
sqry watch --build                  # Watch mode (auto-update index)
sqry repair --dry-run               # Check for index corruption
sqry --list-languages               # List supported languages
sqry completions bash               # Shell completions

Choosing the Right Command

Task	Command	Needs Index?
Quick exploration	sqry search	No
Find callers/callees	sqry query	Yes
Trace execution paths	sqry graph trace-path	Yes
Compare semantic changes across refs	sqry diff	Yes
Find cycles	sqry cycles	Yes
Export diagrams	sqry export	Yes

sqry search parses files on demand - useful for one-off queries. sqry query and sqry graph use a prebuilt index and are much faster for repeated use.

Language Support

sqry supports 35 languages through tree-sitter-based plugins. 28 of these have full relation extraction (calls, imports, exports); the remaining 7 have symbol extraction with basic import tracking.

Full relation support (28): C, C++, C#, CSS, Dart, Elixir, Go, Groovy, Haskell, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, Lua, Perl, PHP, Python, R, Ruby, Rust, Scala, Shell, SQL, Svelte, Swift, TypeScript, Vue, Zig

Symbol extraction + imports (7): Terraform, Puppet, Pulumi, Salesforce Apex, SAP ABAP, Oracle PL/SQL, ServiceNow Xanadu

Each language plugin lives in its own crate (sqry-lang-*) and implements the GraphBuilder trait. See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to add a new language.

MCP Server (AI Assistant Integration)

sqry includes an MCP server with 33 JSON-RPC tools for AI assistants (Claude, Codex, Gemini, Cursor, Windsurf):

# Start MCP server (stdio transport)
sqry-mcp

# Auto-configure for your AI assistant
sqry mcp setup

# Or add to ~/.claude.json manually:
# "mcpServers": { "sqry": { "command": "sqry-mcp", "args": [] } }

The MCP server gives AI assistants structured access to the code graph - exact caller/callee lists, path tracing, cycle detection, etc. - rather than relying on text search or embedding similarity.

See sqry-mcp/README.md for setup details and tool documentation. For sensitive repositories, use sqry-mcp-redaction to sanitize MCP responses before sending data to external LLMs.

LSP Server (Editor Integration)

sqry lsp --stdio        # Start LSP server (stdio mode)

Supports hover, definition, references, call hierarchy, document/workspace symbols, code actions, and 27 custom sqry methods. Works with VS Code, Neovim, Helix, and any LSP 3.17 client. Socket mode available for shared instances.

See sqry-lsp/ for configuration details.

VSCode Extension (Preview)

The VS Code extension provides in-editor semantic queries, a "Semantic Results" panel, and CodeLens caller count annotations. Source is in tools/sqry-vscode/.

cd tools/sqry-vscode && npm install && npm run compile
# Launch via F5 in VS Code

Configuration

sqry stores configuration in .sqry/graph/config/config.json, created automatically with sensible defaults on first use.

# View configuration
sqry config show

# Common environment variable overrides
export SQRY_CACHE_ROOT=/mnt/ssd/.sqry-cache    # Custom cache location
export SQRY_CACHE_MAX_BYTES=524288000           # 500 MB cache limit
export SQRY_CACHE_DISABLE_PERSIST=1             # Memory-only caching

See docs/PERFORMANCE_TUNING.md for all tuning options and CONFIGURATION_TUNING_GUIDE.md for the full reference.

Index Flags

sqry index . --no-incremental       # Force full rebuild
sqry index --validate=fail          # Strict validation (exit 2 on corruption)
sqry update --validate=fail --auto-rebuild  # Auto-rebuild on corruption

.sqryignore

Exclude files from indexing using gitignore syntax:

echo "node_modules/" >> .sqryignore
echo "target/" >> .sqryignore
sqry index

How It Works

sqry builds a code graph in 5 passes:

1. AST parsing - tree-sitter parses source files into syntax trees
2. Symbol extraction - nodes (functions, classes, etc.) and structural edges (defines, contains)
3. Enrichment - visibility, types, async markers
4. Intra-file edges - calls, references within each file
5. Cross-file edges - import resolution, FFI linking, HTTP route matching

The resulting graph is persisted to .sqry/graph/snapshot.sqry and loaded for queries. Graph queries use precomputed analyses (SCCs, condensation DAGs, 2-hop labels) for fast cycle detection, path finding, and reachability.

Architecture

sqry uses arena-based storage with CSR (Compressed Sparse Row) adjacency for cache-friendly O(1) traversal, generational indices for safety, MVCC for concurrent reads, and string interning to reduce memory. Parallelism uses rayon; locks use parking_lot.

Performance Notes

These numbers are from sqry's own codebase (~384K nodes, ~1.3M edges). Your results will vary depending on codebase size, language mix, and hardware.

• Indexed queries: ~4ms with warm cache (vs ~452ms cold)
• Cycle check: <1s (precomputed SCC lookup)
• Path finding: <1s typical (condensation DAG pruning)
• Indexing throughput: varies by language (JavaScript ~760K LOC/s, C++ ~1.1M LOC/s, Python ~500K LOC/s on the test machine)

Project Structure

sqry/
├── sqry-core/              # Core library (graph, symbols, search, plugin system)
├── sqry-cli/               # CLI binary
├── sqry-lsp/               # LSP server
├── sqry-mcp/               # MCP server (33 tools for AI assistants)
├── sqry-nl/                # Natural language query translation
├── sqry-plugin-registry/   # Plugin registration
├── sqry-lang-*/            # 35 language plugins
├── sqry-lang-support/      # Plugin infrastructure
├── sqry-tree-sitter-support/ # Tree-sitter helpers
├── sqry-test-support/      # Test infrastructure
└── crates/tree-sitter-*    # Vendored tree-sitter grammars

Comparison

Feature	sqry	ripgrep	ast-grep	Sourcegraph
Text search	Yes (with fallback)	Yes	No	Yes
AST awareness	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Relation queries	Yes (28 langs)	No	No	Yes
Local/offline	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
MCP server	Yes (33 tools)	No	No	No
LSP server	Yes	No	No	Yes
Cost	Free (MIT)	Free	Free	Paid

This is a rough comparison; each tool has different strengths. ripgrep is faster than sqry for plain text search. ast-grep is better for syntax pattern matching. Sourcegraph offers team features sqry doesn't. sqry's strength is local graph-based queries (callers, cycles, paths).

Contributing

We welcome contributions of all sizes - from typo fixes to new language plugins. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

cargo build --workspace                              # Build
cargo test --workspace                               # Tests
cargo fmt --all                                      # Format
cargo clippy --all-targets --workspace -- -D warnings  # Lint

Documentation

• Quick Start Guide - Get started in 5 minutes
• Usage Examples - Real-world examples
• Feature List - Complete feature reference
• Schema Reference - Query syntax and metadata keys
• Performance Tuning - Optimization guide
• CLI Documentation - Full CLI reference
• MCP Server - AI assistant integration
• Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions

Acknowledgments

sqry depends on excellent open-source projects:

• tree-sitter - Incremental parsing (and the many grammar maintainers)
• ripgrep - Text search engine (used as a library for fallback search)
• rayon - Data parallelism
• serde - Serialization
• clap - CLI argument parsing
• tokio - Async runtime (LSP/MCP servers)

License

MIT - see LICENSE-MIT

---

Developed by Verivus