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Ripgrep integration ​

Overview ​

Programmatic ripgrep (rg) integration for file search within Space. The module spawns ripgrep as a subprocess, parses its --vimgrep output, and provides structured results. A companion RipgrepView widget wraps this with a search UI, result list, and external editor integration.

Ripgrep module (ripgrep.fnl, 188 lines) ​

API ​

  • search(opts) — Runs ripgrep as a child process and returns parsed results. Options:

    • :query — search pattern (required)
    • :paths — array of paths to search (defaults to ["."])
    • :cwd — working directory for the process
    • :case — :ignore, :sensitive, or :smart-case (default)
    • :hidden — search hidden files
    • :literal — treat pattern as literal string
    • :follow — follow symlinks
    • :word-regexp — match whole words
    • :max-count — max matches per file
    • :max-filesize — skip files larger than given size (e.g. "512K")
    • :globs — array of glob patterns to include
    • :program-args — additional args passed to ripgrep
    • :timeout — process timeout in seconds

  • available?(opts) — Checks whether ripgrep is installed by running rg --version.

Result format ​

fennel
{:ok bool
 :cancelled bool
 :exit-code number
 :timed-out bool
 :stderr string
 :stdout string
 :matches [{:path string :line number :column number :text string}]
 :query string
 :paths [string]}

Implementation ​

Uses the process Lua binding to spawn rg --vimgrep --color never with constructed args. The --vimgrep flag produces path:line:column:text output that is parsed with Lua pattern matching. Exit code 0 means matches found, 1 means no matches — both are considered ok. Non-zero/timed-out results produce empty match lists.

Supports cancellation via the process binding's cancel mechanism. The search function returns synchronously (blocks until the process exits).

RipgrepView widget (ripgrep-view.fnl, 271 lines) ​

A composite search widget combining:

  • Search input — Text input field with ripgrep query
  • Result list — ListView rendering matches as clickable rows with truncated labels
  • Click to open — Clicking a match opens the file at the matched line in an external editor via ExternalEditor

Key constants ​

  • default-max-results = 200
  • default-max-count-per-file = 20
  • default-max-filesize = "512K"
  • default-max-label-chars = 180 (truncation threshold)

Architecture ​

The view creates a Flex layout with:

  1. Input row (query field + search button)
  2. Result list (ListView with match labels)
  3. Footer row (error/status display + clear button)

Each match label is formatted as path:line — text... truncated to max-label-chars. Clicking dispatches to ExternalEditor to open the file at the matched line.

Integration with graph system ​

RipgrepView is used within the graph browsing workflow to search code directories and filesystem-backed graph nodes. Results can be linked to entities exposed through the graph for cross-referencing between search hits and graph-visible objects.

See also ​