grepai
Freemiumgrep for the AI era
Developer ToolsOpen SourceArtificial IntelligenceGitHub
Added on January 29, 2026← Back to all tools
What does this tool do?
grepai is a semantic code search tool designed to enhance AI-powered code understanding and navigation. Unlike traditional grep, it uses AI and embeddings to search code repositories by meaning, not just text patterns. The tool creates a semantic index of your codebase, allowing developers and AI agents to find relevant code through natural language queries, trace function calls, and understand code relationships more intuitively.
AI analysis from Feb 17, 2026
Key Features
- Semantic code search with natural language queries
- Call graph analysis and tracing
- Real-time file watching and index updates
- MCP integration for AI agents
- Multiple backend support for embedders and stores
- Native CLI with comprehensive command set
- JSON output for AI tool integration
Use Cases
- 1Quickly finding specific code logic across large codebases
- 2Helping AI coding assistants understand code context
- 3Tracing function calls and dependencies
- 4Refactoring with better code impact awareness
- 5Supporting AI agents in code comprehension
Pros & Cons
Advantages
- 100% local and private, no external API calls
- Extremely fast indexing and searching (milliseconds)
- Works with multiple AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and Windsurf
- Supports multiple programming languages
Limitations
- Requires local setup and configuration
- Effectiveness depends on embedding and indexing quality
- Might have a learning curve for developers unfamiliar with semantic search
Pricing Details
Open source (MIT license) and completely free
Who is this for?
Developers working with AI coding assistants, software engineers managing large codebases, AI researchers, and teams using semantic code understanding tools