Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#11

Post by stephantul » Sun, May 17, 2026, 6:43 PM UTC

mrpf1ster wrote: post #10

Does this work well for non-coding documents as well? Say api docs or AI memory files?

Hey, this is something we're actively investigating. We recently added a flag, `--include-text-files`, which, when set, also makes Semble index regular documents (i.e., markdown, text, json). This should also work relatively well.

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#12

Post by djaboss » Sun, May 17, 2026, 6:49 PM UTC

stephantul wrote: post #8

ludicrousdispla wrote: post #7

grep doesn't need tokens, so what is 98% fewer than zero?

You need readfile to do something with those tokens. Grep only gives you the matching lines, not the context.

`grep -C $NUM` ? ;)

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#13

Post by stephantul » Sun, May 17, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

djaboss wrote: post #12

stephantul wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need readfile to do something with those tokens. Grep only gives you the matching lines, not the context.

`grep -C $NUM` ? ;)

Even so. Take a look at the NDCG numbers for grep. It's not pretty

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#14

Post by jerezzprime » Sun, May 17, 2026, 7:48 PM UTC

I'd be interested in seeing actual agent benchmarks (eg CC or Copilot CLI with grep removed and this tool instead).

For example, I have explored RTK and various LSP implementations and find that the models are so heavily RL'd with grep that they do not trust results in other forms and will continually retry or reread, and all token savings are lost because the model does not trust the results of the other tools.

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#15

Post by stephantul » Sun, May 17, 2026, 8:06 PM UTC

jerezzprime wrote: post #14

I'd be interested in seeing actual agent benchmarks (eg CC or Copilot CLI with grep removed and this tool instead). For example, I have explored RTK and various LSP implementations and find that the models are so heavily RL'd with grep that they do not trust results in other forms and will continually retry or reread, and all token savings are lost because the model does not trust the results of the other tools.

Yeah we're also interested in doing this, it's on the roadmap together with optimization of the prompt and descriptions so that models have an easier time using it.

Perhaps anecdotally: we do use this tool ourselves of course, and it's been working pretty well so far. Anthropic models call it and seem to trust the results.

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#16

Post by giancarlostoro » Sun, May 17, 2026, 8:53 PM UTC

jerezzprime wrote: post #14

I'd be interested in seeing actual agent benchmarks (eg CC or Copilot CLI with grep removed and this tool instead). For example, I have explored RTK and various LSP implementations and find that the models are so heavily RL'd with grep that they do not trust results in other forms and will continually retry or reread, and all token savings are lost because the model does not trust the results of the other tools.

I forced Claude to have a global memory for RTK and my own AI memory system (GuardRails) which it happily uses both, the only times it doesnt use GuardRails is if I dont mention it at all, otherwise it always uses RTK unless RTK falls apart running a tool it does not support.

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#17

Post by singpolyma3 » Sun, May 17, 2026, 9:02 PM UTC

Semantic code search seems like a useful tool for a human too. Not just for agents.

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#18

Post by vikeri » Sun, May 17, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

very curious to give it a spin but why write a cli in python? would surely be faster and more portable with go or rust?

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#19

Post by smcleod » Sun, May 17, 2026, 9:16 PM UTC

How does it compare to context-mode or serina that are both well established now?

Re: Show HN: Semble – Code search for agents that uses 98% fewer tokens than grep

#20

Post by [deleted] » Sun, May 17, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

jerezzprime wrote: post #14

I'd be interested in seeing actual agent benchmarks (eg CC or Copilot CLI with grep removed and this tool instead). For example, I have explored RTK and various LSP implementations and find that the models are so heavily RL'd with grep that they do not trust results in other forms and will continually retry or reread, and all token savings are lost because the model does not trust the results of the other tools.

[deleted]