Search

Code search across all visible projects, a specific project, or a specific group.

!!! note "Feature toggle" Opt-in. Enable via GITLAB_TOOLSETS=search (or GITLAB_TOOLSETS=all), list individual tools in GITLAB_TOOLS=, or activate at runtime with the discover_tools MCP tool.

Tools in this group

• search_code — 📖 Read-only
• search_project_code — 📖 Read-only
• search_group_code — 📖 Read-only

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search_code

📖 Read-only

Search for code across all projects (requires advanced search or Zoekt)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
search	string	✓	Code search query string. On instances with exact code search (Zoekt), the query supports rich inline syntax: "class foo" (exact match), foo file:.js$ (file pattern), foo lang:ruby (language), sym:foo (symbol search), foo -bar (negation), case:yes (case-sensitive). When using Zoekt inline filters, prefer them over the separate filename/path/extension params which are for basic search.
filename	string		Filter by filename (supports * wildcard, e.g. '*.ts')
path	string		Filter by file path (supports * wildcard, e.g. 'src/utils/*')
extension	string		Filter by file extension without dot (e.g. 'py', 'ts')
page	number		Page number for pagination (default: 1)
per_page	number		Number of items per page (max: 100, default: 20)

search_project_code

📖 Read-only

Search for code within a specific project (requires advanced search or Zoekt)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
project_id	string	✓	Project ID or complete URL-encoded path to project
search	string	✓	Code search query string. On instances with exact code search (Zoekt), the query supports rich inline syntax: "class foo" (exact match), foo file:.js$ (file pattern), foo lang:ruby (language), sym:foo (symbol search), foo -bar (negation), case:yes (case-sensitive). When using Zoekt inline filters, prefer them over the separate filename/path/extension params which are for basic search.
filename	string		Filter by filename (supports * wildcard, e.g. '*.ts')
path	string		Filter by file path (supports * wildcard, e.g. 'src/utils/*')
extension	string		Filter by file extension without dot (e.g. 'py', 'ts')
ref	string		Branch or tag to search in (defaults to default branch)
page	number		Page number for pagination (default: 1)
per_page	number		Number of items per page (max: 100, default: 20)

search_group_code

📖 Read-only

Search for code within a specific group (requires advanced search or Zoekt)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
group_id	string	✓	Group ID or URL-encoded path
search	string	✓	Code search query string. On instances with exact code search (Zoekt), the query supports rich inline syntax: "class foo" (exact match), foo file:.js$ (file pattern), foo lang:ruby (language), sym:foo (symbol search), foo -bar (negation), case:yes (case-sensitive). When using Zoekt inline filters, prefer them over the separate filename/path/extension params which are for basic search.
filename	string		Filter by filename (supports * wildcard, e.g. '*.ts')
path	string		Filter by file path (supports * wildcard, e.g. 'src/utils/*')
extension	string		Filter by file extension without dot (e.g. 'py', 'ts')
page	number		Page number for pagination (default: 1)
per_page	number		Number of items per page (max: 100, default: 20)