How does Claude Code search code? 13,162 Grep calls. 92.8% use content mode. 28.6% request context lines. 98.6% specify a path.

Grep tool analysis — output modes, file types, context usage.

npx cc-grep

No install. No dependencies.

• Total Grep calls — across all sessions
• Output mode breakdown — content vs files_with_matches vs count
• File type distribution — what types Claude searches most
• Context line usage — -C/-A/-B flag frequency
• Path specificity — scoped vs global searches
• Case insensitivity rate — -i flag usage

  cc-grep — Grep Tool Analysis
  ════════════════════════════════════════

  ▸ Overview
    Total Grep calls:     13,162
    Path specified:       12,977 (98.6%)
    Case insensitive:     772 (5.9%)
    Context lines used:   3,768 (28.6%)

  ▸ Output mode breakdown
    content              ████████████████  92.8%  (show matching lines)
    files_with_matches   █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   6.5%  (file paths only)
    count                ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   0.7%  (match counts)

  ▸ What Claude Code searches
    (any)          ████████████████  93.3%  (12,275)
    py             █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   3.0%    (400)
    gd             ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   1.8%    (237)
    md             ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   0.8%    (100)

npx cc-grep          # terminal output
npx cc-grep --json   # JSON output for scripting

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "totalGrepCalls": 13162,
  "withPathSpecified": 12977,
  "withPathRate": 98.6,
  "caseInsensitiveCount": 772,
  "caseInsensitiveRate": 5.9,
  "contextLinesUsed": 3768,
  "contextRate": 28.6,
  "outputModes": {
    "content": 12216,
    "files_with_matches": 856,
    "count": 90
  }
}

Try it without installing: yurukusa.github.io/cc-grep

Drag-drop your ~/.claude/projects/ folder (or any subfolder) to analyze.

Reads ~/.claude/projects/**/*.jsonl session transcripts and extracts every Grep tool call. Analyzes output_mode, type/glob filters, -i flag, context line options (-C, -A, -B), and path specificity. Zero external dependencies.

Part of cc-toolkit — 71 tools for understanding your Claude Code sessions.