抓取工具

Install

git clone https://github.com/johnsellin93/grab.git
cd grab
chmod +x grab
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/grab:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Rapid AI-assisted debugging and repository analysis from the terminal

You are not copying results. You are exporting context.

grab turns repository exploration into a deterministic workflow for building AI-ready context from large codebases, one extraction at a time.

It combines ripgrep, sed, and clipboard/tmux workflows into deterministic code-context extraction.

Instead of indexing entire repositories, grab allows developers and AI systems to progressively acquire only the context required for a specific debugging or implementation task.

Unlike repository indexing tools, grab focuses on explicit, user-directed context acquisition.

grab helps developers build explicit repository context for AI systems without relying on repository-wide indexing or fragmented snippets. Context is acquired incrementally as the investigation evolves.

It lets you:

• search relevant project files
• extract exact code ranges
• capture directory structure
• accumulate debugging context incrementally
• automatically copy accumulated context to clipboard/tmux
• paste clean AI-ready context directly into AI tools

Basic Workflow

AI-Assisted Investigation Workflow

Problem statement:

"Users occasionally receive duplicate notifications.

We suspect retry handling might be involved,
but we don't yet know which parts of the codebase to investigate."

grab --functions .
    ↓
assistant sees function ranges and name context
↓
assistant identifies likely investigation targets
↓
assistant emits batches of grab commands
↓
developer reviews and executes them
↓
repository context expands incrementally to clipboard

The intended workflow is batch-oriented. Rather than extracting one function at a time, the AI generates multiple extraction commands that can be executed together to rapidly expand repository context across related code paths.

Each extraction incrementally expands the active repository context and copies the accumulated result into the active clipboard buffer.

Function indexing provides exact extraction coordinates that assistants can use to request additional surrounding implementation context.

Instead of guessing missing code, the AI proposes deterministic extraction commands that developers can use to progressively acquire explicit repository context.

Example assistant batch emission:

grab --functions .
grab 312 383 NotificationDispatcher.cs ProcessNotificationDelivery
grab 448 486 NotificationDispatcher.cs ShouldRetryNotification
grab 521 564 NotificationDispatcher.cs RecordDeliveryAttempt
grab 612 642 NotificationDispatcher.cs HasRecentSuccessfulDelivery
grab 188 236 RetryPolicy.cs RetryFailedNotification
grab 245 271 RetryPolicy.cs GetRetryBackoffDelay

grab NotificationRetryLimit .               # variable / symbol lookup
grab DeliveryDeduplicationWindowMinutes .  # variable / symbol lookup
grab "duplicate notification" .            # exact text search

Vim / Neovim Workflow Integration

The following mappings are not required to use grab, but they significantly improve keyboard-driven AI workflows.

Clipboard Integration

set clipboard+=unnamedplus
set clipboard+=unnamed

Clipboard Integration

Supported targets:

• tmux buffer
• Wayland clipboard via wl-copy
• X clipboard via xclip
• macOS clipboard via pbcopy

Workflow Tips

For fast keyboard-driven AI workflows, browser extensions like Vimium C work well alongside grab.