# using-search-tools

> Claude/Codex skill by [@gopigment](https://omgskills.com/library/gopigment/index.md) · 23 stars · Updated 2026-10-23

Execution skill. Choosing between the discovery tools and calling them cheaply: why breadth is free but call count is not, and lineage versus full impact analysis. Load before exploring an application, resolving block names, or checking what a change breaks.

## Install

```sh
git clone https://github.com/gopigment/ai-plugins /tmp/ai-plugins && ln -s /tmp/ai-plugins/skills/using-search-tools ~/.claude/skills/using-search-tools
```

## From README

Using Search and Dependency Tools Search tools let you discover blocks; dependency tools let you trace formula lineage and impact. Using the wrong one wastes tokens and returns poor results. --- What a Search Call Costs Every search call pays a fixed cost: the tool loads the application catalog before it filters. That cost does not depend on how broad your query is, how many patterns you pass, or how many results come back. A call that returns zero results costs the same as one that returns a hundred. On a large application this is several seconds per call. Two consequences drive everything below: Breadth is free, call count is not. One call carrying fifteen name patterns costs the same as one call carrying one. Never spread names across calls. Turns are the real cost. Parallel calls in the same turn overlap, so their wall time is the slowest one, not the sum. Sequential calls across turns each add a full model round trip on top of the search.

## Links

- HTML page: https://omgskills.com/library/gopigment/ai-plugins/skills/using-search-tools/
- GitHub: https://github.com/gopigment/ai-plugins
- Author: [@gopigment](https://omgskills.com/library/gopigment/index.md)

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