grepai

Search Boost

Improve search relevance with structural boosting

Structural boosting automatically adjusts search scores based on file paths. Test files are penalized, source directories are boosted.

How It Works

After vector similarity search, grepai applies multipliers to scores:

  • Penalties (factor < 1.0): Reduce score for tests, mocks, generated code
  • Bonuses (factor > 1.0): Increase score for source directories
  • Cumulative: Multiple matching patterns are multiplied together

Example: tests/auth_test.py matches /tests/ (×0.5) and _test. (×0.5) → final factor = 0.25

Default Configuration

Enabled by default with language-agnostic patterns:

search:
  boost:
    enabled: true
    penalties:
      # Test files (multi-language)
      - pattern: "/tests/"
        factor: 0.5
      - pattern: "/test/"
        factor: 0.5
      - pattern: "__tests__"
        factor: 0.5
      - pattern: "_test."
        factor: 0.5
      - pattern: ".test."
        factor: 0.5
      - pattern: ".spec."
        factor: 0.5
      - pattern: "test_"
        factor: 0.5
      # Mocks
      - pattern: "/mocks/"
        factor: 0.4
      - pattern: "/mock/"
        factor: 0.4
      - pattern: ".mock."
        factor: 0.4
      # Fixtures & test data
      - pattern: "/fixtures/"
        factor: 0.4
      - pattern: "/testdata/"
        factor: 0.4
      # Generated code
      - pattern: "/generated/"
        factor: 0.4
      - pattern: ".generated."
        factor: 0.4
      - pattern: ".gen."
        factor: 0.4
      # Documentation
      - pattern: ".md"
        factor: 0.6
      - pattern: "/docs/"
        factor: 0.6
    bonuses:
      # Source directories (multi-language)
      - pattern: "/src/"
        factor: 1.1
      - pattern: "/lib/"
        factor: 1.1
      - pattern: "/app/"
        factor: 1.1

Default Rules Summary

CategoryPatternsFactor
Tests/tests/, /test/, __tests__, _test., .test., .spec., test_×0.5
Mocks/mocks/, /mock/, .mock.×0.4
Fixtures/fixtures/, /testdata/×0.4
Generated/generated/, .generated., .gen.×0.4
Docs.md, /docs/×0.6
Source/src/, /lib/, /app/×1.1

Customization

Add custom patterns

search:
  boost:
    enabled: true
    penalties:
      - pattern: "/vendor/"
        factor: 0.3
      - pattern: ".min.js"
        factor: 0.2
    bonuses:
      - pattern: "/core/"
        factor: 1.2

Disable boosting

search:
  boost:
    enabled: false

Pattern Matching

Patterns use simple substring matching on file paths:

  • /tests/ matches project/tests/unit/auth.py
  • _test. matches auth_test.go, user_test.py
  • .spec. matches auth.spec.ts, user.spec.js

Use / to delimit directories and avoid false positives (e.g., /tests/ won’t match contests/).