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Adithya Chinnakkonda edited this page Oct 14, 2026 · 1 revision

Search & Ask

The magnifier icon in the left side bar has two tabs: Search (find and replace text) and Ask (find code by describing it). Kural's Search takes the place of VS Code's own Search view, which Kural hides.

Search (Ctrl+Shift+F)

Everything VS Code's Search did:

  • Toggles in the search box: Match Case (Alt+C), Match Whole Word (Alt+W), Use Regular Expression (Alt+R). Ctrl+Enter adds a new line, to search across lines.
  • Replace (Ctrl+Shift+H, or the arrow left of the box), with Preserve Case (Alt+P). With a regular expression, $1, $&, \n, and \u \l \U \L (upper/lower case) work. The results show each change (old struck through, new after it); click one for the Replace Preview (the file beside your changed version). Replace one match, a whole file, or Replace All (Ctrl+Alt+Enter; it asks first). Files you weren't editing are saved; undo with Ctrl+Z. When you change a name in your code, Tab Completion's offer to change it elsewhere opens here with Review, filled in (see Tab Completion).
  • Search details (the ... under the box): files to include and files to exclude (*.ts, src, ./docs/*.md, several with commas), Search only in Open Editors, and Use Exclude Settings and Ignore Files (VS Code's files.exclude / search.exclude and your .gitignore).
  • Results come as you type, grouped by file, with a count on the icon. Files you're editing are searched as they are on screen, not as saved, and the results follow your changes.
  • Up/Down in the box: earlier searches.
  • The title bar: Refresh, Clear, Open in Search Editor, View as Tree / List, Collapse / Expand All.
  • In the results: click opens the place, double-click keeps the tab; arrow keys move, Enter opens, Space opens and stays in the list, Delete dismisses. Hover for Replace and Dismiss. Right-click: Copy, Copy Path, Copy All, Reveal in Explorer View.
  • F4 / Shift+F4: the next / previous result, from anywhere.
  • Explorer: right-click a folder → Find in Folder....

VS Code's search settings still apply (search.searchOnType, search.smartCase, search.collapseResults, search.defaultViewMode, search.showLineNumbers, search.maxResults, search.followSymlinks).

Ask (Ctrl+Alt+A)

Ask finds code by describing it: "where is the retry limit set?", "what sends the welcome email?". Kural searches your project and lists the exact places (file:line); click one to open it. Finding places needs speed more than the most capable model, so Ask always uses the fastest model you have, whatever the chat uses: Claude's Haiku, or the lightest Google Gemini (Flash) or ChatGPT (Codex "mini") model, the chat's own AI first; only with none of those, your own model (Your Own Model). Under the results it says which model answered and how long it took.

An empty box shows no results: empty the question (or the Search box) and the old results go away.

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