Surgical Grep Filtering & Glob Targeting Protocol

Overview

When searching a repository for a specific method or constant ("handlePaymentCallback"), naive agents execute broad, unconstrained searches across the entire workspace directory.

Unfiltered searches return hundreds of false-positive matches:

1. Test Snapshots & Fixtures: Matches in 50 Jest/Vitest snapshots that aren't part of production logic.
2. Minified Bundles & Source Maps: Matches in .map or dist/ files that dump unreadable minified code into context.
3. Markdown Documentation: Matches in changelogs, READMEs, and tutorials.

The Surgical Grep Filtering Protocol constrains the search space using strict file extension globs, target directory scopes, and exact literal matching (IsRegex: false), returning strictly the 1 to 3 production source matches.

Unconstrained Search vs. Surgical Glob Filtering