Code search: pick the rung, then move down it

Semantic tools (a language server) answer "who calls this" in one call when they cover the code. When they don't, they return nothing, and the expensive mistake is to keep rephrasing the question. A repo instruction that says "always query the graph/symbol server first" was written for the languages it covers, not necessarily for the file you are looking at now. This skill exists so you decide once, from evidence, which tools can see the code in front of you, and then fall through a fixed ladder instead of looping.

1. Probe once per session, remember the answer

Do this the first time you need to search in a repo, not on every question. Record the outcome in your working notes so later questions skip straight to step 3.