MCP Tool Selection Rules

Core principle: MCP Qdrant-Indexer tools are primary for exploring code and history. Start with MCP for exploration, debugging, or "where/why" questions; use literal search/file-open only for narrow exact-literal lookups.

STOP — Do NOT Use Read File or Grep for Exploration

DO NOT use Read File, grep, ripgrep, cat, find, or any filesystem search tool for code exploration. You have MCP tools that are faster, smarter, and return ranked, contextual results.

• About to Read a file to understand it? → use search or repo_search or context_answer
• About to grep for a symbol? → use search or symbol_graph or search_callers_for
• About to grep -r for a concept? → use search with natural language
• About to find/ls for project structure? → use qdrant_status (with list_all=true)

TIP: Use search as your DEFAULT tool — it auto-detects intent and routes to the best specialized tool.

The ONLY acceptable use of grep/Read: confirming exact literal strings (e.g., REDIS_HOST), or reading a file you already located via MCP for editing.

Use MCP Qdrant-Indexer When