callgraph

locate: where to start with a coding task

Give locate the names and domain terms from a task in one call. It answers from the project map, without reading the source, with a short ranked list of the files worth opening first — best first, each with the reason.

Install The locate MCP tool

Example

Function, class and file names, column names, routes — all in one go:

bash ~/.claude/skills/callgraph/callgraph.sh locate RefundController processRefund refund payment_status checkout.vue --project myapp

Output (shortened)

locate: 5 terms · 14 matches in 6 files · start here ↓
1. app/Http/Controllers/RefundController.php  ★★★
   class RefundController  L6-16  ← "RefundController", "refund" (exact class)
   store()  L14  calls RefundService::processRefund  ← "processRefund" (call)
2. app/Services/RefundService.php  ★★
   processRefund()  L6-9  callers: 2 (RefundController::store, RefundJob::handle)  ← "processRefund", "refund" (exact method)
…

Every file comes with its matching classes or methods, their line ranges and the terms that matched, so the agent can go straight to an outline or --body of the right place.

How the ranking works

  • A match counts more the stronger it is: exact definition, then file name, then a part of a name (refund ~ RefundJob, refunds_table, singular / plural), then a string literal, then a call.
  • A file that matches several different terms ranks above one that matches a single term many times.
  • 5 files are shown by default; --all lists every match.
  • Terms without a match and terms that are too general are listed at the end.

Tip: pass a non-English domain word together with its English code name (for example a Hungarian visszatérítés together with refund).

locate, grep or callgraph?

The questionUse
An exact string, log message or config valuegrep — plain text search is the best at that
Where do I start with this task?locate
Definitions, structure, callers, impactcallgraph: outline, --body, --grep, --depth

The typical flow of a task: locate → outline of the top files → --body of just the method you need → --grep to find its callers.

Over MCP

The locate tool takes terms (a string or a list), an optional project alias and all: true for every match. The usage guide the server sends on connect tells the agent to make it the first call of a task. Set up the MCP server.