Workspace & Search

How Nella indexes your codebase and how search works.

The .nella/ Directory

When you index a project, Nella creates a .nella/ directory:

your-project/
  src/
  package.json
  .nella/
    index/        # Search index data
    context/      # Session and assumption data

Indexing Your Code

Your agent calls nella_index to parse and index your codebase. The index enables fast search across all your files.

• Run indexing before your first search
• Re-index after major changes, branch switches, or large merges
• Use force: true for a complete rebuild
• Use paths to index specific files or directories

Nella understands code structure — it indexes functions, classes, interfaces, and other symbols so your agent can find exactly what it needs.

Searching Your Code

nella_search supports three modes:

Mode	Best For	Example Query
hybrid (default)	Most queries	”user authentication flow”
semantic	Conceptual questions	”how are errors handled”
lexical	Exact symbol names	”getUserById”

Tips for better results:

• Use the language filter to narrow results: language: "typescript"
• Use filePattern to search specific paths: filePattern: "src/api/"
• Start with hybrid mode — it works well for nearly everything
• Switch to lexical when searching for exact function or class names

What Gets Indexed

Nella indexes source files in your workspace, skipping common non-code directories like node_modules/, .git/, and build output. The index includes:

• Function and method definitions
• Class and interface declarations
• Type definitions and exports
• File-level documentation and comments