`seek` 0.1.0

Search files for a literal string; NDJSON records with tagged errors, bounded memory, and an authority with no write, network or foreign code.

seek [--root DIR] [--max-count N] [--skip N] [--max-line-bytes N] [--ascii-case-insensitive] [--require-match] [--format ndjson|text] PATTERN FILE...

output: NDJSON stream ending in an end record
schema: seek.v1
reversibility: reversible-cheap
guarantees: deterministic, idempotent, bounded_memory
concurrency: read-only: it never writes, so any number may run at once
confinement: beneath: with --root, paths are checked lexically against it and then opened beneath it one component at a time, following no symbolic link (path.symlink), so nothing outside the root is reachable through one; without it, a reader opens the path as given, links and all, and a writer still follows no link in the file's own name
reads the environment: no
reads the clock: no
compiler: de4e52fd8180
for an agent: SKILL.md (seek skill)

Authority

Derived by cancho authority from the source, embedded in the binary, and checked against tools.toml's ceiling in CI. Every label is bounded.

args
dir_read
err_write
file_read
fs_read("")
heap
io_write

What the row cannot say:

path extent: a path from the command line is checked at run time, so the row says fs_read("")
what a symlink reaches
what standard output carries
resource use beyond the tool's own caps (memory, wall time)
per-invocation behaviour such as --dry-run, which the row cannot see

Operands

Operand	Role	How many	Meaning
`PATTERN`	`none`	1	the literal bytes to find, not a regular expression
`FILE...`	`path-read`	1 or more	the files to search, in order

Flags

Flag	Kind	Role	Default	Meaning
`--root`	`path`	`root`		resolve every FILE relative to this directory and refuse paths outside it
`--max-count` `-m`	`nat`	`none`		stop after this many matches in total, and report truncated with a next cursor
`--skip`	`nat`	`none`	`0`	skip this many matches before reporting any (the next cursor of a truncated run)
`--max-line-bytes`	`nat`	`none`	`1048576`	the longest line held, a longer one is limit.line-too-long (ceiling 16777216)
`--ascii-case-insensitive` `-i`	`bool`	`none`		fold ASCII letters only when comparing
`--require-match`	`bool`	`none`		exit 8 (precondition.no-match) when nothing matched
`--format`	`choice:ndjson/text`	`none`	`ndjson`	ndjson for a program, text (path:line:text) for a person

Limits

Limit	Default	Ceiling
`max-line-bytes`	1,048,576	16,777,216

Exit codes

Code	Name	Meaning
0	`SUCCESS`	what was asked was done; zero matches is success
1	`GENERAL_ERROR`	the operating system failed mid-operation, or the tool caught a bug in itself
2	`INVALID_ARGS`	the invocation is malformed or names something of the wrong kind; nothing was read
3	`NOT_FOUND`	a named input does not exist
4	`PERMISSION_DENIED`	the operating system refused, or the tool's own confinement did
8	`PRECONDITION_FAILED`	the answer is no, or a limit was reached

Rules (19)

Match on rule, not on the message. A retry repair is an argv that can be run as it stands, and never widens what the tool may touch.

Rule	Exit	Repair	When
`args.unknown-flag`	2	sometimes	a flag that is not in the tool's table
`args.missing-value`	2	never	a flag that takes a value was given none
`args.bad-value`	2	never	a flag's value is not of the flag's kind
`args.unexpected-value`	2	never	a flag that takes no value was given one
`args.duplicate-flag`	2	never	the same flag was given twice
`args.missing-operand`	2	never	an operand the tool needs was not given
`path.empty`	2	never	an empty path
`path.dotdot`	2	sometimes	a path with a `..` component
`path.absolute`	2	always	an absolute path where one relative to --root is wanted
`path.outside-root`	4	never	an absolute path that is not under --root
`path.too-long`	2	never	a path longer than 4096 bytes
`path.symlink`	4	never	a path that runs through a symbolic link, which the tool does not follow
`io.not-found`	3	never	a named input does not exist
`io.not-a-directory`	3	never	a path runs through something that is not a directory
`io.is-a-directory`	2	never	a directory where a file is wanted
`io.permission-denied`	4	never	the operating system refused access
`io.read-failed`	1	never	the operating system failed a read
`limit.line-too-long`	8	sometimes	a line longer than --max-line-bytes
`precondition.no-match`	8	never	--require-match was given and nothing matched

Evidence

each gate is a test in cancho-tools/tests/conformance, run by CI on the commit this binary was built from:

M1 schema conformance
M2 determinism
M3 rule coverage and hint soundness
M4 fault injection
M5 differential against GNU
M6 authority
M7 mutation behaviour
M8 confinement
M9 memory flatness

Agent in the loop: not run: no claim that this tool is more agent-friendly than the incumbents is made (cancho docs/agent-toolbox.md section 7.2).

seek 0.1.0