From Pensieve · · 2m
Pensieve: local code search for AI coding agents
Pensieve helps AI coding agents find code faster with local search.
In brief
Pensieve helps AI coding agents find code faster with local search. Pensieve reduces AI code searches from 3.4 to 2.0 tool calls per lookup by searching locally on your Mac. Originally reported by Pensieve.
Local code search
Pensieve searches your files, folders, git repositories and conversations with coding agents locally.
Press Control+Shift for search panel
Press Control+Shift to open a glass panel over your documents, folders, git repositories and conversations with coding agents.
Search by meaning or exact words
Search by meaning or exact words to find files, repos and sessions without touching the mouse.
Exact search examples
Exact search finds "retry" payments without draft, "rate limit" and "card declines, retry with backoff".
Filter search results
Use filters like -draft, kind:code, ext:pdf to narrow down search results to specific files, code or sessions.
MCP context for agents
Agents use MCP to get the right context from Pensieve with fewer tool calls and faster results.
Why card retries stop
Card retries stop after a decline because of hard_decline in payments/retry.py.
Tool calls with Pensieve
With Pensieve, agents find the right file in 131 of 144 runs versus 123 with grep alone.
Fewer tool calls
Pensieve reduces tool calls from 3.4 to 2.0 per lookup with 43% fewer calls.
Cheaper per lookup
Pensieve costs 18% less per lookup at $0.041 versus $0.050 with grep.
Faster per lookup
Pensieve completes lookups 21% faster at 8.6 seconds versus 10.9 seconds.
Know who owns code
Pensieve shows who owns code and who has the most domain knowledge in the team.
Find knowledge gaps
Pensieve flags areas with few active experts and shows who knows them best today.
Always current
Pensieve watches your folders, repos and agent sessions and re-indexes changes seconds later.
Private by design
Pensieve indexes only your Mac, with no cloud service or account required.
The one thing
Pensieve reduces AI code searches from 3.4 to 2.0 tool calls per lookup by searching locally on your Mac.
