multivac

Cross-project full-text search across local Claude Code conversations — zero-dependency Node CLI, plus a one-shot multivac init that installs the matching Claude Code plugin (chat-search).

The CLI maintains its own SQLite FTS5 index built from ~/.claude/projects/**/*.jsonl and exposes a relevance-ranked search over message bodies across all your projects. With no arguments on a TTY it opens a built-in TUI picker; with a query and --list/--format it prints results for piping; with --reindex it rebuilds.

Requirements

• Node ≥ 22.5 — uses the built-in node:sqlite module. No npm install happens at runtime; no Python, no fzf, no native compilation.

Install

One-shot, no install (npx)

npx -y @krmrn42/multivac --help
npx -y @krmrn42/multivac "the chat where I figured out OAuth"

The first invocation takes a few seconds while npm fetches the package; subsequent runs hit the cache.

Persistent install (npm)

npm install -g @krmrn42/multivac
multivac --help

Bundling the Claude Code plugin

If you also want the slash commands (/chat-search:find, /chat-search:setup) and the inline-rendering experience inside Claude Code:

multivac init

This shells out to claude plugin marketplace add krmrn42/krmrn-skills and claude plugin install chat-search@krmrn-skills (the Claude Code CLI's plugin subcommand). If the claude CLI is not on your $PATH, multivac init instead prints the equivalent slash commands for you to paste into a Claude Code session manually.

multivac init does not modify any shell-rc file or ~/.claude/-internal config directly — all writes happen through claude itself.

Quick usage

multivac                      # TTY: open the TUI picker; non-TTY: print --help
multivac "OAuth flow"         # ranked text results
multivac "OAuth flow" --list  # one-shot list mode (no picker)
multivac --format tsv foo     # machine-readable TSV for piping
multivac --reindex            # force full rebuild of the FTS5 index
multivac --index-status       # DB path, size, message/conv count, last refresh
multivac -- init              # search for the literal word "init" (init is a reserved subcommand)

See multivac --help for the full flag set (filters, regex mode, projects, since-date, limit, picker keybindings, exit codes).

Where state lives

| Path | What | |---|---| | $XDG_DATA_HOME/krmrn42-skills/chat-search/index.db (default ~/.local/share/...) | FTS5 index (rebuildable) | | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/krmrn42-skills/chat-search/sessions.json | Saved names + pins (persistent) | | ~/.claude/projects/**/*.jsonl | Source of truth — read, never written |

Full user guide

The picker keybindings (Enter resume, Ctrl-F fork, Ctrl-R rename, Ctrl-P pin, Ctrl-T remote-control, Ctrl-W tmux-window, Alt-Enter dangerous-when-armed, ? help overlay), one-shot mode, exit codes, and indexer maintenance are documented in the companion plugin's MANUAL:

→ github.com/krmrn42/krmrn-skills/blob/main/plugins/chat-search/MANUAL.md

Relationship to the Claude Code plugin

The npm package and the marketplace plugin ship the same CLI from the same source tree (packages/multivac/src/ is the canonical sources; the plugin's bin/ is a thin symlink). Versions are kept in lockstep — npm @krmrn42/[email protected] and plugin [email protected] always carry the same code.

Choose whichever distribution channel suits your environment:

| Channel | Command | |---|---| | npm one-shot | npx -y @krmrn42/multivac … | | npm global install | npm install -g @krmrn42/multivac | | Claude Code plugin | /plugin install chat-search@krmrn-skills (or multivac init) |

License

MIT © 2026 Shavkat Aynurin and krmrn-skills contributors.

Issues, contributing

Issues, PRs, and discussions at github.com/krmrn42/krmrn-skills. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution bar.