Everything Search Skill for AI Agents

⚡ Ultra-fast, index-powered local file search skill for AI coding agents.
Dual-mode architecture: HTTP REST API (for Sandboxed / Containerized Agents) + CLI Win32 IPC (Native Desktop).

🇨🇳 简体中文 | 🇬🇧 English |

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💡 The Problem: Why Sandboxed Agents Fail with es.exe

AI coding agents running in isolated sandboxes, Docker containers, WSL2, or non-interactive background services frequently encounter this error when executing es.exe:

Error 8: Everything IPC window not found. Please make sure Everything is running.

Why does this happen?

• es.exe relies on Windows Desktop messaging (WM_COPYDATA Win32 IPC) to communicate with Everything's GUI window.
• Windows security mechanisms (User Interface Privilege Isolation / UIPI and Session 0 Isolation) explicitly prohibit processes in sandboxes, containers, or background sessions from sending window messages across desktop session boundaries.

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🛡️ The Solution: Dual-Mode Architecture

This skill implements an intelligent dual-mode fallback architecture:

                        ┌───────────────────────────────┐
                        │ AI Agent (Python / PowerShell)│
                        └──────────────┬────────────────┘
                                       │
                    ┌──────────────────┴──────────────────┐
                    ▼                                     ▼
        [Mode 1: HTTP REST API]                 [Mode 2: Win32 CLI]
    (Sandboxes, Docker, WSL, Remote)            (Native User Desktop)
                    │                                     │
           GET http://host:8080/                   es.exe IPC Call
                    │                                     │
                    └──────────────────┬──────────────────┘
                                       ▼
                         Voidtools Everything Engine
                           (Instant <15ms Results)

1. HTTP REST Mode (Primary for Sandboxes & Containers):
   • Everything includes a built-in, lightweight HTTP REST API.
   • TCP network requests bypass Win32 UIPI/session isolation completely.
   • Compatible with Linux, macOS, WSL, Docker containers, and Windows Sandbox.
   • Implemented using pure Python standard libraries (zero third-party dependencies).
2. CLI IPC Mode (Automatic Fallback):
   • If the HTTP port is not exposed and the agent runs in a native Windows desktop session, it automatically falls back to es.exe.

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✨ Features

• ⚡ Sub-15ms Latency: Query millions of indexed files across all NTFS drives in milliseconds.
• 🐳 Sandbox & Container Ready: Works effortlessly inside Docker, WSL2, and isolated agent runners via host HTTP endpoint.
• 🎯 Scoped or Whole-Disk: Restrict boundaries to current workspace via -path or search all connected drives.
• 🛡️ Context-Safe Pagination: Built-in limits (-n 20) prevent output dumps from overflowing LLM context tokens.
• 📊 Structured JSON Output: Built-in support for --json across both Python and PowerShell helpers.
• 🔌 Universal Agent Support: Ready for Cursor, Codex, PI-Desktop, and custom agents.

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Enable Everything HTTP Server (One-Time Setup on Host)

In Everything on your host Windows machine:

1. Open Everything -> Tools (工具) -> Options (选项).
2. Select HTTP Server (HTTP 服务器) on the left.
3. Check Enable HTTP Server (启用 HTTP 服务器), set Port to 8080, and click OK.

Alternatively, run the automated setup script:

.\scripts\enable_http.ps1 -Port 8080

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2. One-Click Installation

Clone and install into your agent environments:

git clone https://github.com/Mayuqi-crypto/everything-search-skill.git
cd everything-search-skill
.\scripts\install.ps1

The installer will:

1. Place es.exe into ~/.local/bin/ and configure your User PATH.
2. Deploy the skill into ~/.agents/skills/, ~/.cursor/skills/, and ~/.codex/skills/.

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🐳 Sandboxed & Container Usage (Docker / WSL2)

From Docker Container

Pass the host gateway to your container:

docker run -e EVERYTHING_HTTP_URL=http://host.docker.internal:8080 \
           --add-host host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
           my-agent-image

Inside container:

python scripts/everything_search.py "package.json" -n 10 --json

From WSL2

Point EVERYTHING_HTTP_URL to Windows host:

export EVERYTHING_HTTP_URL="http://$(ip route show | awk '/default/ {print $3}'):8080"
python3 scripts/everything_search.py "ext:py model" -n 10

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🛠️ Usage & Examples

1. Dual-Mode Python Helper (scripts/everything_search.py)

# Auto mode: Attempts HTTP first; falls back to CLI
python scripts/everything_search.py "package.json" -n 20

# Structured JSON output
python scripts/everything_search.py "ext:tsx component" -n 10 --json

# Restrict search to project folder
python scripts/everything_search.py "main.py" -p "C:\Workspace\repo" -n 5

# Force HTTP REST mode
python scripts/everything_search.py "exact:Dockerfile" --mode http

2. Direct CLI Usage (es.exe in Native Sessions)

# Always use -n to limit results!
es.exe -n 20 "package.json"

# Scope search to workspace folder
es.exe -path "C:\my-repo" -n 20 "index.ts"

# Files only (/a-d) or Folders only (/ad)
es.exe /a-d -n 15 "ext:tsx component"
es.exe /ad -n 10 "node_modules"

# Sort by modification date (newest first)
es.exe -sort-date-modified-descending -n 10 "ext:log dm:today"

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🔍 Everything Search Syntax Cheatsheet

Target	Syntax	Description
Multiple Extensions	ext:md;txt;json	Semicolon-delimited file extensions
File Size	size:>100MB or size:1MB..50MB	Supports B, KB, MB, GB
Date Modified	dm:today, dm:last7days, dm:2025	Relative or exact date filter
Path Filter	path:"C:\Workspace"	Scope matches to specific parent path
Exact Match	exact:Dockerfile	Exact match without wildcard expansion
Logical AND	model user ext:py	Space represents AND
Logical OR	`*.jpg	*.png`
Logical NOT	*.ts !*.test.ts	Exclude matches with !
Regex	es.exe -r "src\\api\\.*\.go$"	Regular expression matching

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📁 Repository Layout

everything-search-skill/
├── SKILL.md                          # Standard Agent Skill specification
├── README.md                         # English Documentation
├── README_zh.md                      # Chinese Documentation
├── LICENSE                           # MIT License
├── bin/
│   └── es.exe                        # Voidtools official CLI tool
└── scripts/
    ├── install.ps1                   # One-click installation & PATH setup
    ├── enable_http.ps1               # One-click HTTP Server configuration
    ├── everything_search.ps1         # Dual-mode PowerShell wrapper
    └── everything_search.py          # Dual-mode Python wrapper (Zero-dependency)

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🌐 Community & Discussion

Proudly shared and discussed on LINUX DO (https://linux.do) — Welcome to join the discussion and share your feedback!

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📄 License

This repository is licensed under the MIT License. Voidtools Everything and es.exe are copyright © Voidtools.