Filesystem Scan Cache Architecture Contract

This document defines the current contract for the shared filesystem scan cache implemented in Rust (crates/pi-natives/src/fs_cache.rs) and consumed by native discovery/search APIs exposed to packages/coding-agent.

What this cache is

The cache stores full directory-scan entry lists (GlobMatch[]) keyed by scan scope, traversal policy, and requested metadata detail. Higher-level operations (glob filtering, fuzzyFind scoring, and cached grep candidate selection) run against those cached entries.

Primary goals:

• avoid repeated filesystem walks for repeated discovery/search calls
• keep consistency across native discovery/search flows when they share the same scan policy
• allow explicit staleness recovery for empty results and explicit invalidation after file mutations

Ownership and public surface

• Cache implementation and policy: crates/pi-natives/src/fs_cache.rs
• Native consumers:
  • crates/pi-natives/src/glob.rs
  • crates/pi-natives/src/fd.rs (fuzzyFind)
  • crates/pi-natives/src/grep.rs (cached directory mode only)
  • crates/pi-natives/src/ast.rs (astGrep/astEdit file discovery; always cached)
• JS binding/export:
  • packages/natives/native/index.d.ts (invalidateFsScanCache)
  • packages/natives/native/index.js
• Coding-agent mutation invalidation helpers:
  • packages/coding-agent/src/tools/fs-cache-invalidation.ts

Cache key partitioning (hard contract)

Each entry is keyed by:

• canonicalized root directory path
• include_hidden boolean
• use_gitignore boolean
• skip_node_modules boolean
• detail (ScanDetail::Minimal or ScanDetail::Full)

Implications:

• Hidden and non-hidden scans do not share entries.
• Gitignore-respecting and ignore-disabled scans do not share entries.
• Scans that prune node_modules do not share entries with scans that include it.
• Minimal scans (path + file type only) do not share entries with full scans (mtime + regular-file size metadata).
• follow_links is part of ScanOptions used to build the walker, but is not currently part of CacheKey; calls that differ only by follow_links can share a cache entry.

Consumers must pass stable semantics for hidden/gitignore/node_modules/detail behavior; changing any keyed flag creates a different cache partition.

Scan collection behavior

Cache population uses ignore::WalkBuilder configured by include_hidden, use_gitignore, skip_node_modules, and follow_links:

• sorted by file path
• .git is always pruned
• node_modules is pruned at traversal time when skip_node_modules=true
• cancellation is checked before the walk and every 128 visited entries per parallel visitor
• ScanDetail::Minimal records normalized relative path and file type only
• ScanDetail::Full also records mtime and regular-file size

Search roots for cache scans are resolved by fs_cache::resolve_search_path:

• relative paths are resolved against current cwd
• target must be an existing directory
• root is canonicalized when possible

Freshness and eviction policy

Global policy (environment-overridable):

• FS_SCAN_CACHE_TTL_MS (default 1000)
• FS_SCAN_EMPTY_RECHECK_MS (default 200)
• FS_SCAN_CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES (default 16)

Behavior:

• get_or_scan(...)
  • if TTL is 0: bypass cache entirely, always fresh scan (cache_age_ms = 0)
  • on cache hit within TTL: return cloned cached entries + non-zero cache_age_ms
  • on expired hit: evict key, rescan, store fresh entry
• force_rescan(..., store=false): remove any matching key, scan fresh, and do not repopulate cache
• force_rescan(..., store=true): remove any matching key, scan fresh, then store the new entry
• max entry enforcement is oldest-first eviction by created_at after insert

Empty-result fast recheck (separate from normal hits)

Normal cache hit:

• a cache hit inside TTL returns cached entries and does nothing else.

Empty-result fast recheck:

• this is a caller-side policy using ScanResult.cache_age_ms
• if filtered/query result is empty and cached scan age is at least empty_recheck_ms(), caller performs one force_rescan(..., store=true) and retries
• intended to reduce stale-negative results when files were added while the cache is still inside TTL

Current consumers:

• glob: rechecks when filtered matches are empty and scan age exceeds threshold
• fuzzyFind (fd.rs): rechecks only when query is non-empty and scored matches are empty
• grep: rechecks when cached directory candidate file list is empty
• astGrep/astEdit (ast.rs): recheck when the candidate file list is empty

Consumer defaults and cache usage

Cache is opt-in on glob/fuzzyFind/grep (cache?: boolean, default false). astGrep/astEdit file discovery always uses the cache (there is no opt-in flag).

Current defaults in native APIs:

• glob: hidden=false, gitignore=true, cache=false; node_modules is included only when includeNodeModules=true or the pattern mentions node_modules; full detail is used only when sortByMtime=true
• fuzzyFind: hidden=false, gitignore=true, cache=false, node_modules is skipped, follow_links=true, minimal detail
• grep: hidden=true, gitignore=true, cache=false; cached directory mode skips node_modules unless the glob mentions node_modules; minimal detail
• astGrep/astEdit (file discovery): hidden=true, gitignore=true, always cached; node_modules is skipped unless the glob mentions node_modules; follow_links=false; minimal detail

Current callers:

• @-mention fuzzy file autocomplete enables cache (fuzzyFind with cache: true):
  • packages/tui/src/autocomplete.ts
• Mutation flows invalidate through packages/coding-agent/src/tools/fs-cache-invalidation.ts.
• Tool-level grep integration (packages/coding-agent/src/tools/grep.ts) currently calls native grep with cache: false.

Invalidation contract

Native invalidation entrypoint:

• invalidateFsScanCache(path?: string)
  • with path: remove cache entries whose root is a prefix of the target path
  • without path: clear all scan cache entries

Path handling details:

• relative invalidation paths are resolved against cwd
• invalidation attempts canonicalization
• if target does not exist (for example after delete), fallback canonicalizes the parent and reattaches the filename when possible
• this preserves invalidation behavior for create/delete/rename where one side may not exist

Coding-agent mutation flow responsibilities

Coding-agent code must invalidate after successful filesystem mutations.

Central helpers:

• invalidateFsScanAfterWrite(path)
• invalidateFsScanAfterDelete(path)
• invalidateFsScanAfterRename(oldPath, newPath) (invalidates both sides when paths differ)

Current mutation callsites include:

• packages/coding-agent/src/tools/write.ts
• packages/coding-agent/src/edit/hashline/filesystem.ts
• packages/coding-agent/src/edit/modes/patch.ts
• packages/coding-agent/src/edit/modes/replace.ts

Rule: if a flow mutates filesystem content or location and bypasses these helpers, cache staleness bugs are expected.

Adding a new cache consumer safely

When introducing cache use in a new scanner/search path:

1. Use stable scan policy inputs
   • decide hidden/gitignore/node_modules/detail semantics first
   • pass them consistently to get_or_scan/force_rescan so cache partitions are intentional
2. Treat cache data as pre-filtered only by traversal policy
   • apply tool-specific filtering (glob patterns, type filters, scoring) after retrieval
   • never assume cached entries already reflect your higher-level filters
3. Implement empty-result fast recheck only for stale-negative risk
   • use scan.cache_age_ms >= empty_recheck_ms()
   • retry once with force_rescan(..., store=true, ...)
   • keep this path separate from normal cache-hit logic
4. Respect no-cache mode explicitly
   • when caller disables cache, call force_rescan(..., store=false, ...) or use an uncached streaming walker
   • do not populate shared cache in a no-cache request path
5. Wire mutation invalidation for any new write path
   • after successful write/edit/delete/rename, call the coding-agent invalidation helper
   • for rename/move, invalidate both old and new paths
6. Do not add per-call TTL knobs
   • current contract is global policy only (env-configured), no per-request TTL override

Known boundaries

• Cache scope is process-local in-memory (DashMap), not persisted across process restarts.
• Cache stores scan entries, not final tool results.
• glob/fuzzyFind/cached grep/astGrep share scan entries only when key dimensions (root, hidden, gitignore, skip_node_modules, detail) match.
• .git is always excluded at scan collection time regardless of caller options.