Searching through code-bases with Windsurf
1. Searching through code-bases with Windsurf
Welcome back! In this video, we’ll talk about how Cascade understands our questions—and why its search is so smart.2. Cascade searches
There are two main ways Cascade searches our code: keyword search,3. Cascade searches
and semantic search.4. Keyword search
Keyword search looks for exact words in our files. For example, in the daily journal app example, if we type: displayEntries in the input box and send this request in the chat mode Cascade will let us know of every place in the code where the word displayEntry appears—like in the HTML, CSS or app.js file. That means Cascade picks out the exact word from every file and it can modify it based on our queries.5. Semantic search
Semantic search is a lot smarter—it looks at the meaning of our question, not just the words. Let’s say we type: “How do I create a new entry?” Even though the code says addEntry, not createEntry, Cascade still understands what we mean—because “add” and “create” mean the same thing in this context.6. Aliasing
This is called aliasing—Cascade can match similar ideas, even if the words in our prompt don’t exactly match the code. It lets us know the part of the code inside index.html where we define the entries.7. Cascade search modes
So, the difference is: Keyword search is very direct—it matches exact words. Semantic search understands what we mean, even if our wording is different. And that’s what makes Cascade so powerful—we don’t need to remember file names or exact variable names. We can just ask questions naturally, and Cascade will figure it out.8. Let's practice!
Now that we’ve seen how Cascade makes sense of our questions, let’s move on and practice with some exercises.Create Your Free Account
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