[DOCS] Tool displayed as "Search" in UI but documented as "Grep"

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Jan 26, 2026 by coygeek Closed Feb 28, 2026

Documentation Type

Unclear/confusing documentation

Documentation Location

https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings

Section/Topic

"Tools available to Claude" table

Current Documentation

The docs currently say:

| Grep | Searches for patterns in file contents |

What's Wrong or Missing?

A. Display name mismatch

When Claude Code uses the content search tool, the UI displays:

Search(pattern: "example", path: "/some/path", output_mode: "content")

But documentation calls this tool "Grep", not "Search".

B. User confusion

This discrepancy causes confusion when:

  1. Users search the docs for "Search tool" and find nothing
  2. Users try to understand which tool Claude is using
  3. Users write permission rules using the displayed name "Search" instead of "Grep"

The parameters are identical (pattern, path, output_mode, glob, type, etc.), confirming this is the same tool with different names in different contexts.

Suggested Improvement

Option A (Preferred): Add a note explaining the display name:

| Grep | Searches for patterns in file contents. Displayed as "Search" in the UI. |

Option B: Add an aliases column to the tools table:

| Tool | Display Name | Description |
|------|--------------|-------------|
| Grep | Search | Searches for patterns in file contents |

Impact

Medium - Makes feature difficult to understand

Additional Context

Affected Pages:

| Page | Section |
|------|---------|
| https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings | Tools available to Claude |

Version tested: Claude Code 2.1.19

Technical detail: The tool uses ripgrep under the hood. The internal/API name appears to be "Grep" while the user-facing display name is "Search".

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