feat(indexing): port gitignore-aware file walker from semble

[amondnet]

Summary

Port of src/semble/index/file_walker.py to TypeScript. Provides the
gitignore-aware directory traversal used by every indexing entry point in csp.

Unit 8 of the parallel port effort (MinishLab/semble → @pleaseai/csp).

What was ported

• walkFiles(root, extensions, ignore?) — async generator yielding files
  matching extensions, skipping ignored paths
• _isIgnored, _loadIgnoreForDir, _walk — internal helpers exported under
  the same underscore-prefixed names as semble for parity
• DEFAULT_IGNORED_DIRS — ReadonlySet<string> mirroring
  _DEFAULT_IGNORED_DIRS with .semble/ replaced by .csp/
• IgnoreSpec, IgnoreCheck types

Negation-bypass implementation choice

Semble's Python original iterates over pathspec.GitIgnoreSpec.patterns,
calling pattern.match_file(...) and inspecting pattern.include and
pattern.pattern per match. The npm ignore package's .test() returns
the winning rule when ignored is true but not when a negation
un-ignores — making the negation-with-extension detection impossible from
the package's public surface.

To recreate semble's behaviour exactly, we parse the gitignore lines
ourselves and build a ParsedPattern[] of
{ pattern, negated, hasExtSuffix, matcher }, where matcher is a tiny
single-pattern Ignore instance. _isIgnored then walks the parsed list
in source order, asking each per-pattern matcher whether it matches the
relative path; the last winning pattern decides ignored, and
found = !ignored && pattern.hasExtSuffix reproduces the Python rule:

Bypass the extension filter only for negation patterns with a file
extension suffix (e.g. !special.kjs, !*.py). Patterns without a
suffix (e.g. !vendor/, !.github/*) target directories or broad globs
and should not bypass extension filtering.

Trade-off: more pattern compilation than a single aggregate matcher. The
aggregate matcher is still built and kept on IgnoreSpec.spec for parity
with the Python GitIgnoreSpec field and as a reservation for future
fast-paths, but _isIgnored is the authoritative decision path.

path.extname(pattern.replace(/\/+$/, '')) is used in place of
Path(pat.rstrip("/")).suffix — manual spot-checks show equivalent results
for the gitignore-relevant cases (*.log → .log, vendor/ → '',
.github/* → '', __init__.py → .py).

Tests

bun test src/indexing/file-walker.test.ts — 17 passing, 31 assertions.

Coverage:

• Recursive .ts discovery
• Symlinks skipped
• .git/ and node_modules/ always ignored
• .gitignore with *.log excludes foo.log
• .gitignore with *.log\n!special.log includes special.log (negation-with-extension bypass)
• .cspignore honoured alongside .gitignore
• Nested per-directory .gitignore
• Extra ignore argument honoured
• Case-insensitive extension matching
• _loadIgnoreForDir null/merge/comment behaviour
• _isIgnored found-flag semantics

Notes for integrators

• package.json is unchanged. The ignore package is referenced via dynamic
  import; the rest of this module compiles even when the dep is not yet
  installed. Add ignore to dependencies in Unit 0 (or the dep-consolidation
  PR) and replace the dynamic import with a static one.
• Tests are gated on await import('ignore') succeeding; when the dep is
  absent the describe blocks become .skip.

Source of truth

/Users/lms/.ask/github/github.com/MinishLab/semble/main/src/semble/index/file_walker.py

---

Summary by cubic

Ports the gitignore-aware file walker from semble to TypeScript for indexing. It honors .gitignore/.cspignore, skips noisy dirs, and preserves the negation-with-extension bypass so !*.ext can include files outside the allowlist.

• New Features

  • walkFiles(root, extensions, ignore?) async generator; respects nested ignore files, skips symlinks, and matches extensions case-insensitively.
  • Exports _isIgnored, _loadIgnoreForDir, _walk, and DEFAULT_IGNORED_DIRS (uses .csp/ instead of .semble/).
  • _isIgnored adds a fast path via the aggregate ignore matcher and a hasNegatedExtPattern cache; per-pattern walk runs only when a negated ext rule could win.
  • Tests cover recursion, default ignores, negation-with-extension bypass, the extra ignore arg, hasNegatedExtPattern, and cross-spec state.

• Dependencies

  • Uses ignore via dynamic import; add ignore later and switch to a static import. Tests auto-skip when ignore is not installed.

^{Written for commit 3a43e48. Summary will update on new commits.}

[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request ports the file walker and its corresponding tests from Python to TypeScript, implementing recursive file traversal that respects .gitignore and .cspignore files. The reviewer suggests a significant performance optimization for the _isIgnored function: by caching whether an IgnoreSpec contains any negated patterns with file extensions, the walker can use the aggregate matcher's .test() method to bypass the expensive per-pattern loop for the vast majority of files.

[cubic-dev-ai]

No issues found across 2 files

Architecture diagram

sequenceDiagram
participant Caller as Caller (indexer)
participant walkFiles as walkFiles()
participant _walk as _walk()
participant _loadIgnore as _loadIgnoreForDir()
participant _isIgnored as _isIgnored()
participant FS as File System
participant ignorePkg as ignore package (dynamic import)
Note over Caller,_walk: Entry Point: walkFiles(root, extensions, ignore?)
Caller->>walkFiles: root, [".ts"], optional extra ignore patterns
walkFiles->>walkFiles: Build extensions Set (lowercased)
walkFiles->>walkFiles: Merge DEFAULT_IGNORED_DIRS + extra ignore patterns
walkFiles->>ignorePkg: dynamic import (lazy, cached)
ignorePkg-->>walkFiles: Ignore factory
walkFiles->>walkFiles: buildSpec(root, dirPatterns) → baseSpec
walkFiles->>_walk: yield * _walk(root, [baseSpec], extensionsSet)
loop Per directory (recursive)
_walk->>_loadIgnore: _loadIgnoreForDir(directory)
_loadIgnore->>FS: stat .gitignore
FS-->>_loadIgnore: File info or error
alt .gitignore exists
_loadIgnore->>FS: readFile(.gitignore)
FS-->>_loadIgnore: gitignore content
end
_loadIgnore->>FS: stat .cspignore
FS-->>_loadIgnore: File info or error
alt .cspignore exists
_loadIgnore->>FS: readFile(.cspignore)
FS-->>_loadIgnore: cspignore content
end
_loadIgnore->>_loadIgnore: Merge lines, skip blanks/comments
_loadIgnore->>ignorePkg: buildSpec(lines)
ignorePkg-->>_loadIgnore: Aggregate matcher + ParsedPattern[]
_loadIgnore-->>_walk: IgnoreSpec or null
_walk->>_walk: Merge dirSpec into inheritedSpecs
_walk->>FS: readdir(directory, withFileTypes)
FS-->>_walk: Dirent[]
loop Each entry (sorted)
_walk->>_walk: Skip symlinks
_walk->>_isIgnored: _isIgnored(fullPath, isDir, specs)
Note over _isIgnored: Walks patterns in source order
_isIgnored->>_isIgnored: For each pattern: pattern.matcher.ignores(candidate)
alt Pattern matches
_isIgnored->>_isIgnored: ignored = !pattern.negated
_isIgnored->>_isIgnored: found = !ignored && pattern.hasExtSuffix
end
_isIgnored-->>_walk: { ignored, found }
alt ignored == true
_walk->>_walk: Skip entry
else isDir
_walk->>_walk: yield * _walk(full, specs, extensions)
else isFile
alt found == true (negation bypass)
_walk->>_walk: yield full (even if extension not in allowlist)
else extensionsSet.has(extname)
_walk->>_walk: yield full
else
_walk->>_walk: Skip (extension not allowed)
end
end
end
end
_walk-->>walkFiles: File paths
walkFiles-->>Caller: AsyncGenerator of matching file paths

Loading

_{Re-trigger cubic}

[amondnet]

Applied 3, deferred 0.

All three gemini-code-assist comments addressed in 3a43e48:

1. Added hasNegatedExtPattern: boolean to IgnoreSpec (with updated doc comment)
2. buildSpec computes the flag once per spec
3. _isIgnored uses the aggregate matcher's .test() as the hot path, falling back to the per-pattern loop only when a negation could win AND the spec carries a negated ext pattern — preserving the load-bearing negation-bypass semantics from semble's _is_ignored

cubic-dev-ai found no issues.

Tests: 21 pass (17 existing + 4 new covering hasNegatedExtPattern cache and cross-spec state preservation).

[cubic-dev-ai]

1 issue found across 2 files (changes from recent commits).

Prompt for AI agents (unresolved issues)

Check if these issues are valid — if so, understand the root cause of each and fix them. If appropriate, use sub-agents to investigate and fix each issue separately.
<file name="src/indexing/file-walker.ts">
<violation number="1" location="src/indexing/file-walker.ts:206">
P2: The new `.test()` double-false shortcut is not semantically safe: `ignore.test()` can return `{ignored:false, unignored:false}` for indirectly-unignored paths, so this early `continue` can preserve stale outer `ignored=true` and skip files that should be included.</violation>
</file>

<sub>Reply with feedback, questions, or to request a fix.

Re-trigger cubic</sub>

[cubic-dev-ai]

P2: The new .test() double-false shortcut is not semantically safe: ignore.test() can return {ignored:false, unignored:false} for indirectly-unignored paths, so this early continue can preserve stale outer ignored=true and skip files that should be included.

Prompt for AI agents

Check if this issue is valid — if so, understand the root cause and fix it. At src/indexing/file-walker.ts, line 206:
<comment>The new `.test()` double-false shortcut is not semantically safe: `ignore.test()` can return `{ignored:false, unignored:false}` for indirectly-unignored paths, so this early `continue` can preserve stale outer `ignored=true` and skip files that should be included.</comment>
<file context>
@@ -175,14 +191,47 @@ export function _isIgnored(
+
+ const { ignored: isIgnoredBySpec, unignored: isUnignoredBySpec } = aggregateResult
+
+ if (!isIgnoredBySpec && !isUnignoredBySpec) {
+ // No pattern in this spec matched — preserve outer state.
+ continue
</file context>