Introducing Deep Search: A faster way to understand your code

Deep Search is now generally available. For the latest information, read this post.

When you’re fixing a bug, building a feature, or digging into a service you didn’t write, the hardest part is often understanding what the existing code is doing - tracking down definitions, usages, and dependencies across files or repositories.

Code Search helps with that every day. But when you don’t know what to search for - or you’re trying to understand how something works, not just where it’s used - Deep Search offers a faster way in.

Ask questions. Get structured answers grounded in code.

Deep Search, our new search feature available in Research Preview, lets you ask natural-language questions about your codebase and returns a structured, navigable answer. It uses Sourcegraph’s underlying search and code navigation to explore the code for you, running queries, following references, and summarizing its findings with links, code snippets, and context.

Example questions:

• “How does authentication work?”
• “Where is this error code triggered?”
• “Describe an API call pattern between repo X and repo Y”

The result is a high-level explanation built from real code - not just keyword matches.

Complements existing Code Search workflows

Code Search is still immensely useful if you’re looking for specific pieces of code like functions, patterns, or references, or when you’re trying to find all instances of code exhaustively.

Deep Search is helpful when:

• You’re early in an investigation and need an overview
• You’re tracing logic across files or services
• You want a summary instead of piecing together results manually

Both are designed to help you get answers faster and navigate complex code with less friction.

Available in Research Preview

Deep Search is available today in Research Preview for Enterprise Starter and Enterprise customers. Please read our docs to get started. Note: customers with Code Search Enterprise only will need to agree to new terms of service to try Deep Search, and should reach out to their account team to get set up.

Deep Search is available for use at no additional cost until October 15th, 2025.