abflisted

# AgentsBestFriend (ABF) — Codebase Navigation Skill ABF is a local MCP server that provides AI-optimized tools for navigating, searching, and analyzing code repositories. These tools return structured, compact results that save 50–80% of tokens compared to manually reading files. ## When to Use ABF Tools **Always prefer ABF tools when you need to:** - Understand a project's structure or tech stack - Search for code across files (exact, keyword, or semantic) - Read specific functions or classes from large files - Trace imports, dependencies, or reverse dependencies - Assess the impact of changing a symbol - Get multi-file context around an entry point **Use native tools only when:** - Making edits to files (ABF is read-only) - Checking for lint/compile errors - Running terminal commands - The ABF MCP server is not connected ## Decision Matrix | Task | ABF Tool | Instead of | |------|----------|------------| | Orient in a new project | `abf_project_overview` | Reading README + listing directories + checking package.json | | Find where something is defined | `abf_search` (exact mode) | `grep_search` | | Find files related to a concept | `abf_search` (keyword mode) | Multiple `semantic_search` + `grep_search` calls | | Read a specific function from a large file | `abf_chunk` with symbol name | `read_file` (which loads entire file or requires guessing line ranges) | | List all exports of a file | `abf_symbols` | `read_file` and scanning manually | | Understand what a file i