dianel555/ace-tool

ACE-Tool - Semantic Code Search & Prompt Enhancement

High-performance semantic search, code indexing, and AI-powered prompt enhancement. Standalone CLI (no MCP dependency).

Execution Methods

# Prerequisites: pip install httpx tenacity
# Environment: ACE_API_URL, ACE_API_TOKEN (optional for local fallback)

# Index project for remote search (upload code blobs to ACE service)
python scripts/ace_cli.py index -p /path/to/project

# Search codebase with natural language (remote if API configured, else local fallback)
python scripts/ace_cli.py search_context -p /path/to/project -q "function that handles authentication"

# Enhance prompt (interactive mode - default, opens browser)
python scripts/ace_cli.py enhance_prompt -p "implement login feature" -H "User: what auth method?\nAssistant: JWT"

# Enhance prompt (non-interactive, JSON output)
python scripts/ace_cli.py enhance_prompt --no-interactive -p "implement login feature"

# Enhance prompt with project context (enables cloud retrieval for all endpoints)
python scripts/ace_cli.py enhance_prompt -p "implement login feature" --project-root /path/to/project

# Enhance prompt with specific endpoint
python scripts/ace_cli.py --endpoint claude enhance_prompt -p "implement login feature"

# Enhance prompt with codex endpoint
python scripts/ace_cli.py --endpoint codex enhance_prompt -p "implement feature"

# Check configuration
python scripts/ace_cli.py get_config

Tool Routing Policy

Prefer ACE-Tool Over Built-in Tools

| Task | Avoid | Use ACE-Tool CLI | |------|-------|------------------| | Find function by purpose | grep "def func" | search_context -q "function that..." | | Locate feature code | find . -name "*.py" | search_context -q "feature description" | | Clarify requirements | Manual analysis | enhance_prompt -p "requirement" | | Understand code flow | Multiple grep/read | search_context -q "flow description" | | Index codebase | N/A | index -p <project_root> |

When to Use Built-in Tools

• Exact string matching (known identifiers)
• File path patterns (known naming conventions)
• Simple text replacement

Command Reference

index

Index project files for remote codebase retrieval. Scans, hashes, chunks large files, and uploads to the ACE batch-upload API. Uses incremental indexing with gzip JSON cache at .ace-tool/index.json.gz. Respects both .gitignore and .aceignore patterns.

python scripts/ace_cli.py index -p <project_root>

Options:
  -p, --project-root    Project root path (required)

search_context

Search codebase using natural language descriptions. Routes to remote API (POST /agents/codebase-retrieval) when configured, with automatic local keyword fallback.

python scripts/ace_cli.py search_context -p <project_root> -q <query>

Options:
  -p, --project-root    Project root path (required)
  -q, --query           Natural language query (required)

enhance_prompt

Enhance prompts with codebase context and conversation history. All endpoints inject cloud retrieval context when --project-root is provided. Third-party endpoints additionally support search context injection via PROMPT_ENHANCER_INCLUDE_SEARCH_CONTEXT.

python scripts/ace_cli.py [--endpoint TYPE] enhance_prompt -p <prompt> [options]

Global Options:
  --endpoint            Endpoint type: new, old, claude, openai, gemini, codex (default: new)
  --api-url             Override API base URL
  --token               Override API token

Command Options:
  -p, --prompt          Original prompt (required)
  -H, --history         Conversation history: "User: xxx\nAssistant: yyy"
  --history-file        File containing conversation history
  --project-root        Project root path (enables cloud retrieval context)
  --no-interactive      Disable web UI, output JSON directly
  --no-browser          Don't auto-open browser, just print URL
  --port                Port for web server (default: 8765)

get_config

Show current configuration status including endpoint resolution, env readiness, authentication source, and search context injection state.

python scripts/ace_cli.py get_config

Output fields:

• base_url - Currently configured API base URL
• endpoint - Active enhancer endpoint (new/old/claude/openai/gemini/codex)
• endpoint_effective - Resolved endpoint after env variable resolution
• endpoint_env_ready - Whether required endpoint configuration is complete
• token_configured - Whether authentication token is set
• third_party_configured - Whether third-party endpoint config is complete
• auth_source - Authentication source: constructor | session.json | AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH | ACE_API_TOKEN | none
• search_context_injection - Whether search context injection is enabled

Interactive Enhancement

Default mode opens web UI with actions:

| Button | Action | |--------|--------| | Regenerate | Discard current, generate new enhancement from original prompt | | Refine | Iteratively improve current version, preserving your edits | | Use Original | Return the original prompt without enhancement | | Send Enhanced | Confirm and use the current enhanced prompt | | Cancel | Abort the enhancement process |

Keyboard Shortcuts: Ctrl+Enter Send | Esc Cancel

Endpoint Architecture

Supported Endpoints

| Endpoint | API Path | Default Model | Auth Header | Status | |----------|----------|---------------|-------------|--------| | new | /prompt-enhancer | claude-sonnet-4-5 | Bearer ACE_API_TOKEN | ⚠️ Currently unavailable | | old | /chat-stream (SSE) | claude-sonnet-4-5 | Bearer ACE_API_TOKEN | ⚠️ Currently unavailable | | claude | /v1/messages | sonnet-4-6-20250929 | x-api-key | ✅ Available | | openai | /v1/chat/completions | gpt-5.4 | Bearer PROMPT_ENHANCER_TOKEN | ✅ Available | | gemini | /v1beta/models/{model}:generateContent | gemini-3-flash-preview | x-goog-api-key | ✅ Available | | codex | /v1/responses | gpt-5.4 | Bearer PROMPT_ENHANCER_TOKEN | ✅ Available |

Note: The official Augment endpoints (new and old) are currently experiencing service issues. Use third-party endpoints for prompt enhancement.

Endpoint Resolution Order

PROMPT_ENHANCER_ENDPOINT > ACE_ENHANCER_ENDPOINT (legacy) > --endpoint CLI flag > new (default)

Third-Party Endpoints

claude, openai, gemini, codex are third-party endpoints. They require:

• PROMPT_ENHANCER_BASE_URL — API base URL
• PROMPT_ENHANCER_TOKEN — API key/token
• PROMPT_ENHANCER_MODEL — (optional) override default model

Missing configuration raises ValueError immediately (hard error, no silent fallback).

URL Construction

All HTTP calls use build_api_url(base_url, path) which handles /v1/, /v1beta/ version prefix deduplication. No hardcoded f-string URL construction.

Environment Variables

Authentication (Priority Order)

ACE-Tool supports multiple authentication methods with the following priority:

1. Constructor parameters (highest priority, programmatic use only)
2. ~/.augment/session.json (recommended, created by auggie login)
3. AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH (CI/CD and headless environments)
4. Legacy ACE_API_* (deprecated, backward compatibility only)

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH | JSON string with accessToken and tenantURL (new format, recommended for CI/CD) | | ACE_API_URL | ⚠️ Deprecated - ACE API base URL (use session.json or AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH instead) | | ACE_API_TOKEN | ⚠️ Deprecated - ACE API authentication token (use session.json or AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH instead) |

Recommended: Use ~/.augment/session.json

Create this file via auggie login, or manually with this format:

{
  "accessToken": "your-token-here",
  "tenantURL": "https://api.example.com/",
  "scopes": ["email"]
}

For CI/CD: Use AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH environment variable

export AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH='{"accessToken":"token","tenantURL":"https://api.example.com/"}'

Migration Guide: Legacy to New Format

If currently using ACE_API_URL and ACE_API_TOKEN:

1. Option A (Recommended): Use auggie login to create ~/.augment/session.json
2. Option B: Convert to AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH:

   export AUGMENT_SESSION_AUTH='{"accessToken":"YOUR_ACE_API_TOKEN","tenantURL":"YOUR_ACE_API_URL"}'
   

3. Remove old variables (optional, they'll be ignored if new format exists)

Legacy variables continue to work for backward compatibility but are not recommended for new setups.

Endpoint Configuration

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | PROMPT_ENHANCER_ENDPOINT | Endpoint override: new, old, claude, openai, gemini, codex | | ACE_ENHANCER_ENDPOINT | Legacy endpoint override (fallback if PROMPT_ENHANCER_ENDPOINT not set) | | PROMPT_ENHANCER_BASE_URL | Third-party API base URL (for claude/openai/gemini/codex endpoints) | | PROMPT_ENHANCER_TOKEN | Third-party API token | | PROMPT_ENHANCER_MODEL | Override default model for third-party endpoints | | PROMPT_ENHANCER_INCLUDE_SEARCH_CONTEXT | Enable search context injection for third-party endpoints (1, true, yes, on) |

Search Context Injection

When PROMPT_ENHANCER_INCLUDE_SEARCH_CONTEXT is enabled and a third-party endpoint is used, the system automatically:

1. Performs a remote codebase search via ACE API using the original prompt as query
2. Normalizes the result (placeholder if empty, truncate at 12000 chars if too long)
3. Wraps the search results in <codebase_context> XML tags
4. Wraps the original prompt in <original_request> XML tags
5. Sends the combined prompt to the third-party LLM

Requires --project-root and valid ACE_API_URL/ACE_API_TOKEN. Raises ValueError if project_root is missing when injection is enabled.

.aceignore

Place a .aceignore file in the project root to exclude additional patterns from code indexing (beyond .gitignore). Uses the same glob syntax as .gitignore. Patterns from both files are merged (union). Comments (#) and empty lines are skipped.

# .aceignore example
test_fixtures/
*.generated.ts
large_data/
node_modules/
.*/
logs/
tests/

Workflow

Phase 0: Index Project (once or after major changes)

index -p .                                            # Upload code blobs to ACE

Phase 1: Semantic Search

search_context -p . -q "database connection pooling"  # Remote retrieval or local fallback

Phase 2: Prompt Enhancement

enhance_prompt -p "optimize query performance" --project-root .  # With cloud context
# Review and refine enhanced prompt
# Use Regenerate/Refine as needed
# Send Enhanced to confirm

Error Handling

{"error": "error message", "status_code": 401}

| Error | Recovery | |-------|----------| | No API configured | Uses local fallback for search_context; returns original for enhance | | Token invalid (401) | Check API token (logged at ERROR level) | | Access denied (403) | Token may be disabled (logged at ERROR level) | | Upload failure | Index rollback to previous state; cached blobs still returned | | Connection timeout | Retries up to 3 times with exponential backoff | | No results | Broaden search query | | Third-party not configured | ValueError raised immediately (no silent fallback) | | Search context missing project_root | ValueError raised when injection enabled without --project-root |

Anti-Patterns

| Prohibited | Correct | |------------|---------| | Grep before semantic search | Use search_context first | | Skip prompt enhancement | Use enhance_prompt for complex tasks | | Ignore conversation history | Include history in enhance_prompt | | Use exact match for conceptual search | Use natural language query | | Always use non-interactive mode | Use interactive mode for review | | Skip --project-root for enhance | Include it for cloud-based code context |