Made for agents on Amplfyd, launching soon. Code Search is free today: sign in with GitHub.
Three plans. All of them $0.

Search GitHubin plain words

Sign in with GitHub and start searching. Nothing to install, no keys to set up, nothing to pay. Code Search turns your sentence into the right GitHub query, skips spam and low-star projects, and ranks the rest by stars.

Sign in with GitHub Connect an agent

code search / results

recorded run

Works with any MCP client, or plain REST

Claude CodeCodexCursorGrokGitHub CopilotWindsurfGemini CLIClineAmp

GitHub × every agent

Find the project,
not the keyword.

One GitHub search for you in the browser and for nine agents over MCP. Ranked by the stars real developers gave it.

[ 01 / 07 ] · The old waywhy it exists

01GitHub search, as it is

Why Code Search exists

GitHub's repository search wants keywords and qualifiers, not sentences. Type what you actually need and you get nothing back, or a pile of forks, tutorials and abandoned demos.

Some repositories stuff their description with thousands of keywords so they show up in every search. While testing we found one that was 64,765 characters long.

Code Search reads your sentence the way you meant it and hands back the projects people star.

[ 02 / 07 ] · No setupabout a minute
No setup

Sign in. Type. Done.

No install, no config file, no token to copy. Your GitHub account is the only thing you need.

  1. Step 1 · ten seconds

    Sign in with GitHub

    One click on GitHub's own sign-in page. Code Search asks for no permissions, so the token it gets can only read public data.

  2. Step 2 · plain words

    Describe the project

    Write it the way you would say it. “A terminal file manager written in Rust” works. GitHub qualifiers such as license:mit work too.

  3. Step 3 · ranked

    Get repos ranked by stars

    Low-star projects and keyword spam are already gone. Open any result for its description, topics, licence and links.

  4. Step 4 · optional

    Hand it to your agent

    Create an API key and paste one line into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any MCP client. Same search, inside your agent.

[ 03 / 07 ] · How it workssix steps
Zero configuration

From a sentence to the right repository

People and agents write the way they talk. GitHub wants exact words. Code Search sits in between and does the translating.

Step 1

Drop the filler. “I need an open source alternative to Notion that I can self host” loses the words that describe you, not the project.

I need an open source alternative to notion that I can self host

Step 2

Split the words. Key terms must match. Descriptive words such as alternative, lightweight, self-hosted and language names only break ties.

Key terms notion

Descriptive alternative self host

Step 3

Ask for every word. At least 100 stars, archived repos out, sorted by stars.

alternative notion self host
stars:>=100 archived:false
sort=stars order=desc

Step 4

Loosen with care. Fewer than ten matches? It widens one rule at a time and tells you which.

  • Every wordall_keywords
  • Key terms +key_terms_plus
  • Key termskey_terms
  • Most termsmost_key_terms

Cost

1

GitHub call for most searches. Never more than four, even when the search has to widen.

Step 5

Throw out spam. Descriptions over 1,000 characters are keyword stuffing, so they go.

Step 6

Rank by stars. Returned with licence, language, topics and last push, compact enough for an agent's context.

[ 04 / 07 ] · Rate limitssource: docs.github.com
GitHub API limits

GitHub's search limits, handled for you

GitHub caps how often anyone can call its search API. Here are the real numbers, and what Code Search does so you rarely notice them.

GitHub REST API limits that affect search
LimitGitHub's number
Search API, signed inrepositories, issues, users, topics, commits30 requests / min
Search API, anonymouscounted per IP address10 requests / min
Code search endpointsearch/code, sign-in required10 requests / min
Results per searchlater pages are not served1,000 max
Query lengthnot counting qualifiers256 chars · 5 AND/OR/NOT
Other REST callsfor example, reading a README5,000 / hour signed in
60 / hour anonymous
Secondary limitsabuse protection, can change without notice100 concurrent
900 points / min per endpoint

From GitHub's REST API documentation, checked 4 November 2026. Over the limit, GitHub answers 403 or 429 with x-ratelimit-remaining at 0.

Your search quota, minute by minute

Simulation

Each square is one GitHub search call this minute. Repeats come from the shared cache and cost nothing.

30 of 30 leftresets in 60scache hits 0

    30/min

    Yours alone

    Everyone searches on their own GitHub token, so one heavy user never slows anyone else down.

    1call

    For most searches

    Ten or more strong matches take one GitHub call. Harder searches take up to four.

    10min

    Shared cache

    Identical searches are answered from cache, and identical searches arriving together share one call.

    429

    Clear back-off

    At the limit you get Retry-After with the exact wait, and MCP tools tell your agent how long to pause.

    Every user gets their own gate.

    Send everyone through one shared token and the whole service gets 30 searches a minute between all its users. Code Search signs each person in with their own GitHub account instead, so your 30 a minute are yours.

    On top of GitHub's limit, Code Search allows 120 requests a minute per account across REST and MCP, so a runaway script can't burn through your quota in a loop.

    Read the full rate-limit guide

    Sources: GitHub REST API, search rate limit · Rate limits for the REST API

    [ 05 / 07 ] · AgentsMCP + REST
    Agent ready

    Easily connect with your AI agents

    One MCP endpoint with two tools, search_repositories and get_repository_readme. Pick your agent, copy, paste.

    MCP endpoint for every agent:
    https://codesearch.amplfyd.com/mcp

    Made for Amplfyd · launching soon

    Built for agents on Amplfyd

    Code Search is made so agents on Amplfyd can search GitHub smoothly: one API key, two read-only tools, compact results that fit in context, and rate-limit answers that say exactly how long to wait. Amplfyd launches soon. Until then, Code Search works with every MCP client today.

    Get your API key ready Agent setup docs →
    [ 06 / 07 ] · Pricingno card needed
    Pricing

    Three plans. All free.

    Pick the one that matches how you search. You can use all three at once. They cost the same, which is nothing.

    no card, no trial

    No. 01Admit one

    Search pass

    For people who want the right repository without learning GitHub's query syntax.

    $0/ month

    • Sign in with GitHub, nothing to install
    • Live search in the dashboard
    • Plain-English queries, GitHub qualifiers welcome
    • Filters for language, minimum stars and archived repos
    • Ranked by stars, keyword spam removed
    • Your own GitHub quota of 30 searches a minute
    Start searching

    No. 02Admit one

    Agent pass

    For Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and every other agent that needs to find real projects.

    $0/ month

    • Everything in Search pass
    • API keys, one per agent, revoke any time
    • Hosted MCP server with two read-only tools
    • README reading in one tool call
    • Setup snippets for seven agents
    • Rate-limit errors that tell the agent how long to wait
    Create an API key

    No. 03Admit one

    Builder pass

    For scripts, apps and tools that call GitHub search over plain HTTP.

    $0/ month

    • Everything in Agent pass
    • REST API for search and READMEs
    • OpenAPI 3.1 description and llms.txt
    • 120 requests a minute per account
    • Shared ten-minute cache and request coalescing
    • X-Request-Id and Server-Timing on every response
    Read the API docs

    No card, no trial, no seat limits. Searches run on your own GitHub quota.

    [ 07 / 07 ] · FAQ11 questions

    Frequently asked questions

    Limits, privacy and setup. Everything else is in the docs.

    Read the docs →
    Q.01Do I need to install or set up anything?

    No. Sign in with GitHub in your browser and search from the dashboard straight away. You only touch a config file if you want an AI agent to use Code Search too, and that is one line.

    Q.02Is Code Search really free?

    Yes. All three plans cost $0. Every search runs on your own GitHub account's search quota, so there is no shared bill to pass on to you.

    Q.03What are GitHub's search API rate limits?

    GitHub allows 30 search requests a minute for a signed-in user (10 a minute for the code search endpoint) and 10 a minute for anonymous requests, counted per IP address. Any one search returns at most 1,000 results.

    Q.04Do all Code Search users share one GitHub limit?

    No. Each person signs in with their own GitHub account and searches on their own token, so your 30 searches a minute belong to you alone.

    Q.05What happens when I hit the limit?

    Code Search answers with status 429 and a Retry-After header that says exactly how long to wait, and the MCP tools pass that wait on to your agent. Repeated searches come from a ten-minute cache and do not use your quota.

    Q.06Can it see my private repositories?

    No. Code Search asks GitHub for no permissions beyond public data, so the token it holds can only read public repositories.

    Q.07What does Code Search store about me?

    Your GitHub login, name and avatar, your GitHub token encrypted with AES-256-GCM, and only SHA-256 hashes of your sessions and API keys.

    Q.08Which agents work with it?

    Any MCP client that speaks HTTP: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Cline and Amp. Anything else can call the REST API.

    Q.09How is this different from GitHub's own search?

    GitHub wants exact keywords and ranks by its own relevance. Code Search takes a plain sentence, removes keyword spam and low-star projects, and ranks the rest by stars.

    Q.10What is the link with Amplfyd?

    Code Search is part of amplfyd and is made for smooth use with agents on Amplfyd, which launches soon. You don't have to wait for it: Code Search works today in the browser and with any MCP client.

    Q.11How do I leave?

    Delete your account from the dashboard. Code Search removes your keys, sessions and token, and revokes its access to your GitHub account in the same step.

    Thanks for reading this far.

    Here is the whole thing in one breath: sign in with GitHub, describe what you need, get the repositories people actually star. No setup, no bill, and GitHub's rate limits handled for you.

    If you build with an AI agent, give it the same search with one line of config. Code Search is made for agents on Amplfyd, which launches soon.

    Sign in with GitHub Read the docs

    happy searching