Grep Tool Fails on Symlinks

[kdcokenny]

Ran into an issue where grep returns "No files found" when working in directories with symlinked content. What's frustrating is that glob and list handle these cases just fine, so the behavior feels inconsistent and broken from a user perspective.

The Problem

When you run OpenCode from a symlink farm (think ln -s /real/project/src src), here's what happens:

• glob **/*.ts works perfectly
• list shows all the files you'd expect
• grep "pattern" mysteriously finds nothing

How to Reproduce

Set up a quick test case:

mkdir /tmp/symlink-test && cd /tmp/symlink-test
ln -s /path/to/real/project/src src
ln -s /path/to/real/project/packages packages

Now run OpenCode from /tmp/symlink-test and try searching. glob and list cooperate, but grep gives you "No files found" every time.

Diving into the Code

The issue is pretty clear once you look at the implementation. There's an internal inconsistency in how ripgrep is called:

• Ripgrep.search() (the internal function) skips the --follow flag
• Ripgrep.files() (used by glob/list) correctly includes --follow

So the same tool behaves differently depending on which wrapper function you use.

The Weird Twist

Here's what got me: when ripgrep isn't available and the code falls back to standard grep -r, it actually works. That's because grep -r follows symlinks by default—ripgrep doesn't. So our "better" tool is actually what broke things.

Fix

Need to add --follow flag in two spots:

1. packages/opencode/src/tool/grep.ts — the CLI args
2. packages/opencode/src/file/ripgrep.ts — the Ripgrep.search args

That should make all the file-finding tools behave consistently across symlinked directories.

[github-actions]

This issue might be a duplicate of or related to existing issues. Please check:

• perf: ripgrep config file search scans entire home directory including large hidden directories #6741: perf: ripgrep config file search scans entire home directory - Also involves ripgrep's --follow flag behavior and file discovery issues with symlinks (mentions the --follow flag specifically)
• Can not switch the project in web mode #6978: Can not switch the project in web mode - Related symlink recognition issues when discovering projects/directories

Feel free to ignore if none of these address your specific case.

[slockers37]

This is pretty important for my workflow, and it’s honestly really annoying to deal with. It breaks my usual way of working, so I’d really appreciate a fix.