wehub-resource-sync
5.3 KiB
Government Code Search Guide
Guide Origin: Official | ArcKit Version: 4.4.0
/arckit:gov-code-search provides general-purpose natural language search across 24,500+ UK government open-source repositories, returning matching repositories, patterns, and implementation approaches without requiring an active project.
Agent Architecture: This command runs as an autonomous agent via the Task tool. The agent performs multiple govreposcrape searches, uses WebFetch to inspect top results on GitHub, and synthesises findings into a structured report, keeping the main conversation clean. The slash command is a thin wrapper that delegates to the agent.
Prerequisites
govreposcrape MCP Server (AUTO-INSTALLED)
This command uses the govreposcrape MCP server which is automatically included with the ArcKit plugin. No manual setup required.
Endpoint: https://govreposcrape-api-1060386346356.us-central1.run.app/mcp
Project Prerequisites
Project context is OPTIONAL for this command. It can be run without any existing ArcKit project to perform exploratory research.
- Requirements document (
ARC-*-REQ-*.md) - Optional (used when available to focus results) - Architecture principles (
ARC-000-PRIN-*.md) - Optional
Scenario Matrix
| Scenario | Prompt seed | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Implementation discovery | "How did gov teams implement <X>?" |
Real-world implementations and approaches |
| Technology survey | "Who uses <Y> technology in UK government?" |
Adoption across departments |
| Pattern research | "Show me government examples of <pattern>" |
Design and architectural patterns |
| Standards discovery | "Find government implementations of <standard>" |
Standard adoption and compliance examples |
| Framework comparison | "Compare government use of <framework A> vs <framework B>" |
Framework adoption and trade-offs |
Add domain qualifiers (NHS, HMRC, MoD, GDS) in the prompt to narrow results to specific departments or sectors.
Command
/arckit:gov-code-search <query>
Outputs: projects/<id>/research/ARC-<id>-GOVS-v1.0.md (if a project exists), or to a timestamped file in the current directory.
Auto-versioning: Re-running this command when a document already exists automatically increments the version.
Search Tips
Govreposcrape uses semantic search, so query quality directly affects result quality:
| Tip | Example |
|---|---|
| Be descriptive and domain-specific | "NHS FHIR API patient data integration" (not "API") |
| Include the technology and context | "Django REST framework benefit payment service" |
| Name the department or sector | "HMRC self-assessment tax calculation" |
| Use full names, not acronyms alone | "Government Digital Service design system components" |
| Describe the problem, not just the solution | "real-time vehicle location tracking public transport" |
Avoid vague single-word queries such as "authentication" or "database" — these return too many unrelated results.
How It Works
The agent issues multiple query variations against the govreposcrape semantic search API:
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Generate 3-5 semantically varied queries from the user's input |
| 2 | Run each query against govreposcrape, collecting top results |
| 3 | De-duplicate and rank repositories by relevance score |
| 4 | Fetch GitHub repo details via WebFetch for the top candidates |
| 5 | Summarise patterns, languages, and licensing across results |
Output Highlights
- Search results ranked by semantic relevance with repository profiles
- Repository profiles including language, license, last commit, and activity level
- Implementation patterns observed across matching repositories
- Departmental adoption showing which government organisations have tackled similar problems
- Key findings and recommended repositories to inspect further
Follow-on Actions
- Run
/arckit:gov-reuseto perform a full scored reuse assessment for a specific project - Run
/arckit:researchto broaden the search to commercial and open-source options - Run
/arckit:adrto document technology or pattern decisions informed by findings
Comparison with /arckit:gov-reuse and /arckit:gov-landscape
| Feature | /arckit:gov-code-search |
/arckit:gov-reuse |
/arckit:gov-landscape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Search and discover | Assess and score for reuse | Map an entire domain |
| Project required | No | Yes (requirements MANDATORY) | No (recommended) |
| Output | Search results + repo profiles | Scored reuse assessment | Domain landscape map |
| Scoring | None (relevance only) | 5-criteria scored assessment | Maturity scoring per org |
| When to use | Exploratory research | Before building a capability | Understanding a whole domain |
Workflow: Use /arckit:gov-code-search for quick discovery, /arckit:gov-reuse for project-specific reuse decisions, and /arckit:gov-landscape for domain-level situational awareness.
Resources
- govreposcrape - Semantic search over UK government repositories
- govreposcrape API - OpenAPI specification