---
title: Searching multiple branches and tags
sidebarTitle: Searching multiple branches
---

By default, only the default branch of a repository is indexed and can be searched. Sourcebot can be configured to index additional branches (or tags) enabling multi-branch search. This is useful for scenarios such as:

- Searching across different releases
- Searching through feature branches during development
- Tracking changes across multiple maintenance branches simultaneously

## Configuration

<Warning>
Multi-branch indexing is currently limited to 64 branches and tags. Please see [this issue](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/issues/461) for more details.
</Warning>

Multi-branch indexing is configured in the [connection](/docs/connections/overview) using the `revisions.branches` and `revisions.tags` arrays. Glob patterns are supported. For example:

```json
{
    "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/main/schemas/v3/index.json",
    "connections": {
        "my-connection": {
            "type": "github",
            // For each of the repositories defined in this connection...
            "repos": [
                "org/repo1",
                "org/repo2"
            ],
            // ... index the default branch, as well as...
            "revisions": {
                // These branches (if they exist):
                "branches": [
                    // Exact matches
                    "dev",
                    "staging",

                    // Glob patterns
                    "feature/*" // Matches: feature/auth, feature/ui, etc.
                ],
                
                // These tags (if they exist):
                "tags": [
                    // Exact matches
                    "v4.0.0-dev",
                    
                    // Glob patterns
                    "v3.*.*", // Matches: v3.0.0, v3.0.1, etc.
                    "rc-*"    // Matches: rc-1, rc-2, etc.
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}
```

For each repo defined in the connection, any branches or tags matching the patterns in `branches` and `tags` array will be indexed.

## Search syntax

To search branches other than the default, the `rev:` prefix can be used followed by the branch (or tag) name:

| Example | Explanation |
| :--- | :--- |
| `rev:feature/foo repo:A useEffect` | Search for `/useEffect/` on branch `feature/foo` in repo `A` |
| `rev:feature/foo useEffect ` | Search for `/useEffect/` on branch `feature/foo` across all repos |
| `rev:feature/ useEffect` | Search for `/useEffect/` on branches that contain `feature/` across all repos |
| `rev:feature/a rev:feature/b foo` | Search for `/foo/` on branches `feature/a` and `feature/b` |
| `rev:feature/ -rev:feature/a foo` | Search for `/foo/` on branches that contain `feature/` _except_ for `feature/a` across all repos |

To search across **all** branches, `rev:*`:
| Example | Explanation |
| :--- | :--- |
| `rev:* repo:A "error message"` | Search for `/error message/` across **all** branches in repo `A` |
| `rev:* "error message"` | Search for `/error message/` across **all** branches and **all** repos |

Additional info:
- `refs/heads/` or `refs/tags/` can be included to fully qualify a branch or a tag, respectively. E.g., `rev:refs/heads/foo` will search the branch `foo`, while `rev:refs/tags/foo` will search the tag `foo`.
- `rev:` does **not** support regular expressions or glob patterns. It uses a simple `contains` call between the branch name and the pattern. See [here](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/zoekt/blob/7d1896215eea6f97af66c9549c9ec70436356b51/matchtree.go#L1067).


## Platform support

| Platform | Multi-branch indexing support |
|:----------|------------------------------|
| GitHub | ✅ |
| GitLab | ✅ |
| Bitbucket Cloud | ✅ |
| Bitbucket Data Center | ✅ |
| Gitea | ✅ |
| Gerrit | ✅ |
| Generic git host | ✅ |

