# Semantic `deft/stdext/semantic` (`sm`) is the symbol-index cache: it extracts symbols with the native `editor/semantic` token-accurate extractor and persists/reads them through the metadata DB. It backs the editor save hook, the symbols panel, and cross-file symbol lookup (including the help app's contextual tab).

import "deft/stdext/semantic" as sm

## API | Def | Signature | Description | |---|---|---| | `semantic-index-file!` | `{| filepath lines |}` | Extract from `lines` and persist; returns `%{ file mtime indexed-at symbols }` | | `semantic-get-symbols` | `{| filepath |}` | Cached symbol vector, or nil | | `semantic-fresh?` | `{| filepath |}` | True when the cache mtime is at least as new as the file | | `semantic-indexed-at` | `{| filepath |}` | Indexed-at timestamp (ms), or 0 | | `semantic-find-symbol` | `{| filepath name |}` | Exact-name lookup within one file | | `semantic-find-symbol-anywhere` | `{| name |}` | Exact-name lookup across all indexed files | | `semantic-norm-path` | `{| p |}` | Normalize to an absolute path (`""` for nil/empty) | Importing the module opens `.deft/meta.db` as a side effect and registers a shutdown hook to close it. If SQLite is unavailable, every function degrades safely while `semantic-index-file!` still returns the extracted symbols. ## Example

[sm/semantic-index-file! $filepath $buffer~lines]

if [sm/semantic-fresh? $filepath] {
    set sym [sm/semantic-find-symbol $filepath $name]
}
set def [sm/semantic-find-symbol-anywhere "html-escape"]

Writes use `BEGIN IMMEDIATE … COMMIT` around delete+insert so the editor's debounced indexing and the symbols panel refreshing at the same time cannot duplicate rows. Freshness is mtime-based. ## See Also - Meta — storage, tables, query helpers - Symbols app help — the panel built on this index - Editor app help — debounced indexing integration