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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://recipe.uselettuce.dev/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Installing the MCP server is only half the job. Coding agents won’t reach for a new tool unprompted — you need a line or two in the agent’s system prompt that nudges it toward lettuce whenever it would otherwise grep or open a file blind.

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The snippet

Drop this into your agent’s system prompt / rules file: 
For navigation, prefer lettuce MCP tools over grep / Read:
understand → locate → callers/callees → read_snippet.
Only fall back to grep when lettuce returns nothing.

Always pass the `repo` arg — the name of the repo on lettuce (e.g. "my-repo").
That’s it. The agent now opens with a lettuce call instead of a filesystem scan.

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Where to put it, per agent

The MCP install gives the agent the tools. The system-prompt snippet tells it when to use them. Each agent reads instructions from a different place:

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Claude Code

CLAUDE.md at the root of your repo. Append the snippet anywhere — the file is read top-to-bottom on every session. 
cat >> CLAUDE.md <<'PROMPT'

## Navigation

For navigation, prefer lettuce MCP tools over grep / Read:
understand → locate → callers/callees → read_snippet.
Only fall back to grep when lettuce returns nothing.

Always pass the `repo` arg.
PROMPT

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Cursor

.cursor/rules at the root of your project (or in Settings → Rules for AI for a global rule). Cursor reads rules into every chat.

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VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

.github/copilot-instructions.md at the root of your repo. Copilot auto-loads it for the workspace. Same content as the snippet above.

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Windsurf

Settings → Cascade → Rules (per-workspace or global). Paste the snippet as a rule.

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Cline

Cline panel → Settings → Custom instructions. Paste the snippet.

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OpenCode / others

Anywhere the agent reads project instructions (often AGENTS.md or a project-level system prompt). If there is no instructions file, paste the snippet into the first turn of the conversation.

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Verifying the agent uses it

Ask a navigation question and watch the tool-use log: 
"Where is the function that validates JWTs in my-repo?"
You should see the agent call lettuce:understand or lettuce:locate with repo: "my-repo" before reading any source. If it still goes to grep first, strengthen the snippet — e.g. add NEVER grep or Read for navigation; always start with lettuce.

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Tuning the snippet

A few variants people find useful:
  • Strict — never grep first 
    Always call lettuce (understand / locate / search) before grep or
Read. Use grep only when lettuce returns no candidates.
  • Multi-repo — explicit repo names 
    Repos on lettuce: backend, frontend, shared. Pick the right `repo`
per question.
  • Pin to one tool 
    For any "where / who / what" question, call lettuce.understand
first and answer from its result.
Keep the snippet short — long instructions get diluted. Two or three lines is enough.