claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix Grep and Glob tools missing entirely from registry under ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true [1 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

When ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true is set, the built-in Grep and Glob tools disappear from the session entirely — they are neither preloaded as direct tools nor present in the deferred-tool list returned by ToolSearch. The documentation states tool search defers MCP tools, so built-ins like Grep/Glob should not be affected.

Environment

• Claude Code: 2.1.117
• Node: v24.10.0
• macOS: 26.4.1 (build 25E253)
• Model: Opus 4.7 (claude-opus-4-7)
• Provider: Vertex via a non-first-party AI gateway proxy
• ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true set in ~/.claude/settings.json env block
• Permissions explicitly allow Grep and Glob (both in user settings and marketplace-managed permissions)

Repro

1. Set ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true in ~/.claude/settings.json env field.
2. Start a fresh Claude Code session against an Anthropic-compatible proxy.
3. Inspect the available tools (top-level) — Grep and Glob are absent.
4. Call ToolSearch with query: "select:Grep,Glob" — returns no results.
5. Call ToolSearch with broad keywords like grep, glob, search files — they are not in the deferred-tool list at all.

Expected

Per the docs, tool search defers MCP tools on demand. Built-in tools (Grep, Glob, Read, Edit, Write, Bash, etc.) should remain available — either preloaded or at minimum discoverable via ToolSearch.

Actual

Read, Edit, Write, Bash, Agent, Skill, ToolSearch are preloaded. AskUserQuestion, WebFetch, WebSearch, NotebookEdit, etc. show up in the deferred list. Grep and Glob are in neither list. They cannot be invoked at all.

This also affects subagents (e.g. Explore) launched from the parent — they inherit the same gap.

Impact

This collides with ~/.claude/hooks/ setups that block bash grep/find and redirect users to Grep/Glob. Result: no path to filesystem search at all without a manual workaround.

Workaround

Patched the redirect hook to honor a CLAUDE_DEGRADED_NATIVE_TOOLS=Grep,Glob env var that allows bash grep/find to fall through when the named native tools are unavailable. Works, but masks a real registration bug.

Note on proxy default

Docs state that when ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL points to a non-first-party host, tool search defaults to OFF because most proxies do not forward tool_reference blocks. Setting =true explicitly was intentional. Possible the registration bug is specific to the proxy path — happy to provide more diagnostic info if useful.