Signatures

Extract, don’t paraphrase

NCI doesn’t summarize TypeScript declarations — it extracts them. The exact signature text and the verbatim /** */ JSDoc go straight into the index, with bodies, plain comments, and whitespace stripped. Everything an agent quotes is the declaration as written.

Side-by-side

There is one signature string per symbol, kept verbatim. What changes between queries is the CLI surface you ask for: a list hit, the cite-ready snippet, or the full stored row. Toggle between them below; the left column always shows the same raw .d.ts source.

Query

signature + js_doc

Sourcezod 3.23.8 · lib/types.d.ts

declare class ZodObject<
  T extends ZodRawShape,
  UnknownKeys extends UnknownKeysParam = UnknownKeysParam,
  Catchall extends ZodTypeAny = ZodTypeAny,
> extends ZodType<
  Output<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall>,
  ZodObjectDef<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall>,
  Input<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall>
> {
  /** Removes a key from the schema. */
  omit<Mask extends { [k in keyof T]?: true }>(
    mask: Mask,
  ): ZodObject<Omit<T, keyof Mask>, UnknownKeys, Catchall>;
}

What NCI returnsfrom the selected query

{
  "id": "zod@3.23.8::ZodObject",
  "name": "ZodObject",
  "kind_name": "class",
  "package_name": "zod",
  "package_version": "3.23.8",
  "file_path": "lib/types.d.ts",
  "is_internal": false,
  "signature_snippet": "declare class ZodObject<T extends ZodRawShape, UnknownKeys extends UnknownKeysParam = UnknownKeysParam, Catchall extends ZodTypeAny = ZodTypeAny> extends ZodType<Output<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall>, ZodObjectDef<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall>, Input<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall..."
}

The signature_snippet is the only thing NCI shortens: the full signature truncated at 320 characters with a trailing .... Used so list responses stay small when an agent fetches many candidates.

{
  "id": "zod@3.23.8::ZodObject",
  "signature": "declare class ZodObject<\n  T extends ZodRawShape,\n  UnknownKeys extends UnknownKeysParam = UnknownKeysParam,\n  Catchall extends ZodTypeAny = ZodTypeAny,\n> extends ZodType<\n  Output<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall>,\n  …\n> {\n  omit<Mask extends { [k in keyof T]?: true }>(\n    mask: Mask,\n  ): ZodObject<Omit<T, keyof Mask>, UnknownKeys, Catchall>;\n}",
  "js_doc": "/** Removes a key from the schema. */"
}

The cite-ready surface. signature is verbatim (generics, extends, defaults, overloads); js_doc is the /** */ block as written. Nothing is paraphrased.

{
  "id": "zod@3.23.8::ZodObject",
  "name": "ZodObject",
  "kind_name": "class",
  "parent_symbol_id": null,
  "is_internal": false,
  "is_type_only": true,
  "visibility": "public",
  "source_package_name": "zod",
  "source_package_version": "3.23.8",
  "source_file_path": "lib/types.d.ts",
  "heritage": ["extends ZodType<Output<T, UnknownKeys, Catchall>, …>"],
  "modifiers": ["declare"],
  "signature": "declare class ZodObject<…> { … }",
  "js_doc": "/** Removes a key from the schema. */"
}

The full stored row: every field NCI persisted for this symbol. parent_symbol_id is a foreign key — omit would point its row back at this class’s id, not append text to the parent’s signature.

What stays in the row

The full declaration signature text — generics, extends / implements, defaults, overloads.
The verbatim /** */ JSDoc block in js_doc.
kind_name so the agent knows whether it’s reasoning about an interface, a class member, or a type alias.
parent_symbol_id so a method always points back to its class or namespace.
source_package_name and source_file_path so the agent can cite the owning package, even when the declaration was authored elsewhere (e.g. types in @types/foo).

What never lands in the row

Plain // implementation comments — they describe how the code works, not how to call it.
Bodies of value declarations. Only the contract is stored.
Whitespace trivia and repeated empty lines.

is_internal = 1 rows are kept on disk; they just sit off the public export surface. --public-only (and the equivalent zod field on nci_query) is the way to filter them out at query time.

How the agent reaches it

nci·my-repo

Take the id from that envelope and feed it into nci query snippet:

nci·my-repo

snippet returns the cite-ready signature — signature + JSDoc — without any of the surrounding file. That is the one the agent quotes back to the user.

For the bundled flow — exact-name + FTS hits + batched snippets in one call — use nci query evidence --package zod --package-version 3.23.8 --symbol ZodObject. That is what an agent should reach for first; chained find + symbol + snippet is the fallback.