# comby-tools/comby

A code rewrite tool for structural search and replace that supports ~every language.

Repository: https://github.com/comby-tools/comby
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/comby
Homepage: https://comby.dev
Language: OCaml
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: program-transformation, search-and-replace, linting, refactoring, syntax-transformation, parsing, parser-combinators, rewriting, syntax, regex, java, c, javascript, typescript, php, python, rust, go, reason, swift
Last push: 2026-06-08T07:27:09+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 62/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 86, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2704, "days_push": 86, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2670, forks 74 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:09.437800+00:00)

## What it is
Comby is a command-line tool for structural search and replace across ~every programming language using lightweight syntax-aware templates. It understands code structure like balanced delimiters, strings, and comments, making large-scale refactors easier than regex tools like sed.

## Use cases
- refactor code across many files with structural patterns
- replace deprecated API calls project-wide
- find nested expressions that regex can't match reliably
- run interactive review of automated code changes
- write one-off codemods for a language migration
- search and transform JSON or HTML structurally

## When to choose
- you need syntax-aware search/replace beyond regex across many languages
- you want to automate small-to-large refactors with interactive review
- regex tools like sed struggle with nested parens, strings, or comments

## When to avoid
- you need full AST-level transformation with complete parsers
- simple text substitution with sed/grep is sufficient
- you need IDE-integrated refactoring rather than a CLI

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: parser, search-engine, developer-tools, cli
- domain: developer-tools, parsers, programming-languages
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: structural-search-and-replace, code-rewriting, refactoring, codemod, parser-combinators, multi-language, automation, macos, linux, docker

## Member repositories
- comby-tools/comby (main) score 62

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:09.437800+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:18:10.283678+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/comby-tools/comby (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:09.437800+00:00, sha 9f6e02c8cceb)
  - homepage: https://comby.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:46.394778+00:00, sha bff6fed07398)
  - site_page: https://comby.dev/docs/get-started (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:46.404199+00:00, sha dec0bf9e5063)
  - site_page: https://comby.dev/docs/overview (fetched 2026-08-29T10:00:46.406288+00:00, sha 61ef780618ef)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.