redshift-grep-tables

Redshift Cross-Schema Table Grep

Find every table whose name or comment matches a keyword across all schemas in the cluster via one cluster-wide MCP call.

When to use / NOT

• Use to find a table by topic when schema is unknown ("where is the orders fact?").
• Use to audit table-naming consistency across schemas.
• NOT when schema is already known — use MCP search_tables(kw, schema) directly.
• NOT for column-level search — use /redshift-grep-columns.
• NOT for general schema browsing — use /redshift-explore.

Inputs

Form	Behavior
<keyword>	grep across all schemas
<keyword> --schema <s1>,<s2>	scope to listed schemas
<kw1> <kw2>	space-separated keywords (OR logic on MCP side)
--max-list N	results per page (default 50)

Flow

Step 1 — cluster-wide search via MCP

The MCP server's search_tables accepts an optional schema_name; omit it for cluster-wide table search in one call:

search_tables(keywords, schema_name=None)

This returns one row per matching table with schema_name included, ordered by (schema_name, table_name). Paginate via has_more if total > 50.

Procedure:

• If --schema <s1>,<s2> given: one search_tables per listed schema (cheap — typically a handful).
• Else: one search_tables(keywords, schema_name=None) covers the whole cluster.

Latency: ~0.2s for cluster-wide searches (clusters with < 10K tables).

Step 2 — render

Group by schema, count per schema in header line, comment-first body. One blank line between groups:

Tables matching "fct" (8 hits in 4 schemas):

dbt_marts (3)
  fct_orders          BASE TABLE   Central order facts.
  fct_returns         BASE TABLE   Return events.
  fct_payments        BASE TABLE   Payment events.

dbt_staging (2)
  stg_fct_orders      BASE TABLE   Staging for fct_orders.
  stg_fct_returns     BASE TABLE   Staging for fct_returns.

raw_events (2)
  fct_event_log       BASE TABLE   Raw event ingest.
  fct_session_log     BASE TABLE   Session tracking.

reporting (1)
  v_fct_orders_daily  VIEW         Daily aggregation of fct_orders.

Cap at 50 results per page; show 1-50 of 87, reply 'more' when truncated.

Output

Rendered list IS the output. No JSON. Hand off to user to pick a target. If the user wants to drill into a chosen table, suggest /redshift-explore <schema>.<table>.

Anti-patterns

• NEVER iterate search_tables per schema as a substitute for the cluster-wide call. Use search_tables(keywords, schema_name=None) for one-shot search.
• NEVER call list_tables for every schema as a substitute for search_tables. The MCP search_tables already filters at the SQL layer; list_tables then client-side filter is wasteful round trips.
• NEVER omit the schema column in render — the whole point IS which schema has the table.

Errors

Condition	Behavior
Empty keyword	refuse with usage hint
0 hits across all schemas	"No tables match; broaden keyword?"
--schema doesn't exist	fail with schema name + suggestion to check spelling

See also

Need	Use
Cross-table column search	/redshift-grep-columns
Search columns within a known table	use MCP search_columns(kw, schema, table) directly
Browse interactively from zero context	/redshift-explore