[SOU-301] Fix branch filtering to use short names instead of refs/heads

[msukkari]

Problem

Searching on filtered branches was returning no results because branch names were being stored with the refs/heads/ prefix when they should have been stored as short names only.

Solution

Remove the unnecessary mapping that prefixed branch names with refs/heads/ in the branch filtering logic. The zoekt index stores branch references as short names (e.g., main, develop), so the filtering logic should match this format.

Changes

• Removed .map((branch) => \refs/heads/${branch}`)from branch filtering inrepoIndexManager.ts`
• Branch names are now correctly passed as short names to match indexed branch references

This fixes the issue where the rev: query syntax was not finding any results when filtering on indexed branches.

Fixes #800

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View Niteshift Task

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Improved repository branch selection processing for indexing operations.

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[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

Removed a mapping step in the branch selection flow for indexing in repoIndexManager.ts. Matching branches are now appended to revisions as raw branch names instead of being converted to full refs/heads/ format, altering the composition of the revisions array.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Branch revision formatting packages/backend/src/repoIndexManager.ts	Removed mapping operation that converted matching branch names to full refs/heads/ refs; branches now appended as raw names

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~15 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• fix(web): Fixed issue where Sourcebot would not index the new default branch when changed #789: Also modifies repoIndexManager.ts revisions list construction; changes default branch selection logic alongside this branch name formatting change.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the main change: removing refs/heads prefixes and using short branch names instead, which directly matches the core modification in repoIndexManager.ts.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.

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✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

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[github-actions]

@msukkari your pull request is missing a changelog!

[brendan-kellam]

I don't think this is a correct change. #800 is referring to the filter on the /repos page. We need to have refs/heads/ and refs/tags/ to allow the user to distinguish between filtering a branch and a tag (e.g., in the event where a tag and branch are named the same thing). This is documented here: https://docs.sourcebot.dev/docs/features/search/multi-branch-indexing#search-syntax

[CyberT17]

The current suggested change would still be a welcomed change.

1. Making sure rev: maps to the short name of the default branch makes it easier for non technical people to understand which branch they are looking at. They might not know what refs/heads stands for, but they would know what main, feature/, etc are as that is generally what is displayed in all code hosting platforms
2. If you specify, which branches to index in the SB configs, like this

    "revisions": {
        "branches":
          "main"
          "release/*"
        ]

it indexes main and ref/head separately (iirc)
3. I am working on adding the feature to be able to switch revisions directly from the code tree/preview panels. and this would be useful in my efforts. (and goes hand in hand with 1. above)

[brendan-kellam]

1. Making sure rev: maps to the short name of the default branch makes it easier for non technical people to understand which branch they are looking at.

I believe zoekt does a substring match. For example:

I would like to keep it such that a user can explicitly specify a refs/heads or refs/tags like this. In the UI, I think we can just strip the refs/heads & refs/tags

2.If you specify, which branches to index in the SB configs, like this it indexes main and ref/head separately (iirc)

This actually appears to be a bug. Tracked in #808

3. I am working on adding the feature to be able to switch revisions directly from the code tree/preview panels. and this would be useful in my efforts. (and goes hand in hand with 1. above)

Cool! I assume you mean something like a dropdown selector that lets users switch between branches? Created #810 to track this if you want to discuss over there.