recall · diff
git:20260830.e6b03f5 to git:20260831.cc2d43d
17 added, 19 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: recall
description: >
- Use this skill before WebSearch or WebFetch for any research question, before
- answering a why/how/what-did-we-decide question, when recalling a prior
- session or a past design decision, and when you learn something durable
- worth surviving context compaction. Quarry is local semantic search over
- this codebase, design docs, prior session transcripts, and previously
- fetched web pages — it often already has the answer. Use it even when you
- think you already know the answer; a prior decision or a teammate's note may
- contradict your assumption. Prefer grep for exact symbol and value lookups
- (a function name, a constant); prefer quarry for meaning ("why did we pick
- X", "how does Y work", "what did we decide about Z"). Do not reach for this
- on mechanical string searches or navigation within the current file — grep
- and the editor already do that well.
+ Use find before WebSearch or WebFetch for research, or before answering a
+ why/how/what-did-we-decide question. Quarry indexes this codebase, design
+ docs, prior session transcripts, and previously fetched web pages — it often
+ already has the answer. Prefer grep for symbol and value lookups; prefer find
+ for meaning. Use remember when you learn something durable — a decision, a
+ gotcha, a non-obvious fact, a procedure — so it survives context compaction.
+ Use even when you think you already know the answer; a prior decision or a
+ teammate's note may contradict your assumption. Do not reach for find on
+ mechanical string searches or navigation within the current file — grep and
+ the editor already do that well.
---
# Quarry — Local Semantic Search
Quarry indexes documents by meaning and answers natural-language questions
against them: this repo's source and docs, prior session transcripts, and web
pages fetched during earlier research. Reach for it before spending a
WebSearch or WebFetch call re-discovering something already found.
## When to use it
- - Before WebSearch/WebFetch: run a query first. If quarry returns relevant
- results, use them instead of researching from scratch.
- - Before answering "why", "how", or "what did we decide about X": quarry
- usually has the design doc, the ADR, or the past conversation.
- - Recalling a prior session or a design decision that predates this one.
- - After learning something durable — a decision, a fact, a fix — that should
- survive context compaction: remember it before the session ends.
+ - Use find before WebSearch or WebFetch for research, or before answering a
+ why/how/what-did-we-decide question. Quarry indexes this codebase, design
+ docs, prior session transcripts, and previously fetched web pages — it often
+ already has the answer.
+ - Prefer grep for symbol and value lookups; prefer find for meaning.
+ - Use remember when you learn something durable — a decision, a gotcha, a
+ non-obvious fact, a procedure — so it survives context compaction.
## When not to use it
- Exact symbol or value lookups (a function name, a literal string) — grep is
faster and precise.
- Navigating the file currently open — use the editor, not search.
## Tools
- `/find <query>` — search the knowledge base; natural language beats keywords
("What did we decide about retry limits?" beats "retry limits").
- `/remember <name>` — persist inline text as a named memory.
- `/ingest <url, directory, or file>` — index new content.
- `/explain <document or topic>` — search and synthesize an explanation.
- `/source <claim or text>` — find which document a claim came from.
- MCP tools (same operations, callable directly): `find`, `remember`,
`ingest`, `register_directory`, `sync_all_registrations`, `show`, `delete`,
`list`, `status`, `use`. Prefer `/quarry:quarry use <db>` as the interactive
entry for database switching; the `use` MCP tool is also available.
## Worked examples
- "Why did we choose LanceDB over pgvector?" → `/find "LanceDB vs pgvector
decision"` before searching the web — this is exactly the kind of
design-rationale question quarry's local index answers.
- "What broke in the last TLS review round?" → `/find "TLS review findings"`
surfaces the prior session transcript and design doc, not a fresh grep.
- Learned a non-obvious root cause while debugging → `/remember` it with a
short name so the next session (or the next agent) doesn't re-derive it.