knowledgine-recall

name	knowledgine-recall
description	Search the local knowledge base for past solutions, design decisions, and patterns before starting work. Invoke when facing an error or exception, when approaching an unfamiliar area of the codebase, or when considering implementation approaches. Prevents re-solving already-solved problems and surfaces relevant context proactively.

knowledgine-recall

Purpose

Search accumulated project knowledge before solving problems from scratch. The knowledge base contains past bug fixes, design decisions, troubleshooting records, and patterns gathered across all previous sessions. Searching first avoids duplicate work and surfaces warnings about known pitfalls.

When to Use

• Error or exception encountered — Search for the exact error message or key terms
• Unfamiliar code area — Search for context about the component or module
• Implementation choice — Search for past decisions on the same topic
• Considering a library or approach — Search for known gotchas or prior art
• Starting work on a file — Search for related notes about that file path

When NOT to Use

• Purely mechanical tasks with no ambiguity (renaming a variable, formatting)
• When you have already searched and found no relevant results within this session
• Do not call recall on every single action — use judgment

How to Search (MCP Tool)

Use the search_knowledge MCP tool:

search_knowledge(
  query: string,          // Search query — see query tips below
  mode: "keyword"         // "keyword" | "semantic" | "hybrid"
       | "semantic"       //   keyword: exact text match (fast, precise)
       | "hybrid",        //   semantic: meaning-based (requires embeddings)
                          //   hybrid:   combines both (best results)
  limit?: number          // Max results (default 10)
)

How to Search (CLI Alternative)

knowledgine recall "<query>"                    # keyword search
knowledgine recall "<query>" --mode semantic    # semantic search
knowledgine recall "<query>" --mode hybrid      # hybrid search

Choosing Search Mode

Situation	Mode
You have an exact error message	keyword
You remember specific function or variable names	keyword
You know the concept but not the exact wording	semantic
General exploration of a topic	hybrid
Embeddings not available (FTS5-only setup)	keyword (only option)

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Identify the query — Extract the key terms from the problem (see search-strategy.md)
2. Choose mode — keyword for precise terms, semantic or hybrid for concepts
3. Call search_knowledge — Pass query, mode, limit (5–10 is usually sufficient)
4. Evaluate results — Read the returned notes for relevance
5. Apply findings — Use relevant past solutions or decisions to inform your work
6. Capture if new — If you discover a new solution, use knowledgine-capture to save it

Best Practices

• Search before proposing a solution, not after
• Use the actual error message text as a query — it is the most targeted search
• Try multiple queries if the first returns no results
• Combine recall + suggest at session start for comprehensive context

Reference Files

• See search-strategy.md for when to use keyword vs semantic vs hybrid
• See query-tips.md for how to formulate effective queries