| name | recall |
| description | Search past idea-girlie research across all projects. Use when the user asks "have we researched this before", "what do we know about X", "find that research on Y", "recall", "pull up past research", "what did the idea girlies say about", or any variation of wanting to search the centralized knowledge base for prior research sessions. |
Recall
Search past idea-girlie research from any repo.
All idea-girlie sessions are filed in a centralized knowledge base using PARA organization. The default path is ~/.idea-girlie/knowledge-base/ — override with the IDEA_GIRLIE_KB env var (Manzanita Research users: ~/.manzanita/knowledge-base/). This skill searches that knowledge base and surfaces what's relevant.
How it works
Step 1: Get the search query
The user gives you a topic, question, or keyword. Extract the core search terms.
Step 2: Search in two passes
Pass 1 — Directory names. Resolve the knowledge base root first:
KB="${IDEA_GIRLIE_KB:-$HOME/.idea-girlie/knowledge-base}"
Then glob for session directories matching the topic:
ls -R "$KB/projects/" "$KB/areas/" | grep -i [search-terms]
Use the Glob tool with patterns like $KB/**/*{term}* to find matching session directories.
Pass 2 — Synthesis content. Search SYNTHESIS.md files for the search terms:
Use the Grep tool to search for the terms across all synthesis files:
- Pattern: the search terms
- Path:
$KB (resolved above)
- Glob:
**/SYNTHESIS.md
Step 3: Present results
For each match, show:
- Session name (the directory slug)
- Filed under (category/grouping — e.g.
projects/magpie or areas/sacred-economics)
- Date (from the directory timestamp)
- Key insight — Read the first few lines of SYNTHESIS.md and pull the most relevant excerpt
Keep it concise. 2-4 lines per match.
Step 4: Offer to go deeper
After presenting matches, ask if the user wants to:
- Read the full synthesis for any session
- See individual researcher docs (archivist, connector, etc.)
- Start a new idea-girlie session building on past research
When to use this skill
- "Have we looked into this before?"
- "What do we know about [topic]?"
- "Find the research on [X]"
- "Pull up that session about [Y]"
- "Recall [topic]"
- Any time the user wants to check past research before starting new work
When NOT to use this skill
- The user wants new research (use idea-girlie)
- The user is asking about code, not research (just search the codebase)
