| name | memory-search |
| description | Use the memory system selectively to recover relevant prior context without turning every run into a full-history read. |
Skill: Memory Search
Purpose
Use the memory system selectively to recover relevant prior context without turning every run into a full-history read.
When To Use
- when current markdown files are not enough
- when a past decision, lesson, or implementation detail matters
- when recovering context after a long pause
- when verifying whether a similar issue was solved before
Recommended Roles
- Overseer
- Builder
- Oracle
- Historian
Required Inputs
- the question or context gap being answered
- available memory tooling or CLI
- relevant workspace or project scope
Steps
- Define the exact context gap before searching.
- Choose the smallest useful CLI query for that gap:
mem search "query" for prior discussion or implementation detailsmem recent 20 for quick recent catch-upmem sessions for recent session discovery with trace hintsmem lessons search "query" for past mistakes, gotchas, or durable fixes
- Search for the smallest useful set of prior records.
- Prefer recent, scoped, and trustworthy results over broad transcript dumps.
- Extract only the facts that matter to the current run.
- If the result is durable and important, move it into the right markdown file instead of depending on repeated searches.
Outputs
- a concise set of recovered facts or prior decisions
- optionally a durable markdown update if the result should persist in current-state files
Stop Conditions
- the current run has enough recovered context to proceed
- no further broad searching is needed
Pitfalls / Anti-Patterns
- searching without a clear question
- dumping raw history into the run context
- treating memory as the source of truth for current policy
- failing to promote durable findings into markdown
Related Files / Tools
framework/memory-service/framework/memory-service/CLI.mdFIXES.mdprojects/[name]/library/*.md
