pickbrain

name	pickbrain
description	Recall and semantic search over previous Pi coding sessions. Use when the user wants to find, remember, or reference prior Pi work — e.g. "what did we discuss about X", "find the session where we fixed Y", "search my history for Z".

Pickbrain — Recall for Pi

Search previous Pi sessions semantically and use the results to answer the user with citations/excerpts. Pickbrain can also search Claude Code, Codex, and Slack when explicitly requested, but in Pi it should default to Pi history.

Preferred Pi Usage

If the pickbrain_search tool is available, use it first. It automatically:

• defaults to type: "pi"
• passes the current Pi session to pickbrain
• suppresses ingest progress noise
• limits results to a small useful set unless asked otherwise

Examples:

• Search Pi history: { "query": "auth middleware fix" }
• Search current Pi session: { "query": "install target", "current": true }
• Exclude current Pi session: { "query": "dropbox witchcraft", "excludeCurrent": true }
• Search all coding agents: { "query": "extension api", "type": "pi,claude,codex" }
• Search everything, including Slack: { "query": "launch plan", "allSources": true }
• Dump a session: { "dump": "<session-id>", "turns": "2-4" }

Slash Command

The Pi extension also registers:

/pickbrain <query>

This searches Pi sessions by default. Pass flags to override:

/pickbrain --type pi,claude,codex auth middleware
/pickbrain --dump <session-id> --turns 2-4

Bash Fallback

If the tool is unavailable, run pickbrain via Bash:

pickbrain -q --type pi "$ARGUMENTS"

Pickbrain automatically ingests new sessions before each search. First run can take longer while building the local database.

Interpreting Results

Each result includes:

• timestamp and project directory
• source: usually pi, or claude, codex, slack if requested
• session ID and turn number
• relevant matching text

Present results as a concise summary and quote the most relevant excerpts. To dig deeper:

pickbrain -q --dump <session-id> --turns <start>-<end>

Useful CLI Filters

pickbrain -q --type pi "<query>"       # only Pi sessions
pickbrain -q --current "<query>"       # current calling session when detectable
pickbrain -q --exclude-current "<query>"
pickbrain -q --session <session-id> "<query>"
pickbrain -q --since 7d "<query>"
pickbrain -q -n 20 "<query>"

Notes

• The database lives at ~/.pickbrain/pickbrain.db.
• Results are ranked by semantic similarity and may not contain exact query words.
• For best Pi integration, keep the Pi extension installed in ~/.pi/agent/extensions/pickbrain/.