| name | kb-search |
| description | Search the shared knowledge base before you guess. Call the search_knowledge tool (or `lanius kb search <query>`) to recall curated facts — model tiering, roles, conventions — and get back the file + line to open. The tool's existence is high-availability; the mechanics here are expando. |
kb-search — recall from the knowledge base
The knowledge base is the union of every enabled package's kb/ corpus (see
lanius kb list). It feels like one KB even though it is many packages. This
package makes it searchable two ways, both over the same FTS5 index:
-
The search_knowledge tool — your primary surface. It is an ordinary
entry in your tool array (folded in once the package is approved and visible).
Call it with a plain-words query; it returns ranked hits, each a
{package, path, lines, snippet} pointing at a file and a line range you can
open with the ordinary read tools. It is read-only and cheap — call it freely
before answering from memory.
{ "query": "who verifies", "limit": 5 }
→ { "query": "who verifies",
"hits": [ { "package": "kb-llm-strengths",
"path": "kb/role-verifier.md",
"lines": "6-13",
"snippet": "Who verifies … Opus on high … Fable for the hardest" } ] }
-
lanius kb search <query> — the same hits from the CLI, for a harness or a
human at a shell. --json for one JSON object per hit; --limit N to widen.
Availability tiers (journey 14)
The existence of search_knowledge is high-availability: know it is there and
reach for it. The mechanics — the FTS5 index, the poll-driven re-index, the
engine-swap seam — are expando: read them here only when you need them.
How it stays fresh
A read-only daemon (scripts/index) rebuilds the index from the corpus on disk,
polling for changes: enable or disable a kb-carrying package and its content
becomes findable on the next pass. The daemon never writes a kb/ file — it only
writes its own index, in its own state dir. There is no kernel schema behind any
of this.
Swapping the engine
search_knowledge is a bare tool name, so a different engine (an
embedding-based indexer, say) can ship the SAME [[tool]] name = "search_knowledge"
and replace this one invisibly — your tool array is unchanged. The harness allows
exactly one live holder of the name: disable this package, enable the other.
Enabling both and approving the second is refused, loudly.
