query

name	query
description	Answer questions by searching the local wiki knowledge base. Triggered by /query <question>, or natural-language questions about "my notes", "my knowledge base", "what do I know about X", "what did I record about Y". Always reads wiki/index.md first to locate relevant pages, then deep-reads them, then answers with [[wikilink]] citations. Forbidden from answering purely from model memory when wiki content exists. If the wiki has no relevant content, must explicitly state "no local match — answering from general knowledge".
user-invocable	true

query skill

Goal

Turn the user's question into a deep search of the local wiki. Surface the relevant material, synthesize an answer with explicit [[wikilink]] citations, and — when the answer is high-value — offer to save it back to the wiki as a synthesis page.

Trigger scenarios

• /query <question>
• Natural-language: "what do my notes say about X", "what did I conclude about Y", "find Z in my wiki", "search my knowledge base for…"
• Mentions of "wiki", "knowledge base", "my notes", "my records" in question form.

Fallback policy

If the question is purely general knowledge (e.g. "how many planets in the solar system") and wiki/index.md has no relevant page, respond:

No local match in the wiki — answering from general knowledge: [direct answer]

This makes the source of every answer explicit.

---

Search & synthesis pipeline

Step 1: Read the global index

Always the first action. Read wiki/index.md in full.

In the index, locate any pages relevant to the question across:

• Sources
• Entities
• Concepts
• Syntheses

Build a candidate list. Don't skip the index — it's the cheap, structured filter that prevents you from reading irrelevant pages.

Step 2: Deep-read the candidates

For each candidate page from Step 1, read the full content. Pay attention to:

• The page body (definitions, key information).
• The frontmatter sources field — this lists the original raw/ files, which you may also read if the wiki page summary isn't enough.
• The ## Related section — follow links to adjacent pages if they're relevant.
• Any ## Knowledge Conflicts section — surface these in your answer when relevant.

Step 3: Synthesize the answer

Compose a clear answer. Format depends on the question:

• Factual lookup → direct answer + citation.
• Comparison → table or side-by-side analysis.
• Historical/decision question → chronological narrative.
• Open-ended exploration → structured analysis with sub-sections.

Citation format:

• Inline: when referencing a wiki page, use [[Page Name]] in the prose. The first mention of a page in a paragraph cites it; don't litter every sentence.
• Direct quotation: use markdown blockquote > quoted text followed by — [[Page Name]].
• Multiple-page synthesis: cite at the end of the section: Sources: [[PageA]], [[PageB]], [[PageC]].

If two wiki pages contradict each other, call out the contradiction explicitly rather than picking one arbitrarily. This is a feature, not a bug — it's how the user discovers gaps in their own knowledge.

Step 4: Offer to save high-value answers

Default behavior: /query answers the question and stops. Saving a synthesis is opt-in and ALWAYS requires an explicit, per-synthesis "yes" from the user. Do not save unless the user clearly confirms for that specific synthesis. A general "run these queries" is not save-approval — answer first, then ask.

If the answer meets any of these criteria:

• More than 2 substantive paragraphs.
• Comparative or analytical (not just lookup).
• Synthesizes information from 3+ wiki pages.

…ask the user (once per candidate synthesis, naming it):

This answer is a substantive synthesis. Would you like me to save it to wiki/syntheses/ as a permanent wiki page? (It becomes part of the knowledge base, not just a one-off answer.)

If — and only if — they agree, create wiki/syntheses/{slug}.md (kebab-case slug derived from the question or topic):

---
title: "{slug}"
type: synthesis
tags: [analysis, comparison, etc.]
sources: [raw/path/file.md, ...]   # raw files referenced via the wiki pages used
last_updated: YYYY-MM-DD
---

# {Question or Topic}

[Full synthesis content, with the same [[wikilink]] citations as the answer.]

## Related

- [[PageA]] — primary source for X
- [[PageB]] — primary source for Y

Step 4b: Close the backlink loop (REQUIRED when saving)

A synthesis that nothing links to is an orphan — /lint will flag it, and /query will rarely rediscover it (queries navigate by following links from the index and hub pages). After saving a synthesis, add a backlink to it from the ## Related section of the 1–3 most central pages it draws from. Example: a synthesis on RAG strategy gets a backlink from [[RetrievalAugmentedGeneration]]'s Related section. This is what makes the wiki compound — without it, syntheses are write-only dead ends.

Then update wiki/index.md under the ## Syntheses section.

Step 5: Log the operation

After every query (saved or not), append to wiki/log.md:

## [YYYY-MM-DD] query | <one-line summary of the question>
- **Output**: saved to [[synthesis-slug]] (or: "answered inline; not saved")
- **Pages consulted**: [[PageA]], [[PageB]], [[PageC]]

---

Hard rules

• Always read wiki/index.md first. Don't guess which pages exist.
• Default to answer-only. /query is a Q&A tool first. Saving a synthesis is a separate, explicit opt-in — never save without a per-synthesis "yes" (see Step 4). A batch instruction like "run these queries" authorizes answering, not saving.
• When you do save, close the backlink loop (Step 4b) so the synthesis isn't born an orphan.
• Don't answer from model memory if relevant wiki content exists. The user built this wiki precisely to anchor answers to their own curated material.
• Cite every claim with [[wikilink]] to the source page.
• Don't over-cite. Once per paragraph for the same page is enough.
• Don't silently fabricate. If a wiki page doesn't say what you want it to say, don't paraphrase it as if it did. Either say "the wiki doesn't directly address this" or read more pages.
• Surface contradictions — don't smooth them over.
• Use the real current date for any last_updated field and log entry — read it from the injected current-date context or run date +%F. Never copy the YYYY-MM-DD placeholder literally.

Related

• [[wiki/index.md]] — global index entry point
• [[wiki/log.md]] — operation log
• [[CLAUDE.md]] — wiki schema and rules