| name | explore-knowledge |
| description | Use whenever the user asks about this project's decisions, architecture, conventions, or how something works in this codebase — do NOT answer from general knowledge, always look it up in docs/. Trigger on questions like "why did we choose X?", "how does Y work here?", "what's our convention for Z?", "what docs reference X?", or any question about this project's specific choices. Also use for explicit /autology:explore-knowledge commands (overview, neighborhood, path). Searches docs/, follows wikilinks, and synthesizes grounded answers from the knowledge base. |
Overview
Answer user questions about the project by traversing the autology knowledge graph.
Search docs/ for relevant nodes, follow wikilinks to build context, and return
rich answers grounded in documented decisions, conventions, and architecture.
Use explore instead of reading a doc directly when: the user asks a question (rather than requesting a specific doc), or when the topic may span multiple connected nodes.
Question-Answering (primary mode)
When the user asks a question about the project (conventions, architecture, decisions, rationale):
- Search: Grep
docs/ for keywords from the question
- Read: Read matched nodes (frontmatter + body)
- Follow: For each wikilink in matched nodes, read the linked node (1-hop)
- Synthesize: Answer citing specific docs (e.g., "per [[redis-storage-decision]]")
- False premise check: If the search finds no doc that supports the question's premise, state this explicitly — give the actual documented state instead. Do not speculate or construct a rationale that isn't in docs.
Graph Operations
The <node> argument is a title-slug — the filename without the .md extension (e.g., redis-storage-decision for docs/redis-storage-decision.md).
Overview (/autology:explore-knowledge overview)
Process:
- Glob
docs/*.md, read each file's frontmatter and wikilinks
- Count nodes, links, and disconnected components
Output:
- Total node count, link count, component count
- Node type breakdown (count per type, e.g. 5 concept / 4 decision / 2 convention / 1 component)
- Top 5 hub nodes (most wikilink connections)
- Orphan node list (no incoming or outgoing links)
Neighborhood (/autology:explore-knowledge <node>)
Process:
- Read the target node
- Find all nodes that link to or from the target (1-hop):
- Outgoing: wikilinks in the target node's body →
[[slug]]
- Incoming: grep
docs/ for [[target-slug]] to find nodes that reference the target
- Find their connections (2-hop BFS)
Output: node title, type, tags, and connections for each hop
Path (/autology:explore-knowledge path A B)
Process:
- Find shortest wikilink path from node A to node B
Output: A → [intermediate] → B with each hop labeled
Quick Reference
/autology:explore-knowledge overview # graph overview
/autology:explore-knowledge <node> # neighborhood (2-hop BFS)
/autology:explore-knowledge path A B # shortest path
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|
| Answer from memory instead of docs | Always Read the actual doc nodes before answering |
| Stop at 1-hop neighbors | Follow wikilinks to 2-hop for richer context |
| Ignore node type and tags | Include type/tags in answers — they add classification context |
| Only follow outgoing links in neighborhood | Also grep docs/ for [[node-name]] to find nodes that link TO the target |
| Speculate when question has false premise | State what IS documented; never construct a rationale not found in docs |
