ringbinder

name	ringbinder
description	Use ringbinder to find documents, list documents, answer with citations, and propose file renames.

Ringbinder

Use ringbinder help and ringbinder help [command] to learn what's possible.

List recent documents, or by date / time range

By default ringbinder doc list lists 50 recent docs. Read ringbinder doc list --help to learn what else is possible.

Find information in documents

Retrieval loop

1. Build probe set (5–20 probes):
   • precision probes: --mode and
   • recall probes: --mode or
   • expert probes: --fts '<raw fts5 query>'
   • OCR-noise fallback: repeat key probes with --trigram

Raw FTS safety

• --fts is good; prefer known-good patterns: terms, quoted phrases, AND/OR/NOT, and parentheses.
• Don’t guess advanced syntax like NEAR/5 unless you’ve confirmed ringbinder supports it.
• If a raw FTS query errors, simplify it or split it into multiple --fts probes.

2. Run each probe:

   • ringbinder find --json --limit 50 --offset 0 <query>
   • or ringbinder find --json --fts '<raw>'

3. Parse result fields:

   • path, page_index, page_count, snippet, rank, search_source
   • search_source is one of: fts, trigram, path

4. Merge candidates:

   • dedupe by (path, page_index)
   • prefer fts over trigram over path when evidence quality conflicts
   • keep ~10–30 pages for reading

5. Read full text before answering:

   • ringbinder read --json --path <path> --page <i> --context 1
   • use --start/--end for wider ranges when needed

6. Optional metadata for ranking/citations:

   • ringbinder doc get --json --path <path>

7. Answer with quotes and citations:

   • quote exact supporting lines
   • cite as path (page X) with human 1-based page numbers

Rules

• Never guess; only claim what you can quote from read output.
• If evidence is weak, run more probes (OR/raw/trigram) or ask one targeted clarifying question.
• Prefer reading fewer pages deeply over many snippets shallowly.
• When using --fts, prefer known-good patterns; if it errors, simplify.