Recall

---
name: recall
description: Deep lookup in the project-brain vault. Use when the user asks about past work, decisions, or details from earlier sessions and the injected index isn't enough, or when explicitly invoked.
---

# Brain recall — deep lookup

The user's cross-project knowledge brain is a plain-Markdown vault. Resolve its location first:
`$BRAIN_DIR` env var if set, else `vault_path` in `~/.config/claude-brain/config.json`, else `~/claude-brain`. Call it `<vault>` below.

If `$BRAIN_READ_ALSO` is set, it names one or more additional vaults (colon-separated) to search **read-only** after `<vault>`. This is how a session that captures into its own vault — a local-model or experimental setup — still gets the benefit of the main brain's history. Never write to a `$BRAIN_READ_ALSO` vault: no file edits, no new notes, no `git commit`. Treat it strictly as reference, and say which vault a fact came from when you report it.

Perform a thorough, layered lookup for the topic in `$ARGUMENTS` (or the current conversation's open question if no arguments). Work down the layers, stopping as soon as the question is fully answered:

1. **Index**: read `<vault>/MEMORY.md` — identify which project(s)/topic(s) are relevant.
2. **Pages**: read the relevant `<vault>/projects/<name>.md` and/or `<vault>/topics/<name>.md`.
3. **Session notes**: if the page lacks detail, read recent `<vault>/sessions/<project>/*.md` notes (check `date:` frontmatter; newest first).
4. **Archive (episodic layer)**: for exact wording, commands, numbers, or anything the notes summarized away, grep the full transcripts: `rg -i "<terms>" <vault>/archive/<project>/` — then read the matching section of the hit file.
5. **Cross-project**: if the topic spans projects, repeat 2–4 for each; also `rg` across all of `<vault>/archive/` when unsure where something happened.

Rules:
- Never load whole directories — index first, then only the files the index/grep points to.
- Prefer `status: verified` content over `generated` when they disagree, and say so if they conflict.
- Report what you found AND where (file paths), so the user can follow up.
- If nothing is found, say so explicitly and suggest which project's archive is most likely to need a manual look.