Recall

The user wants to recall past context about: $ARGUMENTS

Quick start

memory_smart_search { "query": "jwt refresh token rotation", "limit": 10 }

Expected output:

2 results across 2 sessions.
[importance 8] decision · "Rotate refresh tokens on every use" (session 7f3a9c21)
[importance 5] code · "limit.ts counts per-IP" (session b21d004e)

Why

Only surface what the tool returned. Never fabricate an observation, a session id, or an importance score. If nothing comes back, say so.

Workflow

1. Call memory_smart_search with the user's text as query and limit: 10. Pass project when the user scopes to a specific repo. 2. Group results by session. 3. For each observation show its type, title, and narrative. 4. Lead with the high-signal observations (importance >= 7). 5. If zero results, suggest 2-3 alternative search terms and stop. Do not guess.

Anti-patterns

WRONG: results are empty, so you write "We probably discussed token expiry last week" from assumption.

RIGHT: "No memories matched that query. Try refresh token, session expiry, or auth rotation."

Checklist

• Every observation shown came from the tool response.
• Results grouped by session, high-importance first.
• Empty results trigger alternative-term suggestions, not invention.
• No session id or score was paraphrased or rounded.

See also

• remember: the write side; recall retrieves what it stores.
• recap, handoff, session-history: session-scoped views of the same data.

Troubleshooting

See ../_shared/TROUBLESHOOTING.md if memory_smart_search is not available.

recall worked examples

1. Hit on a past decision

User: "Did we ever decide how to cache sessions?"

Invocation:

memory_smart_search { "query": "session caching decision", "limit": 10 }

Response:

{
  "results": [
    { "sessionId": "7f3a9c21", "type": "decision", "title": "Drop Redis for iii state store",
      "narrative": "We decided to drop Redis and use the iii-engine state store for session caching.",
      "importance": 8 }
  ]
}

Present:

Yes. In session 7f3a9c21 you decided to drop Redis and use the iii-engine

state store for session caching (importance 8).

2. Multiple results across sessions

User: "Recall anything about the rate limiter."

Invocation:

memory_smart_search { "query": "rate limiter", "limit": 10 }

Response:

{
  "results": [
    { "sessionId": "b21d004e", "type": "code", "title": "limit.ts counts per-IP",
      "narrative": "Rate limiter counts per-IP, not per-user.", "importance": 6 },
    { "sessionId": "c98f1100", "type": "conversation", "title": "Discussed sliding window",
      "narrative": "Considered a sliding-window limiter, deferred.", "importance": 4 }
  ]
}

Present them grouped by session, leading with the per-IP code note.

3. No results

User: "Recall the GraphQL schema migration."

Invocation:

memory_smart_search { "query": "graphql schema migration", "limit": 10 }

Response:

{ "results": [] }

Present:

No memories matched that. Try schema change, graphql, or migration as

narrower terms, or recap this week to scan recent sessions.