/recall-reasoning

name: recall-reasoning
description: Search past reasoning for relevant decisions and approaches
user-invocable: false

Recall Past Work

Search through previous sessions to find relevant decisions, approaches that worked, and approaches that failed. Queries two sources:

1. **Artifact Index** - Handoffs, plans, ledgers with post-mortems (what worked/failed) 2. **Reasoning Files** - Build attempts, test failures, commit context

When to Use

• Starting work similar to past sessions
• "What did we do last time with X?"
• Looking for patterns that worked before
• Investigating why something was done a certain way
• Debugging an issue encountered previously

Usage

Primary: Artifact Index (rich context)

uv run python scripts/core/artifact_query.py "<query>" [--outcome SUCCEEDED|FAILED] [--limit N]

This searches handoffs with post-mortems (what worked, what failed, key decisions).

Secondary: Reasoning Files (build attempts)

bash "$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR/.claude/scripts/search-reasoning.sh" "<query>"

This searches `.git/claude/commits/*/reasoning.md` for build failures and fixes.

Examples

# Search for authentication-related work
uv run python scripts/core/artifact_query.py "authentication OAuth JWT"

# Find only successful approaches
uv run python scripts/core/artifact_query.py "implement agent" --outcome SUCCEEDED

# Find what failed (to avoid repeating mistakes)
uv run python scripts/core/artifact_query.py "hook implementation" --outcome FAILED

# Search build/test reasoning
bash "$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR/.claude/scripts/search-reasoning.sh" "TypeError"

What Gets Searched

**Artifact Index** (handoffs, plans, ledgers):

• Task summaries and status
• **What worked** - Successful approaches
• **What failed** - Dead ends and why
• **Key decisions** - Choices with rationale
• Goal and constraints from ledgers

**Reasoning Files** (`.git/claude/`):

• Failed build attempts and error output
• Successful builds after failures
• Commit context and branch info

Interpreting Results

**From Artifact Index:**

• `✓` = SUCCEEDED outcome (pattern to follow)
• `✗` = FAILED outcome (pattern to avoid)
• `?` = UNKNOWN outcome (not yet marked)
• Post-mortem sections show distilled learnings

**From Reasoning:**

• `build_fail` = approach that didn't work
• `build_pass` = what finally succeeded
• Multiple failures before success = non-trivial problem

Process

1. **Run Artifact Index query first** - richer context, post-mortems 2. **Review relevant handoffs** - check what worked/failed sections 3. **If needed, search reasoning** - for specific build errors 4. **Apply learnings** - follow successful patterns, avoid failed ones

No Results?

**Artifact Index empty:**

• Run `uv run python scripts/core/artifact_index.py --all` to index existing handoffs
• Create handoffs with post-mortem sections for future recall

**Reasoning files empty:**

• Use `/commit` after builds to capture reasoning
• Check if `.git/claude/` directory exists