/recall

name: recall
description: Search agentmemory for past observations, sessions, and learnings about a topic using hybrid BM25 plus vector plus graph search. Use when the user says "recall", "what did we do about", "did we ever", "have we seen", or needs context from past sessions.
argument-hint: "[search query]"
user-invocable: true

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 and `agentId` when they request one agent's history. Use `targetLayer: "memory"` for explicitly saved knowledge, or `targetLayer: "observation"` for captured activity. Omit it for mixed search. 2. Search results are compact. Before quoting full content or describing provenance, call `memory_smart_search` with the selected IDs as a comma-separated `expandIds` string and the same project, agent, and layer filters. If expansion fails or the record is no longer available, report that limitation; a title alone is not the full fact. 3. Group expanded observations by session and show the returned type, title, and narrative. Include provenance only when the response supplies it. 4. Lead with the high-signal observations (importance >= 7). 5. With `memory_recall`, inspect `matched_count`, `excluded_by_budget`, and `content_truncated` before treating an empty or shortened response as absent knowledge. Recover full content with `memory_smart_search` using `expandIds` and the same project, agent, and layer filters. `minimum_budget` reports the estimated budget needed for a minimal preview when the budget is too small. 6. If there are no matches, 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.
• `memory-discipline`: when to run this search unprompted.

Troubleshooting

See [TROUBLESHOOTING.md](TROUBLESHOOTING.md) if `memory_smart_search` is not available.