Text Search

text-search

Search indexed text using qmd (BM25 + vectors + hybrid). Better than grep: ranked results, semantic similarity, structured queries.

What's Already Indexed

Sources: ~/.pi/agent/sessions, ~/.codex/sessions, ~/.claude/projects

Check with qmd status. Helper scripts in this folder complement qmd searches.

Reach for qmd Instead of grep When

• Searching anything in an indexed collection
• You want semantic similarity, not just keyword matching
• You need ranked results, not a wall of matches

Guardrails

Do not use grep/find/jq/cat directly on indexed files to search content or extract meaning. Use qmd (or collection-specific scripts like analyze-sessions.sh) for discovery.

Legitimate shell usage that's fine:

• Piping tool output through grep/head/etc. for filtering
• Using find for file targeting, cleanup, or housekeeping
• Grepping non-indexed files (though consider indexing them)

Indexing

# Add a collection (example: markdown docs)
qmd collection add /path --name docs --mask "**/*.md"

# Update index
qmd update

# Status
qmd status

Search

# BM25 (keyword)
qmd search "query"

# Vector similarity (semantic)
qmd vsearch "query"

# Hybrid (usually best)
qmd query "query"

# Get a snippet (or use --full)
qmd get docs/path.md:10 -l 40
qmd get docs/path.md --full

Useful options

-n NUM          # Number of results (default: 5)
--full          # Show full document instead of snippet
--files         # Output file paths only (for piping)
--line-numbers  # Add line numbers to output
--min-score N   # Filter by minimum similarity score

Notes

• Embeddings/rerank use Ollama at OLLAMA_URL (default http://localhost:11434).
• Index lives under ~/.cache/qmd by default.

Sessions

Session logs are indexed as the sessions collection.

Critical: Pass qmd:// paths directly to session-view

When qmd returns a path like qmd://sessions/codex/2025/10/30/rollout-....jsonl, pass it directly:

# ✓ CORRECT — pass qmd:// path directly
session-view "qmd://sessions/codex/2025/10/30/rollout-2025-10-30t15-36-39-....jsonl"

# ✗ WRONG — do not manually translate to filesystem paths
session-view ~/.pi/agent/sessions/codex/2025/10/30/...  # WILL FAIL - wrong path structure

session-view resolves qmd:// paths automatically. Manual path translation will fail because:

• Codex sessions live in ~/.codex/sessions/, not ~/.pi/agent/sessions/codex/
• Claude sessions live in ~/.claude/projects/, not ~/.pi/agent/sessions/claude/
• Case sensitivity differs between qmd paths and filesystem

Hard constraint

Do not grep/find/jq/cat raw session JSONL to search or extract content. The format is nested, encoded, and unreadable — you'll waste cycles and get garbage.

Do use:

• qmd or analyze-sessions.sh → for discovery (finding which sessions match)
• session-view → for inspection (pass qmd:// paths directly)

Filtering session-view output is fine and encouraged:

session-view <path> | grep -iE 'USER:.*(error|bug)'

Two-step workflow

1. Discover → find session paths using qmd or analyze-sessions.sh
2. Inspect → render with session-view to read actual content

Raw search results are JSONL fragments — timestamps, thinking signatures, encoded metadata. They tell you which sessions matched, not what happened. You cannot analyze sessions from search snippets alone.

Before searching: interview when intent is vague

If the user's query is conceptual or imprecise, ask clarifying questions before searching. Useful clarifications: approximate timeframe, which tool/CLI produced the session, project or repo context, and any remembered phrases or error messages.

After 2-3 unsuccessful searches, stop iterating on keywords and ask the user. They likely have context that will narrow the search dramatically. Don't burn tokens on query variations when a single question could resolve it.

Step 1: Discover

Two peer tools for different use cases:

qmd — when you don't know exact words, want semantic similarity, or need to search across long time ranges:

qmd search "apply_edits" -n 20          # keyword
qmd vsearch "investigated flaky tests"  # semantic
qmd query "OAuth redirect flow" -n 10   # hybrid (usually best)

Choosing search vs vsearch vs query

Default to query when unsure, but prefer vsearch for conceptual queries and search for exact patterns.

analyze-sessions.sh — when you know the pattern (regex, tool names, error flags) or want time-windowed operational reports:

./scripts/analyze-sessions.sh --hours 24 --report
./scripts/analyze-sessions.sh --hours 48 --pattern "error|failed"
./scripts/analyze-sessions.sh --hours 24 --tool-stats

Results give you session paths like qmd://sessions/pi/users-ww-project/2026-01-20....jsonl

Step 2: Inspect with session-view

session-view accepts qmd:// paths directly — no manual path translation needed:

# Pass the qmd:// path from search results directly
session-view "qmd://sessions/codex/2025/10/30/rollout-2025-10-30t15-36-39-....jsonl"
session-view "qmd://sessions/pi/users-ww-project/2026-01-20....jsonl"

Filesystem paths also work if you already have them (e.g., from --latest):

session-view ~/.pi/agent/sessions/--Users-ww-project--/2026-01-20....jsonl

But for qmd search results, always use the qmd:// path directly.

Output:

USER: message

A: response text
  [tool_name] key_args

TOOL [name]: ✓ truncated_output

Shortcuts:

session-view --latest pi      # most recent Pi session
session-view --latest codex   # most recent Codex session
session-view --latest claude  # most recent Claude Code session

Located at ~/.pi/agent/skills/text-search/scripts/session-view. Supports Pi, Codex, Claude Code formats (auto-detects from path or qmd:// prefix).

Example workflow

# 1. Search
qmd query "git rebase gone wrong" -n 10
# → qmd://sessions/pi/users-ww-dot314/2026-01-21....jsonl

# 2. Read (pass qmd:// path directly)
session-view "qmd://sessions/pi/users-ww-dot314/2026-01-21....jsonl"

Both steps, every time. Manual path translation is not needed.

Field-oriented searches

Structured queries for specific patterns:

qmd search '"role":"user"' -n 20         # user messages
qmd search '"toolName":"rp_exec"' -n 20  # specific tool usage
qmd search '"isError":true' -n 20        # tool errors

These return JSONL fragments — read matches with session-view.

analyze-sessions.sh reference

Location: ~/.pi/agent/skills/text-search/scripts/analyze-sessions.sh

Full option set:

# Report for last 24 hours
./analyze-sessions.sh --hours 24 --report

# Sessions matching a regex pattern (ranked by match count)
./analyze-sessions.sh --hours 48 --pattern "apply_edits|rp_exec"

# Edit-related activity diagnostics
./analyze-sessions.sh --hours 36 --edit-diagnostics

# Tool usage statistics
./analyze-sessions.sh --hours 24 --tool-stats

# Restrict to a project (derived from session path)
./analyze-sessions.sh --hours 72 --report --project pi-mono

# Restrict to sessions that used a specific tool
./analyze-sessions.sh --hours 72 --tool-stats --tool rp_exec

Session JSONL structure (reference)

Each JSONL line has a type field: