Read up on

Read Up On

Build a briefing on a topic by discovering and synthesizing everything the vault already knows about it. The user invokes this when they want full context loaded before continuing; they don't know (or care) which files hold the answer.

Can be invoked from ANY project on the machine.

Configuration

Resolve the vault location first, then use $VAULT everywhere below:

if [ -d "$HOME/dev/personal/vault" ]; then
    VAULT="$HOME/dev/personal/vault"          # local machine (any cwd)
else
    VAULT="${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-$PWD}"       # cloud session: the repo IS the vault
fi

The fallback matters in Claude Code cloud/web sessions, where the vault is cloned to a sandbox path and $HOME/dev/personal/vault does not exist. On a local machine the first branch always wins, so behaviour there is unchanged.

All searches below run against $VAULT, regardless of the current working directory.

The vault's auto-memory lives at $HOME/.claude/projects/*-dev-personal-vault/memory/MEMORY.md (glob it; the project dir name encodes the username, which differs between machines). This path does not exist in cloud sessions — if the glob matches nothing, skip the auto-memory step and rely on the notes and git history instead. Do not treat its absence as an error.

When to use

Trigger phrases: "read up on ...", "catch me up on ...", "what do I have on ...", "refresh on ...", "load context on ...".

Topics can be:

• A project (e.g. "REMA 1000 tech lead role")
• A person (e.g. "Øistein", "Daniel Pedersen")
• A concept or domain (e.g. "agentic commerce", "padel")
• A company/product (e.g. "Capra", "Shopify")

If the request is ambiguous (multiple candidate topics), ask one quick clarifying question before searching.

Workflow

Run steps 1-3 in parallel. Then read, then synthesize.

1. Discover candidates (parallel)

Cast a wide net. Norwegian + English variants matter; many vault notes are in Norwegian.

• Filename matches: find "$VAULT" -iname "*<keyword>*" -type f for each keyword variant
• Full-text grep: grep -r -l -i "<keyword>" --include="*.md" "$VAULT" for each variant
• Auto-memory: read $HOME/.claude/projects/*-dev-personal-vault/memory/MEMORY.md and any topic-related memory files next to it
• Recent activity: git -C "$VAULT" log --since="30 days ago" --name-only --pretty=format: -- "*.md" | grep -i <keyword> to surface recent edits

2. Rank candidates

Score each match. Read the top 5-10.

Signal	Weight
Filename matches the topic	+++
Lives in Projects/ or Meetings/	++
Lives in Personal/People/ (for person topics)	+++
Mentioned in auto-memory	++
Edited in the last 14 days	++
Lives in Learning/ or Notes/	+
Single passing mention	- (skip)

Skip files where the keyword appears only once in passing (e.g. a tangential [[link]] in an unrelated note).

3. Read top notes (parallel)

Use the Read tool on the top-ranked files in a single batch. Note frontmatter type, related:, and any [[wikilinks]] in the body.

4. Expand one level (selective)

From the notes you just read, collect [[wikilink targets]] that look load-bearing (people mentioned, sister projects, key concepts). Also run a quick backlinks check: grep -r -l "\[\[<TopNoteName>" --include="*.md" "$VAULT" to find what links to the cluster. Read 2-5 of these. Stop here unless the user asks to go deeper.

5. Synthesize the briefing

Output in this structure (skip empty sections):

## <Topic>

**Summary**: 2-3 sentences on what this is and the user's relationship to it.

**Key facts**
- Bullet of the load-bearing facts (dates, decisions, stakes)

**People**
- [[Name]]: role / relevance

**Recent activity** (last 30 days)
- DD.MM.YYYY: what changed, in which note

**Open threads / next steps**
- Anything marked TODO, "waiting on", or implied by recent notes

**Sources**
- [[Note Name]] (Projects/): one-line why this matters
- [[Note Name]] (Meetings/): ...

Cite every claim with a [[wikilink]] to its source note. Don't invent facts the notes don't support.

Heuristics

• Norwegian + English: search both. "Tech lead" and "team lead" and "teamleder" can all hit.
• People topics: always check Personal/People/ first, then meetings they attended.
• Project topics: always check Projects/ first, then linked meetings and learnings.
• Don't read >12 files on the first pass. If you need more, surface a "want me to go deeper?" prompt.
• Respect language: if source notes are in Norwegian, the briefing can mix Norwegian quotes with English framing; match what the user used in their request.

Example

User: "read up on everything REMA 1000 and the tech lead role"

1. Parallel: find "$VAULT" -iname "*rema*", grep -ril rema "$VAULT", grep -ril "tech lead\|team lead\|teamleder" "$VAULT", read MEMORY.md, git -C "$VAULT" log --since="30 days ago" | grep -i rema.
2. Rank: Projects/REMA 1000 App - Team Lead Opportunity.md (filename match + project folder) ranks top. Next: meetings with Øistein/Henning, then Personal/People/Øistein Burøy Olsen.md, then prep docs in Projects/.
3. Read top 8 in one batch.
4. Follow [[Øistein Burøy Olsen]], [[Anders Rodem]], [[Henning Hønsvall Meierhaugen]] wikilinks. Backlinks grep on the main project note.
5. Output a structured briefing with sources.