Wiki query

LLM Wiki — Query

Answer questions by searching and synthesizing knowledge from the wiki.

Vault path: read from $WIKI_MEMORY_VAULT env, else cat ~/.config/wiki/sidecar.json | jq -r .vault_path, else cat ~/.config/wiki-memory/vault-path (legacy), else ask user.

Search Strategy

1. Start with the index

Read wiki/index.md to identify relevant pages. Scan all category sections (Sources, Entities, Concepts, Synthesis) for entries related to the question.

2. Use qmd for large wikis

If qmd is installed (check with command -v qmd), use it for search:

qmd search "query terms" --path wiki/

This is especially useful when the wiki has grown beyond ~100 pages where scanning the index becomes inefficient.

3. Read relevant pages

Read the wiki pages identified by the index or search. Follow [[wikilinks]] to pull in related context from linked pages. Read enough pages to give a thorough answer, but don't read the entire wiki.

4. Check raw sources if needed

If the wiki pages don't fully answer the question, check relevant source summaries in wiki/sources/ for additional detail. Only go to files in raw/ as a last resort.

Synthesize the Answer

Format

Match the answer format to the question:

• Factual question → direct answer with citations
• Comparison → table or structured comparison
• Exploration → narrative with linked concepts
• List/catalog → bulleted list with brief descriptions

Citations

Always cite wiki pages using [[wikilink]] syntax. Example:

According to [[Source - Article Title]], the key finding was X. This connects to the broader pattern described in [[Concept Name]], which [[Entity Name]] has also explored.

Offer to save valuable answers

If the answer produces something worth keeping — a comparison, analysis, new connection, or synthesis — offer to save it:

"This comparison might be useful to keep in your wiki. Want me to save it as a synthesis page?"

If the user agrees:

1. Create a new page in wiki/synthesis/ with proper frontmatter
2. Add an entry to wiki/index.md under Synthesis
3. Append to wiki/log.md: ## [YYYY-MM-DD] query | Question summary

Conventions

• Search the wiki first. Only go to raw sources if the wiki doesn't have the answer.
• Cite your sources. Every factual claim should link to the wiki page it came from.
• Valuable answers compound. Encourage saving good analyses back into the wiki.
• Use [[wikilinks]] for all internal references. Never use raw file paths.

Flags

Flag	Description
--save	After answering, persist the Q&A as a structured artifact in wiki/qa/<slug>.md. Updates wiki/index.md and wiki/log.md.

Without --save, behavior is identical to before — no files are written.

Save Mode (when --save flag present)

Execute the normal query flow first. Once the answer is synthesized, write the QA artifact.

Slug generation

1. Take the verbatim question string.
2. Lowercase, strip punctuation (keep letters, digits, hyphens), replace spaces with -.
3. Truncate at word boundary to max 60 characters.
4. If a file already exists at the generated path (collision), append -<first 8 chars of SHA1 of full question> as suffix.

Examples:

Question	Slug
"How does X work?"	how-does-x-work
"What's the diff between A and B?"	whats-the-diff-between-a-and-b
"(Long question over 60 chars about complex topic Y)"	long-question-over-60-chars-about-complex-topic-y

Frontmatter template (v2)

---
tags: [qa]
aliases: ["<verbatim original question>"]
question: "<verbatim original question>"
asked_at: <ISO-8601 datetime, e.g. 2026-05-05T10:21:00Z>
confidence: high       # high | medium | low  — agent self-rates based on source coverage
answer_summary: "<one-sentence TL;DR>"
sources: [concepts/foo.md, entities/bar.md]   # cited articles resolved to paths
created: <YYYY-MM-DD>
updated: <YYYY-MM-DD>
---

All nine fields are required. Always quote aliases: and question: values — questions often contain special YAML characters (apostrophes, colons, question marks).

confidence rating guide:

• high — answer is fully supported by two or more wiki pages with direct citations
• medium — partial coverage; some claims inferred or from a single source
• low — speculative, sparse sources, or answer contains [needs verification] flags

Body template

# <Title-cased question>

## Answer
<full synthesized answer with [[wikilinks]] inline citations>

## Reasoning
<chain of evidence: which sources, which key claims, contradictions if any>

## Related
- [[concepts/foo]] — <relevance>
- [[entities/bar]] — <relevance>

Write path

Write the file to wiki/qa/<slug>.md.

Index update

Open wiki/index.md, locate the ## Q&A section (create it under the last category if absent), and append:

- [[qa/<slug>]] — <verbatim original question>

Log append

Append one line to wiki/log.md:

<ISO-timestamp> qa-save: wiki/qa/<slug>.md

Anti-pattern: skip low-confidence saves

If confidence would be rated low AND the synthesized answer contains [needs verification] flags covering more than 50% of claims, do not write the file. Instead, print:

Warning: answer confidence is low with unverified claims. Save anyway? (yes/no)

Wait for user confirmation before proceeding.

Schema reference

For the full QA article frontmatter spec and field constraints, see wiki-schema.md §QA Articles (populated in a later phase).

Related Skills

• /wiki-ingest — process new sources into wiki pages
• /wiki-lint — health-check the wiki for issues