/ask — Question Answering

Fast answers from your vault. Uses QMD hybrid search (BM25 + vector + rerank) when available, with automatic fallback to vault grep.

Context

Config: @_core/config.yaml

Input

User input: $ARGUMENTS

Processing Steps

Step 1: Detect Search Backend

Check if QMD MCP tools are available in the current session:

1. Try qmd_status (MCP tool) to check QMD availability and index state.
2. Evaluate result:

- QMD available AND has embedded docs → use QMD mode - QMD available but 0 embedded docs → use Fallback mode + hint - QMD not available (tool missing/error) → use Fallback mode

Step 2: Parse Question

• Detect project if mentioned
• Identify question type:

- "what did we decide about X" → decisions - "who's blocked" → blockers - "find doc for X" → docs - "status of X" → index

Step 3A: QMD Mode (preferred)

When QMD is available and indexed:

1. Deep search: Call qmddeepsearch with the user's question.

- Use collection filter from config: core/config.yaml → qmd.collectionname (default: pm-kit) - Cap results: use qmd.max_results from config (default: 8)

1. Retrieve top docs: Call qmdget or qmdmulti_get for the top-scored results.

- Apply minimum score threshold from config: qmd.min_score (default: 0.35)

1. Synthesize answer: Read the retrieved content and produce a grounded answer with source citations.

Step 3B: Fallback Mode (vault grep)

When QMD is not available or not indexed:

1. Search Strategy

1. Search Methods

- Filename match first (fastest — naming-as-API) - Frontmatter field match - Content grep (slower)

Step 4: Return Answer

Output Format

With results

## Answer

{Direct answer — 1-3 sentences, grounded in source content}

### Sources
- `{file-path}` — {brief context why this source is relevant}
- `{file-path}` — {brief context}

### Search Mode
{QMD (deep) | Fallback (vault grep)}

No results

## No Results Found

Searched: {folders or QMD collection}
Query: "{query}"

**Suggestions**:
- Try broader terms
- Check spelling
- Run `qmd embed` if QMD is installed but not indexed

### Search Mode
{QMD (deep) | Fallback (vault grep)}

Fallback mode hint

When running in Fallback mode, append after the answer:

Tip: Install QMD for smarter search with semantic understanding. See [handbook/QMDINTEGRATION.md](handbook/QMDINTEGRATION.md) for setup.