chat-search

Search inside past agent sessions and continue the one that matters with a single command. Uses a separate episodic session index, so raw chat noise never pollutes the curated RAG. Triggers: "/chat-se

SKILL.md

GitHub

/chat-search — the book of chats (search inside old sessions)

A thin wrapper over $IMPORTS_ROOT/chat_search.py. Do NOT reimplement the logic — call the engine and show the result.

When

  • "which chat did we discuss X in?", "have we already looked into this?", "find the old conversation about X".
  • Before starting a new topic — check whether it was already dug into (the twin of RECALL).

What it is (and what it is NOT)

  • It searches a separate session index _brain_sessions.npy (21k+ chunks from _session-md\<machine>\<cli>.md), built by brain_sessions_index.py.
  • It is NOT the essence index behind /ask: raw chats are deliberately excluded from the sharp "mind" (the essence/evidence decision, 2026-06-26). This is the evidence layer — "where exactly it was discussed" — while /ask answers "what I think".
  • HUMAN chats only: service/robot sessions are filtered out at export time (a classifier + a cheap-model judge).

How to run

python "$IMPORTS_ROOT/chat_search.py" "query in your own words"
python "$IMPORTS_ROOT/chat_search.py" --machine LAPTOP-1 "query"   # one machine only
python "$IMPORTS_ROOT/chat_search.py" -n 8 "query"                    # top-N (default 10)

Every hit: [rr=score] date · machine · topic + a snippet + the line ▶ continue: python continue_session.py <cli>.

Continue a chat you found

Copy the command from the hit (or use /resume-last for the most recent one). continue_session.py <cli> assembles a seed of the old chat into the clipboard — paste it into a new session.

Caveats (AK-47)

  • The index is built at night (run_session_archive.local.cmd → brain_sessions_index.py, incrementally). A fresh chat shows up after the nightly run; to force it: python brain_sessions_index.py.
  • Index missing / empty → the engine itself tells you Run: python brain_sessions_index.py --full.
  • Reranker scores can be negative — what matters is the ORDER (top-1 = most relevant), not the sign.
  • Siblings: /ask (meaning across the vault), /search (exact words in Telegram/FB/ChatGPT), /resume-last (continue the latest).
<!--kit-footer-->

Like this skill? It is one of 100 in second-brain-starter-kit: the second brain we built for ourselves and run every day at Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Install the whole set with npx skills add tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit. Everything is open source and free, so take what you need.

Flagships worth a look on their own: secondop-panel (a second opinion from a panel of external models), claude-memory-tidy (stop your agent's memory from rotting), telegram-mcp-kit (your own Telegram over MCP in about 15 minutes).

Author: Anton Dziatkovskii, Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Telegram @tonydzi - WhatsApp +1 341 222 9178 - X @Tony_Stef_

Engineers: want to test-drive this setup? Message me. I hand out free starter seeds to engineers who test and report back, and custom skill requests are welcome.