explore-knowledge

Overview

Answer user questions about the project by traversing the autology knowledge graph. Search docs/ for relevant nodes, follow wikilinks to build context, and return rich answers grounded in documented decisions, conventions, and architecture.

Use explore instead of reading a doc directly when: the user asks a question (rather than requesting a specific doc), or when the topic may span multiple connected nodes.

Question-Answering (primary mode)

When the user asks a question about the project (conventions, architecture, decisions, rationale):

1. Search: Grep docs/ for keywords from the question
2. Read: Read matched nodes (frontmatter + body)
3. Follow: For each wikilink in matched nodes, read the linked node (1-hop)
4. Synthesize: Answer citing specific docs (e.g., "per [[redis-storage-decision]]")
5. False premise check: If the search finds no doc that supports the question's premise, state this explicitly — give the actual documented state instead. Do not speculate or construct a rationale that isn't in docs.

Graph Operations

The <node> argument is a title-slug — the filename without the .md extension (e.g., redis-storage-decision for docs/redis-storage-decision.md).

Overview (/autology:explore-knowledge overview)

Process:

• Glob docs/*.md, read each file's frontmatter and wikilinks
• Count nodes, links, and disconnected components

Output:

• Total node count, link count, component count
• Node type breakdown (count per type, e.g. 5 concept / 4 decision / 2 convention / 1 component)
• Top 5 hub nodes (most wikilink connections)
• Orphan node list (no incoming or outgoing links)

Neighborhood (/autology:explore-knowledge <node>)

Process:

• Read the target node
• Find all nodes that link to or from the target (1-hop):
  • Outgoing: wikilinks in the target node's body → [[slug]]
  • Incoming: grep docs/ for [[target-slug]] to find nodes that reference the target
• Find their connections (2-hop BFS)

Output: node title, type, tags, and connections for each hop

Path (/autology:explore-knowledge path A B)

Process:

• Find shortest wikilink path from node A to node B

Output: A → [intermediate] → B with each hop labeled

Quick Reference

/autology:explore-knowledge overview     # graph overview
/autology:explore-knowledge <node>       # neighborhood (2-hop BFS)
/autology:explore-knowledge path A B     # shortest path

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Answer from memory instead of docs	Always Read the actual doc nodes before answering
Stop at 1-hop neighbors	Follow wikilinks to 2-hop for richer context
Ignore node type and tags	Include type/tags in answers — they add classification context
Only follow outgoing links in neighborhood	Also grep docs/ for [[node-name]] to find nodes that link TO the target
Speculate when question has false premise	State what IS documented; never construct a rationale not found in docs