QMD — Vault Semantic Search
Before reading vault files directly, search with QMD first. It returns relevant snippets without burning context on full file reads.
Workflow Routing
| Workflow | Trigger | File | |----------|---------|------| | ask | When user runs /ask or asks a complex question needing direct answers | ../commands/qmd/ask.md | | search | When user runs /search or asks for a list of results | ../commands/qmd/search.md | | context | When user runs /context or asks for all context on a topic | ../commands/qmd/context.md | | reindex | When user runs /reindex or needs to refresh the QMD index manually | ../commands/qmd/reindex.md |
Commands
Search (pick one per query)
qmd query "..." --json -n 10— Best quality. Hybrid BM25 + vector + LLM reranking. Use for complex or conceptual queries.qmd search "..." --json -n 10— Fast BM25 keyword. Use for exact terms, names, ticket numbers, dates.qmd vsearch "..." --json -n 5— Semantic only. Use for exploratory queries where you don't know the exact words.
Retrieve
qmd get "path/to/file.md"— Full document by path.qmd get "#docid"— Full document by ID (from search results).qmd multi-get "work/06_ORG/PEOPLE.md" --json— Batch retrieve people context.
Index Management
qmd update— Re-index after file changes (fast, ~1-2s incremental).qmd embed— Regenerate vector embeddings (slower, run after bulk changes).
When to Search
- User mentions a past decision, incident, person, project →
qmd query - User asks "what did we decide about X" →
qmd query - User mentions a person by name →
qmd search "<name>" - Before creating a new note →
qmd vsearch "<topic>"to check for existing content - After creating a note →
qmd vsearch "<note title>"to find notes that should link to it - Loading context for review prep →
qmd get "work/05_REVIEW/EVIDENCE.md" - Loading 1-on-1 context →
qmd search "<person name> 1-1"
After Bulk Changes
Run qmd update && qmd embed to keep the index fresh. The SessionStart hook does qmd update automatically, but qmd embed should be run explicitly after sessions that create many notes.