memory-read

Reading Memories

Use the best available backend to find relevant Markdown memories in MEMORY_VAULT. Prefer context-rich search, then exact reads, then filesystem search.

Backend Order

1. memory-obsidian wrapper — If available and MEMORY_VAULT is an Obsidian vault, use it for deterministic Obsidian CLI search/read operations.
2. Obsidian CLI — If the wrapper is unavailable but obsidian is available, use it only with explicit vault targeting.
3. Native memory tool — If the environment provides a memory read tool, use it when CLI search is unavailable or when reading an exact known path.
4. Filesystem fallback — Search MEMORY_VAULT directly with shell tools.
5. No vault configured — If MEMORY_VAULT is unset and no native tool exists, ask the user where memories live.

Obsidian Search

Prefer the deterministic wrapper:

memory-obsidian search-context "<term>" --limit 20
memory-obsidian read "<note name>"
memory-obsidian tags

The wrapper resolves MEMORY_VAULT to an Obsidian vault id, runs commands from MEMORY_VAULT, and passes vault=<id>. This avoids raw CLI calls accidentally targeting the last active vault.

Use raw Obsidian CLI only as a fallback. Resolve the memory vault id first, run from MEMORY_VAULT, and pass vault=<id> explicitly:

cd "$MEMORY_VAULT" && obsidian vault="<memory vault id>" search:context query="<term>" limit=20
cd "$MEMORY_VAULT" && obsidian vault="<memory vault id>" read file="<note name>"

If Obsidian CLI cannot connect, retry once after opening the memory vault explicitly, then fall back to native tools or filesystem search.

Use search:context when possible. File-only hits are less useful than matching lines.

Filesystem Fallback

ls "$MEMORY_VAULT"/*.md
rg -n "<term>" "$MEMORY_VAULT/"
rg -l "tags:.*<term>" "$MEMORY_VAULT/"
rg -l "^  - .*<term>" "$MEMORY_VAULT/"

Use exact file reads for selected files. Include the .md extension when reading exact paths. Summarize relevant findings instead of dumping large files unless the user asks.

Common Mistakes

• Searching only filenames. Use content search and matching context lines when possible.
• Trusting raw Obsidian CLI defaults. Always target the intended vault explicitly.
• Giving up when Obsidian is unavailable. Filesystem search is good enough.
• Reading too much. Load the smallest set of notes that answers the question.