phx-recall

Recall — Session & History Archaeology

Search three evidence layers, cheapest first, to answer "have we solved this before?". Stop at the first layer that answers the question.

Usage

phx-recall how did we fix the LiveView form that saved silently?
phx-recall what did we decide about the billing context boundaries?
phx-recall which library did we pick for rate limiting and why?

Iron Laws

1. Cheapest layer first — solution docs (local grep) → git history → session transcripts. Don't fetch sessions when a solution doc answers
2. ONE ccrider fetch = ONE subagent — get_session_messages responses are 3–15KB each. Spawn a subagent per session that writes a summary file and exits; NEVER batch multiple session fetches into one context
3. Cite the evidence — every claim names its source (solution doc path, commit hash, or session date + match snippet). No vague "we did this once"
4. Graceful degradation, stated plainly — if ccrider MCP is absent, say so once and use the fallback layers; never error out

Workflow

Layer 1: Compound Solution Docs (always)

Run Grep with keywords from the question over .claude/solutions/. Treat a hit here as the best answer — it was written for exactly this purpose. Present it and stop unless the user wants more.

Layer 2: Git Archaeology (always available)

git log --oneline --grep="{keyword}" -i -20      # commit messages
git log -S "{code-symbol}" --oneline -10          # when a symbol changed
git log --follow --oneline -10 -- {file}          # one file's history
git show {hash} --stat                            # inspect a candidate

Use -S (pickaxe) when the question names code; --grep when it names intent. Show matching commits with one-line context each.

Layer 3: Session Transcripts (ccrider MCP, gated)

Check for mcp__ccrider__* tools (load via ToolSearch if deferred).

If absent: report "ccrider MCP not connected — answered from solution docs + git history" and stop after Layers 1–2.