wiki-query

name: wiki-query description: Use when answering questions from a wiki based on this template. Covers wiki-first retrieval, selective raw-source verification, answer synthesis, citation behavior, and when a durable answer should be filed back into the wiki as a synthesis page.

Wiki Query

Use this skill before answering questions from a repository derived from this template.

Purpose

The goal of query work is to answer from the accumulated wiki first, use raw/ only when needed, and file durable answers back into the wiki when doing so improves the knowledge base.

Orientation

Before answering a substantive question:

1. Read wiki/index.md first.
2. Use any relevant learning path in wiki/index.md to understand the intended reading order before opening scattered pages.
3. Scan the most relevant existing pages before inventing a new framing.
4. Scan recent relevant entries in wiki/log.md when freshness, recent ingest work, or recently changed syntheses may matter.
5. If wiki/index.md is not enough, run a targeted search across wiki/ for likely slugs, synonyms, entities, concepts, and question phrases before touching raw/.

Query workflow

1. Start from wiki/index.md to locate the relevant parts of the wiki.
2. Classify the question before reading widely:
   • factual lookup
   • relationship query
   • synthesis query
   • gap or open-question query
3. Read the smallest useful set of relevant wiki pages first.
4. Use targeted search across wiki/ when the index is not enough, the wiki has grown large, or the likely answer may be split across several pages.
5. When targeted search identifies likely candidate pages but not yet a clear answer, inspect the relevant matching sections before reading whole pages end to end.
6. Use raw/ selectively when the wiki lacks needed detail, when a claim needs verification, or when a new source has not yet been integrated.
7. Synthesize from the wiki instead of rediscovering everything from raw/ by default.
8. Cite supporting wiki pages inline with bare [[slug]] links.
9. Use raw-source footnotes in normal prose when the answer depends directly on raw/ material.

Retrieval ladder

Escalate in this order unless the user explicitly asks for deeper verification:

1. wiki/index.md
2. targeted search across wiki/ for likely slugs, headings, entities, concepts, and question terms
3. the smallest useful read from likely wiki pages, starting with frontmatter plus the unheaded lead
4. relevant matching sections from likely wiki pages
5. full-page reads only when the cheaper passes still leave ambiguity
6. selective raw/ verification

Do not jump straight to broad raw/ reading when the wiki likely already contains a good answer.

If the user explicitly asks for a quick answer, a quick scan, or a high-level answer, prefer the cheaper end of the ladder and state the scope limit clearly.

Retrieval primitives

Prefer the cheapest primitive that can answer the question:

• For page discovery, start with wiki/index.md and targeted rg searches for likely slugs, titles, headings, entities, concepts, and question phrases.
• For a quick preview of a likely page, inspect the frontmatter and unheaded lead before reading the whole body.
• For a specific claim, section, or relationship, use targeted section reads or rg -n -A <n> -B <n> around the relevant term instead of opening the full page first.
• Read whole pages only when the answer depends on broader page structure, sustained argument, or several nearby sections together.
• Move to raw/ only after the wiki-side primitives stop being sufficient or when the answer needs direct source verification.

The rule is simple: do not spend a whole-page read to answer a section-level question, and do not spend a raw-source read to answer a wiki-level question.

When to open raw sources

Go to raw/ when:

• the wiki does not contain the needed detail
• the answer depends on a time-bounded, numerical, quoted, disputed, or source-specific claim
• the wiki appears stale relative to a source already present in the corpus
• the user is asking about material that has not yet been integrated
• the answer hinges on checking whether the wiki has overstated, simplified, or flattened a source

Do not default to raw/ when the wiki already contains a good answer.

How to answer

• Give the answer early rather than rebuilding the topic from scratch.
• Write in plain language with a professional tone, and define non-obvious terms when the answer would otherwise assume field familiarity.
• Use the wiki's own page structure and terminology where that helps the answer stay aligned with the repo.
• Preserve the useful mental model, nearby confusions, and boundaries from the wiki instead of flattening them into generic explanation.
• Make uncertainty explicit if the wiki or sources are mixed, partial, or dated.
• If the answer depends on both wiki pages and raw material, prefer inline [[slug]] links plus raw footnotes rather than replacing everything with raw citations.
• Say when the answer is bounded by the current corpus, recent ingest state, or incomplete integration rather than implying broader coverage than the wiki actually has.
• If the answer required selective raw verification, use that to sharpen or correct the wiki-grounded answer rather than turning the whole response into a raw-source summary.

Cheap-path answers

When the user asks for speed over completeness:

• answer from wiki/index.md, targeted wiki search, the most relevant page leads, and the smallest useful set of existing pages
• avoid opening raw/ unless the user asks for verification or the answer would otherwise be misleading
• label the scope plainly when the answer is intentionally based on a lighter pass

Durable vs one-off answers

Create or update a synthesis page when:

• the answer resolves a reusable question the wiki is likely to face again
• the answer combines multiple existing pages into a durable conclusion
• the answer would make the wiki materially easier to navigate later
• the answer preserves an important tension, contradiction, or scope boundary that would otherwise stay trapped in chat
• the answer is a useful comparison, such as how two ideas differ or when one applies over another
• the answer maps a topic area and would help future readers know what to read first

Answer directly without creating a page when:

• the answer is trivial or one-off
• the answer does not improve the long-term usefulness of the wiki
• creating a page would mostly duplicate what already exists

Filing back into the wiki

When an answer deserves to become durable wiki content:

1. Create or update the synthesis page under wiki/syntheses/.
2. Frame the synthesis as a concrete reusable question unless an explicit thesis is clearer.
3. Use the synthesis lead to state the answer in plain language, define any non-obvious key term the reader needs immediately, and add a short scope note when the conclusion is materially bounded.
4. Add the relevant supporting pages and raw sources under ## Evidence base, using claim-led bullets rather than a flat link dump.
5. Keep contradictions or unresolved conflicts visible in ## Unresolved points even when the synthesis privileges one interpretation.
6. Update wiki/index.md so the new or revised synthesis is discoverable, including learning paths when the synthesis becomes part of a useful reading route.
7. Append the operation to wiki/log.md.

Before creating a new synthesis page, search for an existing synthesis, concept, or entity page that already carries the question and update that page instead of creating a near-duplicate.

Common failure modes

• Answering from raw/ even though the wiki already has the needed synthesis
• Skipping wiki/index.md or recent relevant log entries and missing the wiki's current shape
• Reading too much of the wiki before classifying the question
• Opening whole pages before checking whether the frontmatter, lead, or a targeted section read would answer the question
• Reading whole pages end to end when a section-level pass would have answered the question
• Opening broad swaths of raw/ when targeted wiki search would have been enough
• Writing the answer in expert-only shorthand that a careful newcomer cannot follow
• Quoting raw material directly without integrating it into the wiki's existing concepts
• Creating a new synthesis page for a trivial answer
• Creating a synthesis page with a vague topic title when a reusable question would make it easier to learn from later
• Creating a new synthesis page when an existing page should have been updated
• Leaving a durable answer out of wiki/index.md
• Leaving a new comparison or map synthesis out of relevant learning paths
• Flattening mixed evidence into a false certainty