Find Related Work Skill
You have the ability to search the journal for past work related to the current task.
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill proactively when:
- •
Facing similar problems
- •Current task resembles past work
- •User asks to implement something you may have done before
- •Pattern recognition suggests related history
- •
Making technical decisions
- •Architecture choices similar to past decisions
- •Technology selection (libraries, frameworks)
- •Design patterns or approaches
- •
Troubleshooting issues
- •Bug seems familiar
- •Similar error messages or symptoms
- •Related to previously fixed issues
- •
Building on past work
- •Extending existing features
- •Integrating with previous implementations
- •Following established patterns
- •
User explicitly asks
- •"Have we done something like this before?"
- •"When did we implement X?"
- •"How did we solve Y last time?"
- •"Find anything about Z"
How to Find Related Work
Method 1: Keyword search
code
journal_search( query="authentication", # Technology, concept, or feature limit=10 )
Method 2: Time-based search
code
journal_time_query( time_expression="last month", query="caching" # Optional: narrow down results )
Method 3: Project-specific search
code
journal_search( query="database migration", project="my-api" # Focus on specific project )
Method 4: Project history
code
journal_list_recent( project="mobile-app", limit=20 # Get comprehensive project context )
Search Strategies
Broad to narrow:
- •Start with general terms ("auth", "cache")
- •Narrow if too many results ("OAuth2", "Redis cache")
- •Add project filter if needed
Technology-focused:
- •Framework names: "React", "FastAPI", "PostgreSQL"
- •Library names: "JWT", "Redis", "SQLAlchemy"
- •Tool names: "Docker", "GitHub Actions", "pytest"
Concept-focused:
- •Features: "authentication", "notifications", "file upload"
- •Patterns: "caching", "rate limiting", "error handling"
- •Operations: "deployment", "migration", "refactoring"
Time-focused:
- •Recent: "last week", "last month"
- •Historical: "january", "last year"
- •Specific: "2024-03-15"
Examples
Example 1: Similar feature request
code
User: "Add rate limiting to the API" [Proactively search before starting] → journal_search(query="rate limiting") → Found previous rate limiting implementation in mobile-api → "I found we implemented rate limiting before in mobile-api using Redis. Want to use a similar approach? Here's what we did: [summary]"
Example 2: Architectural decision
code
User: "Should we use PostgreSQL or MongoDB for this?" → journal_search(query="PostgreSQL MongoDB database choice") → "We chose PostgreSQL over MongoDB for api-service last month because [reasons]. Similar requirements here?"
Example 3: Debugging with history
code
User: "Getting timeout errors on the cache" → journal_search(query="cache timeout error") → "We fixed a similar cache timeout issue in March by [solution]. Let me check if it's the same problem..."
Example 4: Pattern reuse
code
User: "Implement file upload for users" → journal_search(query="file upload") → "Found your file upload implementation for profiles from [date]. You used [approach] with [storage]. Use the same pattern?"
Example 5: Technology recall
code
User: "What library did we use for JWT tokens?" → journal_search(query="JWT library") → "You used PyJWT for token handling in my-api. Here's how it was set up: [summary]"
Presenting Related Work
Format:
code
**Related Past Work** Found [N] related entries: **Most relevant:** [Entry title] ([date]) - [project] [Brief summary of what was done] **Also relevant:** - [Entry 2]: [Quick summary] - [Entry 3]: [Quick summary] **Suggestions:** [How this past work applies to current task]
Best Practices
- •Search proactively: Don't wait for user to ask
- •Be selective: Show most relevant, not all results
- •Provide context: Explain how past work relates
- •Suggest application: How to use this information
- •Time-aware: Note if information might be outdated
What to Look For
Search for:
- •Solutions: How problems were solved
- •Decisions: Why choices were made
- •Patterns: Established approaches
- •Gotchas: Issues encountered and avoided
- •Dependencies: Libraries and tools used
Integration with Other Skills
Combine with:
- •context-recovery: When related work provides session context
- •journal-capture: After applying past solutions to new problems
When NOT to Search
Don't search for:
- •Completely novel features with no precedent
- •Trivial tasks unlikely to have been journaled
- •Very recent work (use context-recovery instead)
- •Information better found in documentation
Advanced Techniques
Combine multiple searches:
code
1. journal_search(query="authentication") # Broad search 2. journal_search(query="OAuth2", project="my-api") # Narrow down
Use project stats for overview:
code
journal_stats() # See which projects have relevant history → journal_list_recent(project="most-relevant-project")
Time-based filtering:
code
journal_time_query( time_expression="last 6 months", query="deployment" ) # Recent relevant work only