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load / search / graph

Read commands load routed memory, search the vault, and inspect graph routing.

load​

engram load "<task>"
engram load --full "<task>"
engram load --dry-run "<task>"
engram load --all "<task>"
engram load --budget-tokens 800 "<task>"
engram load --disclosure full "<task>"
engram load --id <id>,<id>
engram load --exclude-keys workspace:rules/use-pnpm.md "<task>"

load first anchors routing on meaningful query terms, ignoring generic memory words such as rule, knowledge, and common stopwords. It then refines the wider candidate pool into a compact context pack. Normal load reports selected and total related counts, like loaded 8 memory files / 14 total related memories.

  • default load — tiered agent-facing route: the top load.expand_top hits (default 3) as bodies, every other selected hit as a one-line card, and a closing fetch: engram load --id <ids> hint; each body header carries the memory's authority, frontmatter such as evidence_refs, ## Context, ## Example, and ## Origin are not rendered (use --full for them), and rules show one selected variant
  • --id <id,...> — fetch full bodies for cards; ids can be comma-separated, and an explicit fetch counts towards stats --usage
  • --budget-tokens <200-16000> — hard cap on the complete tiered output; bodies become cards first, and only then are the lowest-ranked cards left out
  • --disclosure auto|full — full prints every packed body instead of the tiered pack (also load.disclosure: full in config)
  • --exclude-keys <scope:file,...> — skip memories the caller already holds; no body or card is printed, and --json lists them under already_loaded
  • --full — broader legacy output with full frontmatter and full rule variants
  • --dry-run — show candidate counts, narrowing tags, and match reasons without printing content
  • --all — return every visible routed match instead of the compact limit

workflow and workflows still route to skill memories, but generic type words do not make a broad match by themselves.

Under auto disclosure, the JSON selected and entries lists describe the expanded bodies only; cards are reported separately. Configure load.expand_top and load.disclosure in the load block of engram.config.json (see profiles / workspaces / config).

engram search "<topic>"
engram search --semantic "<topic>"

Default search is deterministic lexical search. search --semantic adds deterministic local similarity, not embedding-backed semantic search. search --json results carry a score field.

graph​

engram graph "<topic>"
engram graph --rebuild

Inspect graph routing. Run engram graph --rebuild after manual edits. The graph reports dependency layers, and engram load pulls routed prerequisites into the same compact context pack before deeper memories.

Graph related edges and vector hits cannot load unrelated memories by themselves; they only help rerank or expand memories that already overlap meaningful query terms. Explicit depends_on prerequisites may still load without their own keyword overlap.

Dependency layers​

depends_on: [release-foundation]
level: advanced

Use depends_on frontmatter when a memory should build on another memory instead of repeating it.

Next steps​