Agent skill
enable-semantic-search
Enable local AI-powered semantic search with smart collection discovery
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/davekilleen/Dex/tree/main/.claude/skills/enable-semantic-search
SKILL.md
Enable Semantic Search
Set up local AI-powered semantic search for your vault. This is a concierge experience — it analyzes your vault, discovers what collections make sense, and creates a tailored search setup.
What You're Enabling
Semantic search finds content by meaning, not just keywords:
- Search "product-led growth" → finds notes saying "PLG", "self-serve motion", "freemium adoption"
- Search "customer churn" → finds notes about "retention problems", "users leaving", "cancellation patterns"
Your skills (/daily-plan, /meeting-prep, /triage, etc.) automatically use semantic search when available, finding more relevant context than keyword matching alone.
Pre-Flight Checks
Run these checks before proceeding:
# Check if qmd is already installed
which qmd
# Check if Bun is available (required)
which bun
# macOS only: Check SQLite via Homebrew
brew list sqlite 2>/dev/null && echo "SQLite OK" || echo "Need: brew install sqlite"
# Check available disk space (need ~2.5GB)
df -h ~ | tail -1
If qmd is already installed, run qmd status to check existing setup. If collections already exist, skip to the Collection Health Check section at the bottom.
Step 1: Explain What We're Installing
Present this to the user:
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
SEMANTIC SEARCH FOR YOUR VAULT
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
What is this?
─────────────
Right now, finding notes requires knowing the exact words used.
Search "product-led growth" — won't find notes saying "PLG" or
"self-serve motion".
Semantic search understands meaning, not just keywords. It finds
conceptually related content even when terminology differs.
How does it work?
─────────────────
Your notes get converted to "embeddings" — mathematical
representations of meaning. When you search, your query becomes
an embedding too. The system finds notes whose meaning is close
to your query's meaning.
Think of it like: instead of matching letters, we're matching ideas.
What gets installed?
────────────────────
Three small AI models run locally on your machine:
MODEL PURPOSE SIZE
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
EmbeddingGemma-300M Converts text to meaning ~300MB
vectors. The core
"understanding" model.
Qwen3-Reranker-0.6b Re-orders results by ~640MB
true relevance. Improves
result quality.
QMD-Query-Expansion-1.7B Expands your search to ~1.1GB
include related terms.
"PLG" → also searches
"product-led", "freemium"
Total: ~2GB one-time download
Privacy & Security
──────────────────
- Everything runs locally — your notes never leave your machine
- No API keys required
- No cloud services
- Models downloaded from HuggingFace (open source)
- Index stored in ~/.cache/qmd/ (not in your vault)
What changes in your workflow?
──────────────────────────────
Enabling semantic search silently upgrades these skills:
/daily-plan — Enriches meeting prep with thematically
related past discussions
/meeting-prep — Discovers past discussions related by
meaning, not just name matching
/triage — Matches inbox items to goals by meaning,
catches semantic duplicates
Person Lookup — Finds "the VP of Sales mentioned..." even
without a name
Search & Recall — All vault searches use hybrid retrieval
(BM25 + vectors + LLM reranking)
System Requirements
───────────────────
~2.5GB disk space (for models + index)
macOS: Homebrew SQLite required (brew install sqlite)
Bun runtime (will install if missing)
Step 2: Get User Consent
Ask: "Ready to enable semantic search? This will download ~2GB of models. [Y/n]"
If no, exit gracefully: "No problem. Run /enable-semantic-search anytime."
Step 3: Install Dependencies
# Install Bun if missing
if ! command -v bun &> /dev/null; then
echo "Installing Bun runtime..."
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash
fi
# macOS: Install SQLite if missing
if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
if ! brew list sqlite &> /dev/null; then
echo "Installing SQLite via Homebrew..."
brew install sqlite
fi
fi
# Install qmd globally
echo "Installing qmd..."
bun install -g github:tobi/qmd
Step 4: Download Models
echo "Downloading AI models (~2GB)..."
echo "This happens once. Future searches are instant."
echo ""
echo "Models downloading:"
echo " EmbeddingGemma-300M — Converts text to meaning vectors"
echo " Qwen3-Reranker-0.6b — Improves result relevance"
echo " QMD-Query-Expansion — Expands searches with related terms"
echo ""
# Trigger model download with a simple embed operation
cd "$VAULT_PATH" && qmd embed --help 2>/dev/null || true
Step 5: Smart Collection Discovery (THE CONCIERGE)
This is what makes Dex's semantic search better than generic indexing. Instead of dumping everything into one blob, we analyze the vault and create purpose-built collections.
Run the Vault Scanner
Execute the vault scanner script to discover collection candidates:
node "$VAULT_PATH/.scripts/semantic-search/scan-vault.cjs"
The scanner returns a JSON structure like:
{
"candidates": [
{
"name": "people",
"path": "05-Areas/People",
"glob": "**/*.md",
"fileCount": 23,
"context": "Person pages with meeting history, relationship notes, action items, and role context",
"benefit": "Person lookup finds references by role/title, not just name",
"example": "Search 'VP of Sales' finds the person even if their name isn't mentioned"
},
{
"name": "accounts",
"path": "05-Areas/Companies",
"glob": "**/*.md",
"fileCount": 8,
"context": "Company and account pages with deal status, relationship notes, and interaction history",
"benefit": "Deal prep pulls account-specific context without inbox noise",
"example": "Search 'renewal risk' finds accounts with churn signals"
}
],
"skipped": [
{
"name": "career",
"reason": "Folder not set up (run /career-setup)",
"path": "05-Areas/Career"
}
],
"totalFiles": 156,
"totalCandidates": 6
}
Present Discovery Results
Format the scanner output as a concierge recommendation:
I scanned your vault and found candidates for [N] smart collections:
COLLECTION FILES WHAT IT ENABLES
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
people 23 Person lookup finds references by
role/title, not just name. Search
"VP of Sales" finds the person even
if their name isn't mentioned.
meetings 47 "What was discussed about X?" searches
meeting notes specifically, not your
entire vault.
tasks 1 Smart task matching for triage. Catches
semantic duplicates like "Review metrics"
≈ "Check quarterly numbers".
projects 8 Project health pulls related docs
without inbox noise.
goals 1 Goal alignment finds thematically
related work across your vault.
priorities 1 Weekly planning discovers patterns
in past priority choices.
Skipped (not enough content yet):
- accounts — No company pages found (create some first)
- content — No content files yet
- career — Career folder not set up (run /career-setup)
Create all [N] collections? [Y]
Pick specific ones? [P]
Just create a basic index? [B]
Handle User Choice
If [Y] - Create all:
Create every candidate collection using qmd collection add with context.
If [P] - Pick specific: Present each candidate individually with a Y/N toggle. Create only selected ones.
If [B] - Basic index: Create a single "vault" collection that indexes everything. This works but misses the precision of targeted collections.
Create Collections
For each accepted candidate, run:
# Create the collection
qmd collection add "$VAULT_PATH/<path>" --name <name> --mask "<glob>"
# Add semantic context (helps the reranker understand what's in the collection)
qmd context add <name> "<context description>"
Collection definitions (full list):
| Name | Path | Glob | Context | Min Files |
|---|---|---|---|---|
people |
05-Areas/People |
**/*.md |
Person pages with meeting history, relationship notes, action items, and role context | 3 |
accounts |
05-Areas/Companies |
**/*.md |
Company and account pages with deal status, relationship notes, and interaction history | 1 |
accounts (alt) |
05-Areas/Relationships/Key_Accounts |
**/*.md |
Key Account pages with deal status, MEDDPICC, and engagement history | 1 |
meetings |
00-Inbox/Meetings |
**/*.md |
Meeting notes with attendees, key discussion points, decisions made, and action items | 5 |
tasks |
03-Tasks |
**/*.md |
Task backlog with priorities (P0-P3), pillar alignment, status tracking, and linked goals | 1 |
projects |
04-Projects |
**/*.md |
Active project tracking with status, stakeholders, timelines, and related decisions | 1 |
goals |
01-Quarter_Goals |
**/*.md |
Quarterly strategic goals with success criteria, milestones, and progress tracking | 1 |
priorities |
02-Week_Priorities |
**/*.md |
Weekly priorities linked to quarterly goals with completion tracking | 1 |
content |
05-Areas/Content |
**/*.md |
Content ideas, articles, LinkedIn posts, and thought leadership material | 1 |
career |
05-Areas/Career |
**/*.md |
Career development evidence, feedback received, skills tracking, and growth goals | 1 |
prds |
System/PRDs |
**/*.md |
Product requirement documents, feature specs, and technical design docs | 1 |
resources |
06-Resources |
**/*.md |
Reference material, learnings, system documentation, and guides | 5 |
After all collections are created, embed the vectors:
echo "Creating embeddings for all collections..."
qmd embed
Show progress to the user — this may take a few minutes for larger vaults.
Step 6: Configure MCP Server
Add qmd MCP server to the user's Claude/Cursor config.
For Claude Code (~/.claude.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"qmd": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "qmd",
"args": ["mcp"]
}
}
}
For Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json in vault root):
{
"mcpServers": {
"qmd": {
"command": "qmd",
"args": ["mcp"]
}
}
}
Tell the user: "You'll need to restart your editor for the MCP server to be available. After restart, I can use semantic search automatically."
Step 7: Create Availability Check
Create .scripts/semantic-search/check-availability.cjs (see companion file). This lets other skills check if semantic search is available before using it.
Step 8: Show Success Summary
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
SEMANTIC SEARCH ENABLED
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Your vault now has smart, meaning-aware search.
Collections created:
[list each collection with file count]
Try it:
qmd query "product led growth strategies"
qmd query "customer churn patterns" -c accounts
qmd search "meeting with Sarah" -c meetings
What's different now:
/daily-plan — meeting context enriched with thematic connections
/meeting-prep — attendee lookup finds role/title references
/triage — semantic routing with goal-aware matching
Person Lookup — finds "the VP of Sales" without needing the name
Search & Recall — hybrid retrieval (BM25 + vectors + reranking)
Index updates automatically when you run: qmd update
To check status anytime: qmd status
To force full rebuild: qmd embed -f
As your vault grows, I'll suggest new collections when there's
enough content to benefit. Run this skill again anytime to check.
Collection Health Check (Returning Users)
If the user already has qmd installed and collections exist, this skill switches to health-check mode.
Run Health Check
node "$VAULT_PATH/.scripts/semantic-search/scan-vault.cjs" --health-check
This compares existing collections against current vault state and returns:
{
"existing": ["people", "meetings", "tasks"],
"newCandidates": [
{
"name": "accounts",
"path": "05-Areas/Companies",
"fileCount": 5,
"reason": "You've created 5 company pages since last check"
}
],
"staleCollections": [
{
"name": "meetings",
"lastUpdated": "12 days ago",
"currentFiles": 52,
"indexedFiles": 47,
"drift": 5
}
],
"pendingEmbeddings": 8,
"suggestions": [
"Run 'qmd update' to re-index changed files",
"Run 'qmd embed' to embed 8 pending documents"
]
}
Present Health Report
SEMANTIC SEARCH HEALTH CHECK
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Active Collections:
people 54 files Updated 2h ago Healthy
meetings 47 files Updated 12d ago ⚠ Stale (5 new files)
tasks 4 files Updated 1d ago Healthy
New Collection Candidates:
accounts 5 files You've built enough company pages for
a dedicated collection. This means deal
prep will pull account context specifically.
→ Create accounts collection? [Y/n]
Maintenance:
8 documents need embedding (run 'qmd embed')
meetings collection is 12 days stale (run 'qmd update')
Quick fix: qmd update && qmd embed
Handle New Candidates
For each new candidate:
- Explain what it enables (use the benefit text from the scanner)
- Ask if they want to create it
- If yes, create collection + context + embed
Growth Suggestions (Called by Other Skills)
Other skills can call the scanner in suggestion mode during workflows:
During /daily-plan:
node "$VAULT_PATH/.scripts/semantic-search/scan-vault.cjs" --suggestions-only
If new candidates are found, append to the daily plan:
💡 Semantic search suggestion: You now have 5 company pages.
Want me to create an 'accounts' collection? This means deal
prep will search account context specifically.
Run /enable-semantic-search to set it up.
For Skill Authors: Using Semantic Search
Skills should check availability before using semantic search:
// In your skill or hook
const { execSync } = require('child_process');
function isSemanticSearchAvailable() {
try {
execSync('which qmd', { stdio: 'pipe' });
const status = execSync('qmd status', { stdio: 'pipe' }).toString();
return status.includes('Documents');
} catch {
return false;
}
}
// Use in search logic
if (isSemanticSearchAvailable()) {
// Use qmd query for semantic search
const results = execSync(`qmd query "${query}" -c people`, { stdio: 'pipe' });
} else {
// Fall back to grep/file search
}
Or use the check-availability script:
const { checkSemanticSearch } = require('.scripts/semantic-search/check-availability.cjs');
const status = checkSemanticSearch();
if (status.available) {
// Use semantic search
}
Troubleshooting
If setup fails:
- Bun install fails: Try
npm install -g bunor download from bun.sh - SQLite missing (macOS): Run
brew install sqlite - Model download fails: Check internet, retry with
qmd embed -f - Index takes too long: Large vaults (5000+ files) may take 10+ minutes first time
- Collections empty: Check paths match your vault structure — run the scanner to verify
- MCP not connecting: Restart your editor after adding the config
Disabling
To remove semantic search:
# Remove index
qmd cleanup
# Remove the qmd binary
bun remove -g qmd
# Remove MCP config (manual — delete the "qmd" entry from your config)
Your vault files are never modified — removing qmd just removes the search index.
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