Tribal: Discover Knowledge
tribal_discoverSearch a knowledge base using natural language queries. Returns semantically similar knowledge items with optional filters for project, kind, tags, and time.
Instructions
Search Tribal's knowledge base using natural language. Returns knowledge items ranked by semantic similarity to your query, with optional structured filters to narrow results.
Use this as your first step when you need context: before starting work on a feature, debugging an issue, or making a design decision. Ask questions the way you'd ask a colleague: "What do I know about connection pooling in this project?" or "Have I seen this async deadlock pattern before?"
Semantic search is the primary mechanism. Filters (project, kind, tags, time) narrow the candidate set but are not required. If you need to understand an item's evidence, contradictions, or derivation chain, follow up with tribal_explore using the item's ID.
Superseded items (replaced by newer understanding) are excluded by default. Set include_superseded to true for the historical picture.
Results include standing (evidential profile) when requested, which summarises each item's support count, contradiction count, observation frequency, and diversity of supporting evidence.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| cursor | No | Opaque pagination cursor from a previous response's next_cursor. | |
| include_references | No | Return references (file paths, URLs, concepts) attached to each item. | |
| include_standing | No | Compute and return standing (evidential profile) for each result. Adds minor latency. Recommended when assessing reliability. | |
| include_superseded | No | Include items that have been superseded by newer understanding. Default false. | |
| kinds | No | Filter to specific knowledge kinds. Use sparingly; semantic search naturally ranks relevant kinds higher. Most useful for explicit structural queries like 'show me all decision records for this project'. | |
| limit | No | Maximum number of results to return. | |
| project_id | No | Filter to a specific project. Three-way semantics: omit to use session context project (if set); pass a project ID to filter to that project; pass null to search globally, ignoring session context. | |
| query | Yes | Natural language query. Describe what you're looking for conversationally. The system embeds this and finds semantically similar knowledge items. | |
| tags | No | Filter by tags (AND semantics: items must have ALL specified tags). Tags are lowercase. For OR semantics, make separate queries. | |
| time_range | No | Filter by creation time. Either or both bounds may be specified. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| applied_project_id | Yes | The project used for filtering. Set when search was project-scoped (explicit ID or from session context). Null when search was global (no project filter applied, or project_id was explicitly null). | |
| embedding_model | Yes | Which embedding model was used for this query. | |
| embedding_profile_id | Yes | The active embedding profile that produced these results. Cursors and feedback are bound to it; a reindex changes it. | |
| exact | Yes | True if all matching results are included. False if truncated by limit. | |
| items | Yes | ||
| next_cursor | Yes | Pagination cursor. Null if no more results. | |
| trace_id | Yes | Trace ID for this retrieval. Pass to tribal_feedback to rate this session. |