Work Search & Recall

Search your work journal to find when you last worked on features, files, or tickets

The recall command lets you search through your work journal to answer questions like “When did I last work on the auth feature?” or “What commits touched this file?”

Quick Start

Search your work history:

devdaily recall "authentication"

Search for a specific file:

devdaily recall --file src/auth.ts

Get an AI summary of search results:

devdaily recall "login page" --ai

How It Works

1. Query Input

   Accept a search query, file path, or tag to search for in your journal.

2. Journal Search

   Search through saved snapshots for matches in commits, PRs, branches, files, notes, and tags.

3. Rank Results

   Score and rank results by relevance, showing the most relevant entries first.

4. Display Matches

   Show matching snapshots with context, highlighting matched text and showing match reasons.

5. AI Summary (Optional)

   Generate a concise summary answering “What did I do related to X?”

Recall requires journal snapshots. Run devdaily snapshot regularly to build your searchable work history.

Command Syntax

devdaily recall [query...] [options]

Arguments

Argument	Description
[query...]	Search keywords (e.g., “auth”, “login page”, “PROJ-123”)

Search Options

Option	Description	Default
-p, --project <id>	Filter by project identifier	All projects
--from <date>	Start date for range (YYYY-MM-DD)	90 days ago
--to <date>	End date for range (YYYY-MM-DD)	Today
-d, --days <number>	Search last N days	90
-t, --tag <tags...>	Filter by tags	-
-f, --file <path>	Search for specific file path	-
-l, --limit <number>	Max results to show	10

Output Options

Option	Description
--ai	Generate AI-powered summary of results
--no-copy	Don’t copy AI summary to clipboard
--json	Output results as JSON
--debug	Show debug output

Search Types

Text Search

Search across commits, PRs, branches, notes, and more:

# Search for any mention of "authentication"
devdaily recall authentication

# Search for a phrase
devdaily recall "login page redesign"

# Search for a ticket ID
devdaily recall PROJ-123

Searches in:

• Commit messages
• Branch names
• PR titles
• Ticket IDs and titles
• File paths
• Notes
• Tags

File Search

Find when you last worked on a specific file:

# Full path
devdaily recall --file src/components/Auth.tsx

# Partial path
devdaily recall --file Auth.tsx

# Wildcards work in paths
devdaily recall --file "src/auth*"

Shows:

• Dates the file was modified
• Commits that touched the file
• Specific changes per commit

Tag Search

Filter by tags you’ve added to snapshots:

# Single tag
devdaily recall --tag bugfix

# Multiple tags
devdaily recall --tag feature --tag backend

Tags are added via:

devdaily snapshot --tag feature --tag api

Combined Search

Combine search criteria:

# Text + project filter
devdaily recall "oauth" --project my-api

# Text + date range
devdaily recall "refactor" --from 2024-01-01 --to 2024-01-31

# File + days
devdaily recall --file auth.ts --days 30

Search Results

Example Output

🔍 Recall — 5 result(s) for "authentication"

  1. 2024-01-18 (today)  📂 my-api  🌿 feature/oauth2  ●●●●●●●●●○
     Matched: commit message, branch name, ticket PROJ-123
     a3f2c91 Implement OAuth2 token refresh endpoint
     b7e1d42 Add authentication middleware
     ... +3 more commit(s)
     ○ PR #45 Add OAuth2 authentication support

  2. 2024-01-15  📂 my-api  🌿 fix/auth-redirect  ●●●●●●●○○○
     Matched: commit message, file: src/auth.ts
     c9d4e21 Fix authentication redirect after login
     d2f8a33 Update auth error handling
     5 files +123/-45

  3. 2024-01-10  📂 dashboard  🌿 feature/sso  ●●●●●○○○○○
     Matched: commit message, note
     e5b3c44 Add SSO authentication flow
     📌 Started work on single sign-on authentication
     tags: feature, auth

  ...

Searched 156 snapshots across 3 project(s) from 2023-10-20 to 2024-01-18

Tip: Add --ai for an AI-powered summary of these results

Result Components

Header:

• Date (with “today” indicator)
• Project name
• Branch name
• Relevance score (●●●●●)

Match Reasons:

• Where the query matched (commit message, branch, file, etc.)

Commits:

• Relevant commits (highlighted if matching)
• Remaining commit count

PRs:

• Relevant pull requests with state indicators

Notes:

• Matching notes with 📌 indicator

Diff Stats:

• Files changed, lines added/removed

Tags:

• Associated tags

File History View

Special view for file-specific searches:

devdaily recall --file src/auth.ts

📄 File History: src/auth.ts

  │ 2024-01-18 (today)
  │   a3f2c91 Refactor auth middleware [src/auth.ts]
  │   b7e1d42 Add token validation [src/auth.ts, src/api/tokens.ts]
  │
  │ 2024-01-15
  │   c9d4e21 Fix auth redirect bug [src/auth.ts]
  │   d2f8a33 Update error messages [src/auth.ts]
  │   e5b3c44 Add auth tests [src/auth.ts, tests/auth.test.ts]
  │   ... +2 more commits
  │
  │ 2024-01-10
  │   f1a2b34 Initial auth implementation [src/auth.ts]
  ╵

Showing 10 of 15 days. Use --limit to see more.

AI-Powered Summaries

Get a narrative summary of search results:

devdaily recall "authentication" --ai

Example AI Summary

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ 🔍 AI Summary: "authentication"                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                 │
│ **Summary**                                     │
│ Authentication work spans 3 weeks across API    │
│ and dashboard projects. Started with OAuth2     │
│ integration (PROJ-123), then added SSO support, │
│ and recently fixed redirect bugs.               │
│                                                 │
│ **Timeline**                                    │
│ - Jan 10: SSO implementation began (dashboard)  │
│ - Jan 12-15: OAuth2 provider setup (API)        │
│ - Jan 15: Fixed auth redirect bug               │
│ - Jan 16-18: Token refresh and middleware       │
│                                                 │
│ **Key details**                                 │
│ - Branch: feature/oauth2-integration            │
│ - PR #45: OAuth2 support (in review)            │
│ - Files: src/auth.ts, src/api/oauth.ts          │
│ - Tickets: PROJ-123, PROJ-128                   │
│                                                 │
│ **Current state**                               │
│ OAuth2 work is in review. SSO implementation    │
│ complete and merged. Auth system is now more    │
│ robust with better error handling.              │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

The AI summary:

• Synthesizes all matching snapshots
• Creates a chronological narrative
• Highlights key branches, PRs, and files
• Determines current state (done/in-progress/abandoned)

AI summaries are automatically copied to clipboard (disable with --no-copy).

Search Filters

By Project

# Search only in my-api project
devdaily recall "refactor" --project my-api

By Date Range

# Last 30 days
devdaily recall "bugfix" --days 30

# Specific month
devdaily recall "feature" --from 2024-01-01 --to 2024-01-31

# Specific date
devdaily recall "deploy" --from 2024-01-15 --to 2024-01-15

By Tags

# All work tagged as bugfix
devdaily recall --tag bugfix

# Multiple tags (AND logic)
devdaily recall --tag feature --tag backend

Result Limit

# Show top 5 results
devdaily recall "api" --limit 5

# Show 20 results
devdaily recall "test" --limit 20

JSON Output

For automation and integrations:

devdaily recall "feature" --json

[
  {
    "date": "2024-01-18",
    "projectId": "my-api",
    "branch": "feature/oauth2",
    "score": 9,
    "matchReasons": ["commit message", "branch name", "ticket PROJ-123"],
    "commits": 5,
    "prs": 1,
    "tags": ["feature", "auth"],
    "notes": null
  },
  ...
]

Use Cases

Finding Past Work

# When did I last touch the auth system?
devdaily recall "authentication" --ai

# What did I do related to PROJ-123?
devdaily recall PROJ-123

File History

# When was this file last modified?
devdaily recall --file src/components/LoginForm.tsx

# All work on auth files
devdaily recall --file "src/auth"

Project Review

# What features were added this month?
devdaily recall "feature" --from 2024-01-01 --to 2024-01-31 --ai

# All bugfixes in a project
devdaily recall --tag bugfix --project my-api

Context for Discussions

# Prepare for code review discussion
devdaily recall "refactor database" --ai

# What work was done on the API?
devdaily recall --project api --days 30 --ai

Match Highlighting

Search terms are highlighted in results:

devdaily recall "authentication"

a3f2c91 Implement OAuth2 authentication middleware
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^  (highlighted)

Example Workflows

Quick File Check

# Fast file history lookup
devdaily recall --file auth.ts --limit 5

Deep Investigation

# Full AI-powered analysis
devdaily recall "performance optimization" --days 90 --ai

Tag-Based Review

# All feature work this quarter
devdaily recall --tag feature --from 2024-01-01 --to 2024-03-31

Project Timeline

# Export project history
devdaily recall --project my-api --json > project-history.json

Help and Usage

Running devdaily recall without arguments shows help and journal stats:

🔍 Recall — Search Your Work History

  Search across all your journal snapshots to find when you
  last worked on something, touched a file, or used a branch.

  Usage:
    devdaily recall <query>              Search by keyword
    devdaily recall "auth feature"       Search for a phrase
    devdaily recall PROJ-123             Search for a ticket
    devdaily recall --file src/auth.ts   Search for a file
    devdaily recall --tag bugfix         Search by tag
    devdaily recall login --ai           Get AI summary

  Your journal: 156 snapshots across 3 project(s), 42 day(s)
  Range: 2023-10-15 → 2024-01-18

Configuration

Customize in .devdaily.json:

{
  "output": {
    "copyToClipboard": true
  }
}

Troubleshooting

No matches found

If you see “No matches found for X”:

• Try a broader search term
• Increase lookback: --days 180
• Search all projects (remove --project filter)
• Ensure you’ve been taking snapshots: devdaily snapshot --list

Journal is empty

Start building your journal:

# Take a snapshot now
devdaily snapshot

# Enable auto-snapshots (enabled by default)
devdaily standup  # Creates snapshot
devdaily pr       # Creates snapshot

Search is too slow

Reduce search scope:

# Limit days
devdaily recall "query" --days 30

# Limit results
devdaily recall "query" --limit 5

# Filter by project
devdaily recall "query" --project my-api

AI summary fails

Install GitHub Copilot CLI:

gh extension install github/gh-copilot

Related Commands

• devdaily snapshot - Take and manage work snapshots
• devdaily context - Recover work context
• devdaily week - Generate weekly summaries
• devdaily standup - Generate daily standups