OpenViking (OV) context searching The ov search command performs context-aware retrieval across all memories and resources in OpenViking — combining semantic understanding with directory recursive retrieval to find the most relevant context for any query. Table of Content When to Use Search Modes Context-Aware Search ( ov search ) Content Pattern Search ( ov grep ) File Glob Search ( ov glob ) Search Options Result Control Scope Control Session-Aware Search Output Other Utilities List Contents ( ov ls ) Tree View ( ov tree ) Read File Content ( ov read ) Agent Best Practices Choosing Search Methods Query Formulation Combining with Other Commands Prerequisite When to Use Finding specific information within imported resources or saved memories Retrieving context about topics, APIs, or patterns previously added Searching across project documentation, code, and learnings When an agent needs to reference previously stored knowledge note: cli command can be outdated, when sees error, use --help to get latest usage Search Modes Context-Aware Search ( ov search ) Primary search method with session context awareness:
Basic search across all context
ov search "how to handle API rate limits"
Search within specific URI scope
ov search "authentication flow" --uri "viking://resources/my-project"
Limit results and set threshold
ov search "error handling" --limit 5 --threshold 0.7 Content Pattern Search ( ov grep ) Literal pattern matching:
Search for exact text pattern
ov grep "viking://resources" "TODO:"
Case-insensitive search
ov grep "viking://resources" "API_KEY" --ignore-case File Glob Search ( ov glob ) File path pattern matching:
Find all markdown files
ov glob "*/.md"
Find Python files in specific directory
ov glob --uri = "viking://user/" "*/.md" Search Options Result Control
Limit number of results
ov search "authentication" --limit 5
Set minimum relevance threshold (0.0-1.0)
ov search "deployment" --threshold 0.8
Combine limit and threshold
ov search "monitoring" --limit 10 --threshold 0.7 Scope Control
Search specific directory
ov search "API design" --uri "viking://resources/xxx"
Search within memories
ov search "user habits" --uri "viking://user/memories" Session-Aware Search
Search with session context (uses conversation history for better retrieval)
ov search "previous decision" --session-id "session-abc123" Output Returns a ranked list of matching resources with relevance scores: URI: viking://resources/docs/api.md Score: 0.8523 Abstract: API endpoints for user authentication... URI: viking://user/memories/preferences Score: 0.7891 Abstract: User prefers dark mode and compact layout... Other Utilities List Contents ( ov ls ) Browse directory structure:
List root directory
ov ls
List specific directory
ov ls viking://resources/my-project
Simple path output (for scripts)
ov ls viking://resources --simple
Recursive listing
ov ls viking://resources --recursive
Show hidden files
ov ls viking://resources --all
Control output limits
ov ls viking://resources --node-limit 50 --abs-limit 128 Tree View ( ov tree ) Visualize directory hierarchy:
Show tree structure
ov tree viking://resources
Control depth and limits
ov tree viking://resources --node-limit 100 --abs-limit 128
Show all files including hidden
ov tree viking://resources --all Read File Content ( ov read ) Retrieve full content (L2 layer):
Read full content
ov read viking://resources/docs/api.md
Read abstract (L0 - quick summary)
ov abstract viking://resources/docs/api.md
Read overview (L1 - key points)
ov overview viking://resources/docs/api.md Agent Best Practices Choosing Search Methods ov search — Default choice. Context-aware, combines semantic + directory recursive retrieval ov grep — Exact text pattern matching (like grep command) ov glob — File path pattern matching (like shell glob) Query Formulation Write specific, contextual queries:
Too vague
ov search "API"
Better
ov search "REST API authentication with JWT tokens"
Even better with scope
ov search "JWT token refresh flow" --uri "viking://resources/backend" Combining with Other Commands Use search results to guide further actions: ov ls viking://resources/
Search for relevant files
ov search "authentication" --uri "viking://resources/xxx"
Then read specific content
ov read viking://resources/backend/auth.md
Or get overview for context
ov overview viking://resources/backend Prerequisites CLI configured: ~/.openviking/ovcli.conf Resources or memories previously added to OpenViking