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Working in the terminal

Querying the knowledge base from an agent session connected as described in Connecting a workstation, and how each call shows up on the MCP Live screen.

Querying the knowledge base

  1. Start the agent in the project directory. The project is detected from the directory.
  2. Begin your prompt with "Ask the knowledge base" so the answer is built from knowledge base entries.
  3. Open the entries named in the answer by their addresses, in the form knowledge/note/<id>.

The agent picks the tool. If you need a specific source, name the tool in your prompt.

TaskTool
Start working on an unfamiliar file or modulebrief_me_on
A question about the project with no known place in the codeask_question (returns matching locations, not a ready answer)
List entries on a topiclist_knowledge
Full entryget_knowledge
Conventions before editing a filecheck_conventions_before_editing; the full rulebook: list_conventions
Entity usages and dependenciesfind_usages, get_dependency_graph
Search code by name or by meaninggrep_code, search_code
Tracker ticketsfind_tickets_for, get_ticket
Quality statusget_quality_dashboard, get_riskiest_problems
Save a finding to the knowledge basestore_knowledge, create_convention

What you see in the terminal

The line AI Council: sent the project rulebook in full to the agent (N chars, off-screen) means the agent received the full rulebook. It is printed on the agent's first action that isn't a call to Council. Calls to Council during a response are collapsed into the line Called ai-council N times. The text of conventions and entries isn't printed to the terminal: it is meant for the model.

The "knowledge base first" check

Until the session has called the knowledge base, the first code read is rejected. The agent only needs to call a knowledge base tool. Only the user can turn the check off, with the /council-without-kb command in their own session. The agent can't use this command.

The MCP Live screen

Covers the whole installation. Tabs: Sessions shows the slowest tools and the list of sessions with an event feed; Effectiveness shows the share of sessions that reached each stage; Configuration shows the MCP server profile and tool list; Tool Stats shows calls by client and by tool. The text of user prompts isn't stored, only its length.

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