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
• Sub-commands for search
  • List directories (ov ls)
  • Tree view (ov tree)
  • Semantic Search (ov find)
  • Content Pattern Search (ov grep)
  • File Glob Search (ov glob)
  • Full content read (ov read)
  • Get overview (ov overview)
  • Get Abstract (ov abstract)
• 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note: cli command can be outdated, when sees error, use --help to get latest usage

Sub-commands for search

List Contents (ov ls)

Browse directory structure:

# List root directory
ov ls

# List specific directory
ov ls viking://resources/my-project/docs/

# Simple path output (only uris, no metadata)
ov ls viking://resources --simple

# Show hidden files
ov ls viking://resources --all

# Control output limits (default 256)
ov ls viking://resources --node-limit 50

# Control abstract info length limit for each node (default 256)
ov ls viking://resources --abs-limit 128

Tree View (ov tree)

Visualize directory hierarchy:

# Show tree structure
ov tree viking://resources

# Control depth limits (default 3)
ov tree viking://resources --level-limit 2

# Control node limits
ov tree viking://resources --node-limit 100 --abs-limit 128

# Show all files including hidden
ov tree viking://resources --all

Semantic find (ov find)

Find method with semantic relevance ranking:

# Basic find across all context
ov find "how to handle API rate limits"

# Find within specific URI scope
ov find "authentication flow" --uri "viking://resources/my-project"

# Limit results and set relevance score threshold
ov find "error handling" --node-limit 5 --threshold 0.3

Content Pattern Search (ov grep)

Literal pattern matching:

# Find exact text pattern (Note: this is expensive, and suggest within specific small URI scope)
ov grep "viking://resources" "TODO:" --uri "viking://resources/my-project"

# Case-insensitive search
ov grep "viking://resources" "API_KEY" --ignore-case --uri "viking://resources/my-project"

# Limit results and set node limit
ov grep "viking://resources" "API_KEY" --node-limit 5 --uri "viking://resources/my-project"

File Glob Search (ov glob)

File path pattern matching:

# Find all markdown files (Note: this is expensive, and suggest within specific small URI scope)
ov glob "**/*.md" --uri "viking://resources/my-project"

# Limit results and set node limit
ov glob "**/*.md" --uri "viking://resources/my-project" --node-limit 5

Read File Content (ov read)

Retrieve full content (L0-L2 layer):

# Read full content
ov read viking://resources/docs/api/api-1.md

# Read first 10 lines of api-2.md
ov read viking://resources/docs/api/api-2.md | head -n 10

# Read abstract (L0 - quick summary)
ov abstract viking://resources/docs/api/
ov read viking://resources/docs/api/.abstract.md

# Read overview (L1 - key points)
ov overview viking://resources/docs/api/
ov read viking://resources/docs/api/.overview.md

Combining Search

Use search results to guide further actions:

ov ls viking://resources/

# Search for relevant files
ov search "authentication" --uri "viking://resources/project-A"

# Get overview for context
ov overview viking://resources/project-A/backend

# Decide to read specific content
ov read viking://resources/project-A/backend/auth.md

Prerequisites

• CLI configured: ~/.openviking/ovcli.conf
• Resources or memories previously added to OpenViking