Agent skill · writing content · nicholasspisak
second-brain-query
Answer questions against the knowledge base wiki. Use when the user asks a question about their collected knowledge, wants to explore connections between topics, says "what do I know about X", or wants to search their wiki.
Why this skill is useful
Adds specific search strategies and citation formats for synthesizing knowledge from a personal wiki that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires qmd installed locally. About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-04-07. 661 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Second Brain — Query Answer questions by searching and synthesizing knowledge from the wiki. Search Strategy 1. Start with the index Read wiki/index.md to identify relevant pages. Scan all category sections (Sources, Entities, Concepts, Synthesis) for entries related to the question. 2. Use qmd for large wikis If qmd is installed (check with command -v qmd), use it for search: This is especially useful when the wiki has grown beyond ~100 pages where scanning the index becomes inefficient. 3. Read relevant pages Read the wiki pages identified by the index or search. Follow [[wikilinks]] to pull in related context from linked pages. Read enough pages to give a thorough answer, but don't read the entire wiki. 4. Check raw sources if needed If the wiki pages don't fully answer the question, check relevant source summaries in wiki/sources/ for additional detail. Only go to files in raw/ as a last resort. Synthesize the Answer Format Match the answer format to the question: Factual question → direct answer with citations Comparison → table or structured comparison Exploration → narrative with linked concepts List/catalog → bulleted list with brief descriptions Citations Always cite wiki pages using [[wikilink]] syntax. Example: According to [[Source - Article Title]], the key finding was X. This connects to the broader pattern described in [[Concept Name]], which [[Entity Name]] has also explored. Offer to save valuable answers If the answer produces something worth keeping — a comparison, analysis, new connection, or synthesis — offer to save it: "This comparison might be useful to keep in your wiki. Want me to save it as a synthesis page?" If the user agrees: 1. Create a new page in wiki/synthesis/ with proper frontmatter 2. Add an entry to wiki/index.md under Synthesis 3. Append to wiki/log.md: ## [YYYY-MM-DD] query Question summary Conventions Search the wiki first. Only go to raw sources if the wiki doesn't have the answer. Cite your sources. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills nicholasspisak/second-brain-query