---
name: minutes-search
description: Search past meeting transcripts and voice memos for specific topics, people, decisions, or ideas. Use this whenever the user asks "what did we discuss about X", "find that meeting where we talked about Y", "what did Alex say", "did we decide on", "what was that idea about", or any question that could be answered by searching their meeting history. Also use for "do I have any notes about" or "check my meetings for".
---
# /minutes-search
Find information across all meeting transcripts and voice memos.
## Usage
```bash
# Basic search
minutes search "pricing strategy"
# Filter to just voice memos
minutes search "onboarding idea" -t memo
# Filter to just meetings
minutes search "sprint planning" -t meeting
# Date filter + limit
minutes search "API redesign" --since 2026-03-01 --limit 5
```
## Flags
| Flag | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `-t, --content-type <meeting\|memo>` | Filter by type |
| `--since <date>` | Only results after this date (ISO format, e.g., `2026-03-01`) |
| `-l, --limit <n>` | Maximum results (default: 10) |
## Output
Returns JSON to stdout with an array of matches. Each result includes:
- `title` — Meeting or memo title
- `date` — When it was recorded
- `content_type` — "meeting" or "memo"
- `snippet` — The line containing the match
- `path` — Full path to the markdown file
Human-readable output goes to stderr. To read the full transcript of a match, use `cat <path>` on any result's path.
## How search works
Search is case-insensitive and matches against both the transcript body and the YAML frontmatter title. It walks all `.md` files in `~/meetings/` (including the `memos/` subfolder).
For richer semantic search, users can configure QMD as the search engine in `~/.config/minutes/config.toml`:
```toml
[search]
engine = "qmd"
qmd_collection = "meetings"
```
## Search coaching
When the user's search query is vague or too broad, push back before running it:
- **"who said X"** or **"what did Alex say"** → If the meeting has `speaker_map` in frontmatter, use it to identify who said what. `speaker_map` maps SPEAKER_X labels to real names. High confidence = reliable, Medium = "likely" (suggest `minutes confirm` to lock it in).
- **"everything"** or **"all meetings"** → "That'll return hundreds of results. What specifically are you looking for? A person, a topic, or a decision?"
- **Single common word** like "meeting" or "project" → "That's too broad. Can you narrow it — a person's name, a specific topic, or a date range?"
- **"that meeting"** or **"the one where"** → "Help me narrow it down. Do you remember who was in the meeting, roughly when it was, or a specific thing that was said?"
Suggest search strategies based on what the user is looking for:
- **Finding a person's input** → Search their name: `minutes search "Alex"`
- **Finding a decision** → Search decision keywords: `minutes search "decided"` or `minutes search "agreed"`
- **Finding an idea** → Search voice memos: `minutes search "idea" -t memo`
- **Finding something from a time range** → Use `--since`: `minutes search "pricing" --since 2026-03-01`
## Tips for good searches
- Search for **what people said**, not document titles: `"we should postpone the launch"` not `"launch delay meeting"`
- Search for **names** to find everything someone discussed: `"Alex"` or `"Case"`
- Search for **decisions**: `"decided"`, `"agreed"`, `"committed to"`
- Combine with `Read` to load the full context after finding a match
## Gotchas
- **Search is substring, not fuzzy** — `"price"` matches `"pricing"` and `"price"`, but `"prcing"` (typo) matches nothing. Try multiple terms if you're not sure of the exact wording.
- **`--since` requires ISO date format** — Use `2026-03-01`, not `"last week"` or `"March 1st"`. For relative dates, compute the ISO date first: `date -v-7d +%Y-%m-%d`.
- **Large result sets flood stdout** — Always use `--limit` when searching broad terms. The default limit is 10, but common words can match hundreds of files.
- **QMD semantic search requires separate setup** — If `config.toml` sets `engine = "qmd"` but the QMD collection isn't indexed, search will fail silently. Run `qmd update && qmd embed` first.
- **Voice memos vs meetings** — Both are searched by default. Use `-t memo` or `-t meeting` to narrow results. Voice memos live in `~/meetings/memos/`, meetings in `~/meetings/`.
- **Empty results don't mean it wasn't discussed** — If the meeting wasn't transcribed (e.g., recording was stopped before processing), it won't appear in search. Check `minutes list` to see what's been processed.