Find a conversation

Start with a distinctive word, filename, or phrase you remember:

mash search 'authentication' --intent exact-mention

Without semantic models, use wording from the conversation. Multiple words match a phrase, and different word forms may not match: “log rotation” won’t find “rotate the application logs.” Try “rotate,” or use search by meaning when you remember the idea rather than the wording.

Results are JSON. By default they group matching messages by chat. Search reads the existing index; it does not refresh history. If you just had the conversation, run mash index first.

Prefer a visual view? Use the dashboard. Inside an agent, ask “Mash, find our earlier discussion about authentication.”

Read the original messages

Copy lookup.view.id from a search result, then read that message with nearby context:

mash view MESSAGE_ID --context 3

Replace MESSAGE_ID with the returned message ID, not the chat ID. A chat ID or an ID that matches no message is an error (not-found); when you pass a chat ID, the error names the chat’s first message ID to use instead. For a shared result, lookup.view.shared names its publishing node:

mash view MESSAGE_ID --shared NODE_ID --context 3

Find a chat by title

mash list-chats --title-contains 'authentication' --limit 10

This lists chat metadata without models or a working search index. Each chat carries lookup.view for its first message, so you can start reading it:

mash view FIRST_MESSAGE_ID --context 10

To search within one of those chats, copy its chat_id:

mash search 'token' --chat CHAT_ID --unit messages

Narrow the results

I remember…	Example
The agent	mash search 'authentication' --provider codex
Roughly when	mash search 'authentication' --days 7
A date range	mash search 'authentication' --after 2026-10-01 --before 2026-11-01
The project directory	mash search 'authentication' --project /absolute/path/to/project
The repository	mash search 'authentication' --repository https://github.com/owner/repo.git
Something I said	mash search 'authentication' --role user
The exact spelling	mash search 'auth_token' --intent exact-mention --match-mode strict

Project paths and repository URLs must match the recorded metadata exactly. Copy them from list-chats or search results. Repeat a flag to include alternatives, such as --provider codex --provider claude-code; different filters narrow the results together.

Search date bounds accept dates (UTC midnight) or RFC3339 timestamps. --after includes the boundary; --before excludes it. Unlike search, list-chats --after/--before take Unix seconds and filter chat activity.

Search by meaning

Once semantic search is enabled:

mash search 'why did we choose a separate database' --intent related-discussion

Use exact-mention for words or identifiers and related-discussion for a question whose wording may differ from the conversation. Semantic queries currently need English. Exact-mention search works without models.

Exact-mention matches a multiword query as a phrase, not independent words scattered through a chat. If it finds nothing, try the most distinctive word. Default matching allows prefixes and conservative typos; --match-mode strict keeps spelling exact.

More results and local-only searches

Use --limit 10 for a smaller page. For the next page, repeat the same request with --offset set to the returned next_offset; stop when it is null.

--sort recent shows the newest qualifying results first within each relevance page. For a chronological chat list, use list-chats instead.

With a shared index, normal search combines this machine and other nodes. --local uses only this machine; --shared uses only published history. --node filters recorded node identity—it does not connect to that machine.

If results are missing or stale, start with troubleshooting.