/trace
/trace — Track Idea Evolution
Track how an idea evolved across the vault. First mention, pivot points, current connections, open questions.
What it does
Read-only archaeology on a topic. Greps every mention across daily notes, ideas, projects, decisions, knowledge base, and artifacts. Builds a timeline from frontmatter dates. Follows wikilinks to map the connection graph. Names the triggers behind pivots in thinking and the threads still unresolved.
Use it before revisiting a decision, when "have I thought about this before?" is the real question, or when preparing a build-in-public piece that needs the honest evolution of an idea instead of the polished one. Also useful when a current thought feels like a repeat of something six months old.
Outputs a structured trace: chronological timeline with verbatim quotes, connection map (links to and from), evolution summary, and open questions. No fabrication. If mentions are sparse, says so. Pairs with `drift` (unnamed recurring themes) and `connect` (how two topics bridge).