# Use cases

> Obsidian vaults, Claude Code memory, client corpora under local_only, Capsule-backed agent answers, and export-adapter records.

Section: Guides  
Canonical: https://gno.sh/docs/use-cases  
Markdown: https://gno.sh/docs/use-cases.md

Point GNO at a folder, prove retrieval with `gno setup`, then search, ask, or hand an agent a Capsule from that index. Examples:

## Obsidian vault

Point GNO at your Obsidian vault. You keep editing in Obsidian. GNO adds BM25 + vector + reranking, a CLI, and an MCP server over the same vault.

```
gno setup ~/Documents/Obsidian --name vault
gno mcp install --target claude-desktop
```

## Memory for Claude Code

Install GNO as a skill for Claude Code. Your coding agent can query your notes, docs, and project files on demand without pasting everything into every prompt.

```
gno skill install --target claude --scope user
# Then in Claude Code:
# /gno query "how does our auth flow work"
```

Standing facts the agent should look up later go through `gno remember` and `gno recall` under explicit scopes, with supersession and a recall receipt. See [memory](https://gno.sh/docs/memory).

To search what was said in earlier Claude Code sessions, import them into a separate [agent session archive](https://gno.sh/docs/sessions). Imports are manual by default; opt in to a Claude Code SessionEnd hook or a daemon schedule (`gno sessions automation`) to keep it current. Nothing is promoted to memory automatically.

## Research + synthesis

Research corpus on disk, query via CLI, pipe results to `jq` or to a spreadsheet automation tool, and get cited AI answers from local models.

```
gno query "Q4 budget projections" --json | jq '.results[0]'
gno ask "what did we conclude about pricing" --answer
```

## Due diligence and client work

Index a client’s mixed-format document set (Markdown, PDFs, Office docs, mail exports), pin the collection so it can never leave the machine, and share only the compiled slice you meant to share.

```
gno setup ~/clients/acme --name acme
gno collection policy set acme local_only

# Compile the evidence behind a finding, with exact spans
gno context build "vendor lock-in exposure" --collection acme \
  --budget 16000 --json --output finding-3.json

# Months later, is that evidence still accurate?
gno context verify finding-3.json --md
```

The combination that matters here is [egress policy](https://gno.sh/docs/collection-egress) plus [Capsules](https://gno.sh/docs/context-capsules): the corpus is pinned local, and the artifact behind each finding is reproducible and re-checkable long after the engagement ends. Publish a deliverable as an invite-only or encrypted space when the client needs a URL.

## Agent work you can defend

When an agent writes a PR description, an ADR, or a report, the question is always “where did that come from”. Give it a Capsule and require it to answer from that evidence only.

```
gno context build "why we chose the queue over cron" \
  --collection eng-docs --budget 12000 --json --output why.json

# Generation that stops when the evidence stops
gno ask "why did we choose the queue over cron" --verify --show-sources
```

If the corpus does not support a claim, verified Ask withholds the draft and names the gap instead of producing a confident paragraph you have to fact-check by hand.

## Meetings and mail as searchable records

Export the transcript and the mail thread, and index them as individually citable records rather than as one opaque blob.

```
gno collection add ~/exports --name exports \
  --pattern "**/*.{vtt,srt,eml,mbox,ics}"
gno update
gno query "what did we agree about the migration date" --collection exports
```

Each message, event, and cue keeps its own participants, timestamps, thread identity, and anchors. See [file and export adapters](https://gno.sh/docs/file-export-adapters).

## Team wiki with git sync

Point GNO at a git-synced team wiki directory and run `gno daemon --detach`. The index stays fresh as people push, and everyone gets the same retrieval behavior in their local CLI and AI tools. Commit a [project profile](https://gno.sh/docs/project-profiles) so the repository itself declares what to index, and `gno setup . --apply-profile` reproduces the setup on a new machine in one command.

## Retrieval that gets measurably better

When a search misses something you know exists, capture it instead of shrugging. Label the miss, export a content-free fixture, and replay candidate pipelines against it before changing a model.

```
gno trace label <trace-id> --label missing-expected \
  --target gno://notes/postmortem-q3.md
gno trace export <trace-id> --format qrels --output recall.json
gno trace replay <export-id> --candidate hybrid --md
```

See [private retrieval learning](https://gno.sh/docs/retrieval-learning).

## Capture with provenance

`gno capture` writes a note with `--source-kind` and you can filter it later with `--since`.

```
gno capture "Vendor quoted 14 week lead time" --collection notes \
  --source-kind meeting --title "Acme lead time"
gno query "lead time" --collection notes --since "last month"
```