---
name: qmd-prefer-lexical
description: "Default to lexical search (qmd search / rg) on the papers corpus, not vector/semantic"
metadata: 
  node_type: memory
  type: feedback
  originSessionId: dfb6617b-8e6e-4008-96e0-81669fc600b4
---

For local paper search, default to lexical: `qmd search` (BM25) or `rg`, NOT
`qmd vsearch`/`qmd query` (vector/HyDE/rerank).

**Why:** (1) wassname finds vector search rarely helps him. (2) The big `papers`
qmd collection (~48k files) is ~93% unembedded, so semantic modes fall back to
junk there. (3) He cannot fit the embeddings on his PC, so `qmd embed` is not a
real fix.

**How to apply:** When dispatching search agents over the local corpus, instruct
them to use `qmd search`/`rg` first and reach for `qmd query` only as a last
resort on a small embedded collection (e.g. markdown-notes). A subagent once
burned ~5 min and crashed (exit 144) running `qmd query` over `papers`; lexical
returns in milliseconds. Do not suggest running `qmd embed` on his machine.