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Postgram

Search Results Now Show Graph Affordances

July 2, 2026

Postgram search now gives agents a cheap signal when a result has graph context behind it. Compact REST, MCP, and CLI search output may include an edges summary with a total count and relation labels. That lets an agent notice connected context without immediately pulling neighbor content into the prompt.

The result is a smaller, more deliberate retrieval loop: search first, inspect the edge summary, then expand only when the user’s question actually needs graph context.

What Changed

Section titled “What Changed”

Postgram PR #77 adds search edge affordances across the main agent surfaces:

  • POST /api/search can include edges.count and edges.relations on search results.
  • MCP search compact output preserves the same edge summary.
  • pgm search --json and pgm search --toon include the summary when edges exist.
  • The MCP tool description now tells agents when to use expand_graph.
  • CLI --version handling was tightened while shipping the same release window.

Example compact search result:

{
  "id": "mem_123",
  "type": "memory",
  "score": 0.82,
  "content": "Decision note...",
  "chunk": "Decision note...",
  "edges": {
    "count": 3,
    "relations": [
      { "relation": "mentioned_in", "count": 2 },
      { "relation": "blocked_by", "count": 1 }
    ]
  }
}

The summary intentionally does not include neighbor content. It only says that traversable context exists.

Retrieval Guidance

Section titled “Retrieval Guidance”

Use the compact edge summary as a routing hint:

  • Expand when the question asks about causes, provenance, decisions, dependencies, blockers, ownership, involvement, related discussions, or ambiguous search hits.
  • Skip expansion when the compact result already answers a direct factual question.
  • Use expand_graph: true, pgm search --expand-graph, or pgm expand <id> when connected context is actually needed.

This keeps common recall cheap while still making graph context discoverable.

References

Section titled “References”