Search Decisions While Coding
Use this workflow when you want to understand what has already been decided before making a new choice in code. Searching first helps you avoid duplicate records, spot organization-wide defaults, and reuse language or rationale that is already accepted.
Use this workflow when you want to understand what has already been decided before making a new choice in code. Searching first helps you avoid duplicate records, spot organization-wide defaults, and reuse language or rationale that is already accepted.
What You Need First
Before you search, make sure you have:
- a connected IDE client with a working DecisionOps MCP grant
- the correct organization, project, and repository context
- a rough idea of the feature area, service, path, or policy you are working on
The main search tool for this step is do-search-decisions.
Recommended Search Pattern
Start narrow, then expand if needed. A good sequence is:
- Search for the repository, service, or work area you are actively changing.
- Search for the decision terms in the current task, such as caching, migration strategy, authentication model, queue behavior, or policy exceptions.
- Broaden the search if the first pass is too specific.
This pattern helps you find both local decisions that apply to the current repository and broader decisions that set expectations across the organization.
What To Look For In Results
The most useful results are usually:
- accepted decisions that already describe the approach you are considering
- repository-scoped records that apply directly to the code you are touching
- project- or organization-level decisions that set a default pattern
- recently updated records that may supersede an older approach
If the result looks relevant, read enough of it to understand whether it still applies. A quick search result is often enough to reuse the idea, but not always enough to understand the full decision history.
When To Switch To The Web App
Move to the dashboard when you need richer context than the IDE result provides. The web app is better for:
- reviewing revision history
- comparing superseded and current decisions
- inspecting suggestions and related signals
- confirming status changes or governance details
Use /decisions in the dashboard when you need that broader view, then come back to the IDE to continue drafting or publishing.
What Success Looks Like
You find one or more prior decisions that clearly inform the current change, and you can reference or build on them without leaving the coding flow for long.
Troubleshooting
If search returns nothing, verify that you are using the correct project or repository context. If results feel too narrow, widen the search beyond repo-specific terms and look for organization-level patterns. If you expected detailed GitHub or monitoring evidence in the IDE response, open the record in the web app instead; the search result is meant to be lightweight and fast.