Local-First Information Sources

Discover and use local documentation before external fetches. Local sources are authoritative for installed tools and cost zero context tokens.

Discovery Procedure

For any CLI tool or system utility, run discovery BEFORE reaching for external docs. Each step takes <100ms. Stop at the first successful result.

Step 1: Does the tool exist?

command -v <tool>        # exit 0 = installed, no output = not found

Step 2: Does it have a man page?

man -w <tool>            # exit 0 = found, prints path
                         # exit 1 = no man page → try step 3
man -f <tool>            # one-line description (whatis)

Man page sections

If a topic has pages in multiple sections, specify the section: man <section> <name>

Step 3: Does it have --help or -h?

<tool> --help 2>&1 | head -20    # GNU-style help
<tool> -h 2>&1 | head -20        # Short help
<tool> help 2>&1 | head -20      # Subcommand help (gh, git, pacman)
<tool> <sub> --help 2>&1 | head -20  # Subcommand-specific

Step 4: Don't know the tool name? Search by keyword.

apropos "<keyword>"              # Search all man page descriptions
man -k "<keyword>"               # Same as apropos
apropos -s <section> "<keyword>" # Filter by section (1,5,7,8)
# Common: apropos -s 8 for admin commands, -s 5 for config formats

Step 5: Is it a GNU project? Check info pages.

info -w <topic>                  # Locate info page (exit 0 = found)
info <topic>                     # Read the info page directly
info -f <file>                   # Read a specific info file

Step 6: What package owns this tool? (Arch)

pacman -Qo $(which <tool>)      # Which package provides this binary
pacman -Ql <pkg> | grep man      # Does the package ship man pages

Decision Tree

Is the question about... ├─ A CLI tool installed on hinterland? │ └─ Run discovery procedure above → use strongest local source found │ ├─ Infrastructure/hardware troubleshooting? │ └─ Check dmesg, journalctl, sysctl, modinfo FIRST (see below) │ ├─ A library, framework, SDK, or cloud API? │ └─ Local sources unlikely → use skill("find-docs") → ctx7 CLI │ ├─ A GitHub CLI pattern? │ └─ skill("gh-cli-patterns") OR gh --help (discovery: man -w gh) │ ├─ Systemd services or journal? │ └─ man -w systemctl is definitive → use man for directives │ ├─ A project workflow or convention? │ └─ Check AGENTS.md, README.md, .apm/instructions/ │ └─ Local discovery exhausted? └─ Fall back to skill("find-docs") → ctx7, then websearch

System-State Discovery (Infrastructure)

For hardware, kernel, and system-level questions, local sources are THE authoritative answer — they match your exact kernel, drivers, and firmware.

# Kernel parameters (matching your running kernel)
sysctl -a | grep <param>

# Kernel module info (matching your loaded modules)
modinfo <module>       # Parameters, version, dependencies
lsmod | grep <module>  # Is it loaded?

# Hardware detection (matches your actual hardware)
dmesg | grep -i <component>    # What the kernel saw at boot
lspci -k | grep -i <device>    # Which driver is handling it
lsusb | grep -i <device>       # USB device tree
lsblk -f                        # Block devices + filesystems

# System logging (your actual error messages)
journalctl -xe | grep -i <service>
journalctl -u <unit> --since "1 hour ago"

# Installed package inspection (Arch)
pacman -Qi <pkg>        # Version, description, deps, install date
pacman -Ql <pkg>        # All files owned by a package
pkgfile <filename>      # Which package provides a file

When to use local-first vs find-docs

Use local-first when...

• The question is about an installed tool's flags, behavior, or syntax
• Hardware troubleshooting (your exact drives, kernel, drivers)
• System administration (systemd units, mounts, networking)
• Package management (pacman/yay operations, dependencies)
• Any CLI tool where man -w <tool> exits 0

Use skill("find-docs") → ctx7 when...

• Library, framework, SDK, or cloud service API (React, APM, Nomad)
• Cloud provider APIs (DigitalOcean Terraform, Supabase, AWS)
• Tools NOT installed on this system
• Config file formats that man section 5 doesn't cover

Concrete examples