list is useful when a kind or work state is already known, while search matches record text. Read the full record (the envelope’s data) before an edit: it contains the current revision, typed fields, body and citation bindings. almanac read people/sam-fictional --body is convenient for close reading, but omits the revision and structured fields.
Search results retain the saved description and include a matching excerpt from the title, description or body. The excerpt helps explain why the record matched; it is a partial passage, not a complete read. Follow the returned read command to inspect the original.
Results can be paged. list and search both return page.next_cursor; repeat the same query and filters with --cursor NEXT_CURSOR and --limit. Search pages by position, so concurrent edits can shift them; do not infer a stable inventory from a long search. Preserve the actual returned IDs rather than reconstructing paths from titles. Every command prints one JSON envelope with the result in data; --markdown prints prose for a person instead. CLI results describes the envelope.
To understand a record’s neighborhood, almanac links RECORD_ID shows incoming links and --direction out follows its outgoing references. A citation link leads to source metadata and then, when access permits, the original evidence; sources and citations shows that complete route. For the exact fields a particular record can carry, use almanac schema describe TYPE. To change what you found, carry the revision into a guarded edit.
For one uncertain schema field, almanac schema describe task --field project returns the field and the definitions it depends on. Omit --field to read the complete schema and its record-wide requirements. This selection does not change or abbreviate the stored record.