Path Resolution

All path-scoped commands (lore context, lore constraints, etc.) accept a <target> argument. The resolution algorithm depends on the target type.

Target Types

Input	Type	Resolution
src/auth/interceptor.ts	File	git log -- <file>
src/auth/interceptor.ts:45-80	Line range	git log -L 45,80:<file>
src/auth/	Directory	git log -- <dir> (recursive)
src/auth/**/*.ts	Glob	git log -- <expanded paths>

Default Behavior: Exact Match

By default, Lore queries return trailers only from commits that directly touched the target path. This is predictable, fast, and maps directly to git log --.

Widening with --scope

For cross-file context, use --scope <name> to match the conventional commit scope:

# Only commits that touched this exact file
lore constraints src/auth/interceptor.ts

# All commits scoped to "auth" regardless of which files they touched
lore constraints --scope auth

--scope matches the (scope) in conventional commit subject lines: fix(auth): ... matches --scope auth.

Following References with --follow

# Include trailers from atoms linked via Related/Supersedes/Depends-on
lore context src/auth/interceptor.ts --follow

--follow transitively resolves all Related:, Supersedes:, and Depends-on: links from the matched atoms, up to a configurable depth (default: 3, configurable in .lore/config.toml).

Why Not Walk Up the Directory Tree?

Implicit directory walking (querying src/auth/interceptor.ts also returns results from src/auth/ and src/) was considered and rejected:

• It’s unpredictable — users can’t tell which constraints came from which scope
• It’s slow on large repos
• --scope provides a better mechanism for cross-file context
• An agent that needs broader context can run lore constraints src/auth/ (directory) explicitly