diff --git a/SKILL.md b/SKILL.md
index 04e428f..df191d2 100644
--- a/SKILL.md
+++ b/SKILL.md
@@ -71,8 +71,24 @@ Tables: `sessions`, `messages`, `tool_calls`, `tool_results`, `subagents`, `work
 - `workflowTree(runId)` -- workflow + its agents + all their messages
 - `fileHistory(filePath)` -- every Edit/Write/Read on a file across sessions
 - `failures(sessionId?)` -- tool calls that returned errors, with surrounding context
+- `summaries(sessionId?)` -- session summaries (away recaps, compaction summaries when available)
 - `raw(uuid, opts?)` -- windowed access to the original JSONL line (bypasses index truncation)
 
+### Retrieval strategy
+
+**Never pull an entire session.** Navigate incrementally:
+
+1. `summaries()` — read session summaries to judge relevance (cheapest)
+2. `search()` — find specific messages matching a query
+3. When you find a relevant message and want more context, expand from that point:
+   - **Horizontally**: use `sql()` to fetch neighboring messages by timestamp
+     ```js
+     sql('SELECT uuid,role,text FROM messages WHERE session_id=? AND timestamp>? ORDER BY timestamp LIMIT 5', sid, msg.timestamp)
+     ```
+   - **Vertically**: use `trace(uuid)` to walk up the parent chain, or `context(uuid)` to see subagent/workflow relationships
+4. `raw(uuid, opts?)` — recover truncated content from a specific message
+5. `thread(sessionId)` — full session dump, **last resort only**
+
 ### raw(uuid, opts?)
 
 Some indexed fields (tool call inputs, tool results) are truncated to 10k chars. `raw()` reads the original JSONL line to recover the full content.
diff --git a/scripts/db.mjs b/scripts/db.mjs
index b4add4f..a5531ff 100644
--- a/scripts/db.mjs
+++ b/scripts/db.mjs
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS workflow_agents (
   agent_type TEXT, description TEXT);
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS index_state (
   jsonl_path TEXT PRIMARY KEY, mtime REAL, lines_processed INTEGER);
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS summaries (
+  id TEXT PRIMARY KEY, session_id TEXT, timestamp TEXT,
+  source TEXT, content TEXT);
 CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE IF NOT EXISTS messages_fts USING fts5(
   uuid UNINDEXED, session_id UNINDEXED, text, content=messages, content_rowid=rowid);
 CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_messages_session ON messages(session_id);
@@ -46,6 +49,7 @@ CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_tc_file ON tool_calls(file_path);
 CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_sa_session ON subagents(session_id);
 CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_wf_session ON workflows(session_id);
 CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_wa_run ON workflow_agents(run_id);
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_summaries_session ON summaries(session_id);
 `;
 
 function openDb() {
diff --git a/scripts/indexer.mjs b/scripts/indexer.mjs
index 1ebb03d..40beb40 100644
--- a/scripts/indexer.mjs
+++ b/scripts/indexer.mjs
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ function indexJsonl(db, fi) {
     msg: db.prepare('INSERT OR REPLACE INTO messages (uuid,session_id,type,parent_uuid,timestamp,role,text,model,is_sidechain,agent_id,input_tokens,output_tokens) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)'),
     tc:  db.prepare('INSERT OR REPLACE INTO tool_calls (id,message_uuid,session_id,name,input_json,file_path) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)'),
     tr:  db.prepare('INSERT OR REPLACE INTO tool_results (tool_use_id,message_uuid,session_id,content,file_path) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)'),
+    sum: db.prepare('INSERT OR REPLACE INTO summaries (id,session_id,timestamp,source,content) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)'),
     idx: db.prepare('INSERT OR REPLACE INTO index_state (jsonl_path,mtime,lines_processed) VALUES (?,?,?)'),
   };
 
@@ -85,6 +86,10 @@ function indexJsonl(db, fi) {
     const ts = obj.timestamp || null;
 
     if (obj.type === 'ai-title' && obj.aiTitle) { sm.title = obj.aiTitle; return; }
+    if (obj.type === 'system' && obj.subtype === 'away_summary' && obj.content) {
+      ins.sum.run(obj.uuid || `${sid}-away-${ts}`, sid, ts, 'away_summary', obj.content);
+      return;
+    }
     if (obj.type !== 'user' && obj.type !== 'assistant') return;
 
     if (ts && (!sm.started_at || ts < sm.started_at)) sm.started_at = ts;
diff --git a/scripts/query.mjs b/scripts/query.mjs
index c4fccfd..2cca679 100644
--- a/scripts/query.mjs
+++ b/scripts/query.mjs
@@ -104,6 +104,10 @@ function createQueryApi(db) {
 
   const recent = (n = 10) => db.prepare('SELECT * FROM sessions ORDER BY ended_at DESC LIMIT ?').all(n);
 
+  const summaries = (sessionId) => sessionId
+    ? db.prepare('SELECT * FROM summaries WHERE session_id=? ORDER BY timestamp').all(sessionId)
+    : db.prepare('SELECT su.*, s.title as session_title, s.project FROM summaries su LEFT JOIN sessions s ON s.id=su.session_id ORDER BY su.timestamp DESC').all();
+
   const resolveJsonlPath = (messageUuid) => {
     const msg = db.prepare('SELECT session_id, agent_id FROM messages WHERE uuid=?').get(messageUuid);
     if (!msg) return null;
@@ -149,7 +153,7 @@ function createQueryApi(db) {
     };
   };
 
-  return { sql: q, search, context, trace, thread, subagents, workflows, workflowTree, fileHistory, failures, recent, raw };
+  return { sql: q, search, context, trace, thread, subagents, workflows, workflowTree, fileHistory, failures, recent, summaries, raw };
 }
 
 export { createQueryApi };