CLI reference

Project and status

Command Description
knowl init [agents...] Initialize or upgrade the project and configure selected agents
knowl upgrade Refresh project files, schema, guidance, and .gitignore without agent setup
knowl status Show repository, memory, AI, commit, and workspace status
knowl doctor Check project, vector coverage, agent, and workspace readiness
knowl state Print the active hierarchical project memory
knowl audit Run a read-only, limited integrity audit

Workspaces

Command Description
knowl workspace init <name> Create a workspace
knowl workspace add <name> [--name <repo-name>] [--default-visibility <repo|workspace>] [--promote-existing] [--force] Link the current repository; shares its new writes by default in a linked workspace
knowl workspace join <manifest> [--name <repo-name>] Join from a copied manifest
knowl workspace list List machine-local workspaces
knowl workspace status [--verbose] Show membership and resolved peers
knowl workspace remove <repo-name> [--export-first] Unlink the current repository
knowl workspace promote [--category <list> | --id <id...>] [--apply] Share locally owned knowledge with linked repos. Bare opens a picker; naming flags dry-runs until --apply
knowl workspace demand [--limit <n>] [--json] What the linked repos have queried each other for — the readout that says which knowledge this repo owes its peers
knowl workspace repin-embedding [--force] Repoint the workspace at this repository's embedding profile
knowl workspace set [--default-visibility <repo|workspace>] Change this repo's recorded nature in the workspace manifest

Memory and retrieval

Command Description
knowl store <content> --category <c> --title <t> [--tag <t...>] [--path <p...>] [--confidence <n>] [--provenance <p>] [--reasoning <text>] [--alternative <text...>] [--source <label>] [--source-commit <sha>] [--supersedes <id>] [--local] Record one verified fact, decision or constraint. --local marks it never-publish
knowl decide [title] [content] Record a decision, reasoning, alternatives, and tags
knowl query [query] [--as-of <timestamp>] [--limit <count>] Query current or historically valid project memory
knowl timeline <item-id> Print immutable assertions for one item
knowl conflicts List active exclusive conflict identities
knowl supersede <item-id> <replacement-id> Retire one item in favor of its replacement
knowl evidence <item-id> List evidence and symbol staleness for an item
knowl context --token-budget <n> [--query <query>] [--task <task>] Compose a bounded local context pack
knowl eval --dataset <path> [--vector] [--json] Run a retrieval dataset; --vector enables vector+BM25 evaluation
knowl access [--json] Report highly used, stale, and correction-causing knowledge

Work loops and sessions

Command Description
knowl task start <title> [-q <query>] Start a manual work loop with a focused lookup
knowl task checkpoint <task-id> <summary> [options] Store resumable progress, blockers, artifacts, and verification state
knowl task finish <task-id> <summary> Finish a manual work loop
knowl task run <title> -- <command...> Wrap one bounded command in a work loop
knowl session start <title> Open a bounded, expiring session scratchpad
knowl session event <id> <type> Record one event against an open session
knowl session finish <id> --status <s> Close a session and promote what it earned
knowl session recover Reclaim sessions abandoned by a crashed host

Skills, code, and optional AI

Command Description
knowl skill list List learned skill packages
knowl skill read <name> Read one learned skill package
knowl skill create <name> Create a file-backed skill package and index it
knowl skill run <name> [args...] Run an approved skill package's entrypoint
knowl skill approve <name> Approve a package for execution, pinned to its current contents
knowl skill revoke <name> Withdraw approval, so the entrypoint stops being runnable
knowl skill trust List the packages currently approved to run
knowl index-code Incrementally index TS/JS symbols and import/export edges
knowl symbols <path> Print indexed symbols for one repository-relative file
knowl synthesize --scope <tag> Create or refresh one deterministic tag-scoped understanding
knowl ask <question> Ask a natural-language question using configured AI
knowl ingest <text> Extract and merge knowledge from explicitly supplied text using configured AI

Data, maintenance, and serving

Command Description
knowl export <path> Write portable, checksum-verified JSONL
knowl import <path> [--dry-run] [--on-divergence newer|skip|theirs|fail] Import JSONL with an explicit divergence policy
knowl snapshot create / knowl snapshot restore <path> --confirm Create a checksummed SQLite snapshot, or restore one after verifying its manifest, size, checksum, and SQLite integrity
knowl config Edit configuration interactively
knowl config get <key> Print one configuration value
knowl config set <key> <value> Set one configuration value
knowl config reset [key] Restore one key, or all of them, to the default
knowl config set-model <model> Verify, download and select a custom embedding model
knowl reindex --vectors Prepare the local model and embed items that have no current vector; --force re-embeds every item
knowl reindex --transcripts [--budget <minutes>] Build or update the optional session transcript index; resumable, so a budget is a stopping point rather than a rollback
knowl park --goal <goal> [--next-action <a>] [--completed <c...>] [--blocker <b>] [--artifact <p...>] [--verified|--unverified] Park a workstream and get a key back; hand the key to the user verbatim
knowl handoff --goal <goal> --next-action <a> [--completed <c...>] [--blocker <b>] [--artifact <p...>] [--verified|--unverified] Leave a baton the next session in this project receives once
knowl resume [key] Resume a parked workstream from its key, or list what is parked here
knowl gc [--apply] [--stale-days N] [--compress-days N] [--min-bytes N] [--ignore-access] [--tombstone-days N] Preview or apply duplicate, archive, compression, and tombstone maintenance
knowl forget-log [--limit N] [--repo <name>] [--json] [--prune-days N] Show why knowledge items were destroyed — policy, reason, and the retrieval evidence it overruled — or prune those records
knowl pr --since <commit> [--dry-run] Find drift candidates and, unless dry-run, mark them for review
knowl view [--port <port>] Start the local GET-only viewer
knowl serve Start the stdio MCP server
knowl agent-event|agent-hook|agent-reminder Host-integration commands used by installed lifecycle configuration