CLI Reference

ContextFS provides a full-featured command-line interface. The main command is contextfs with a short alias ctx.

Commands

contextfs save

Save a memory to the store.

contextfs save CONTENT [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--type, -t	Memory type: fact, decision, procedural, episodic, code, error, user
--tags	Comma-separated tags
--summary, -s	Brief summary

Examples:

contextfs save "Use React 18 with TypeScript" --type decision --tags frontend,react

contextfs save "Deploy with: docker compose up -d" --type procedural --summary "Deployment command"

contextfs search

Search memories using semantic similarity.

contextfs search QUERY [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--limit, -n	Maximum results (default: 10)
--type, -t	Filter by memory type

Examples:

contextfs search "how to deploy"
contextfs search "database" --type decision --limit 5

contextfs index

Index a repository for semantic code search.

contextfs index [PATH] [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--force, -f	Force re-index even if already indexed
--incremental/--full	Incremental (default) or full re-index

Examples:

# Index current repo
contextfs index

# Index specific path
contextfs index /path/to/repo

# Force full re-index
contextfs index --force --full

contextfs list

List recent memories.

contextfs list [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--limit, -n	Maximum results (default: 10)
--type, -t	Filter by memory type

contextfs recall

Recall a specific memory by ID.

contextfs recall MEMORY_ID

The ID can be partial (first 8 characters).

contextfs delete

Delete a memory.

contextfs delete MEMORY_ID [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--yes, -y	Skip confirmation

contextfs sessions

List recent sessions.

contextfs sessions [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--limit, -n	Maximum results (default: 10)
--tool	Filter by tool (claude-code, gemini, etc.)
--label	Filter by label

contextfs status

Show ContextFS status and statistics.

contextfs status

Displays: - Data directory location - Current namespace - Memory counts by type - Vector store statistics - Active session info

contextfs init

Initialize ContextFS in a directory.

contextfs init [PATH]

Creates a .contextfs/ directory and updates .gitignore.

contextfs serve

Start the MCP server.

contextfs serve

Typically not run directly - used by Claude Desktop integration.

contextfs web

Start the web UI server.

contextfs web [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--host, -h	Host to bind (default: 127.0.0.1)
--port, -p	Port to bind (default: 8000)

contextfs install-claude-desktop

Install/uninstall MCP server for Claude Desktop.

contextfs install-claude-desktop [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--uninstall	Remove from Claude Desktop

contextfs save-session

Save session for use with hooks.

contextfs save-session [OPTIONS]

Option	Description
--label, -l	Session label
--transcript, -t	Path to transcript JSONL file

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
CONTEXTFS_DATA_DIR	Data storage directory	~/.contextfs
CONTEXTFS_SOURCE_TOOL	Tool identifier	auto-detect
CONTEXTFS_EMBEDDING_MODEL	Embedding model	all-MiniLM-L6-v2

Shell Completion

Install shell completion:

# Bash
contextfs --install-completion bash

# Zsh
contextfs --install-completion zsh

# Fish
contextfs --install-completion fish