memo

A command-line notes tool that stores markdown notes with tags and attachments. Supports SQLite and markdown file backends.

Features

• Markdown-first: Notes are stored as markdown with full formatting support
• Tags: Organize notes with multiple tags
• Attachments: Attach files to notes (stored as blobs in SQLite)
• Full-text search: FTS5-powered search across titles and content
• Beautiful output: Rendered markdown in the terminal
• MCP Server: Built-in Model Context Protocol server for AI assistant integration
• Portable: Single SQLite database file, XDG-compliant storage

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install harperreed/tap/memo

From source

go install github.com/harperreed/memo/cmd/memo@latest

Download binary

Download from GitHub Releases.

Usage

Add a note

# Open $EDITOR to write content
memo add "Meeting Notes"

# Inline content
memo add "Quick thought" --content "Remember to call mom"

# From file
memo add "Article Draft" --file draft.md

# With tags
memo add "Project Ideas" --content "..." --tags "work,brainstorm"

List notes

# List recent notes
memo list

# Filter by tag
memo list --tag work

# Search
memo list --search "meeting"

# Limit results
memo list --limit 5

View a note

# Use ID prefix (6+ characters)
memo show abc123

Edit a note

memo edit abc123

Delete a note

memo rm abc123

# Skip confirmation
memo rm abc123 --force

Manage tags

# Add tag to note
memo tag add abc123 important

# Remove tag
memo tag rm abc123 important

# List all tags
memo tag list

Directory-aware notes

# Tag a note with the current directory
memo add "Project TODO" --content "..." --here

# List notes tagged with the current directory
memo list --here

Attachments

# Attach a file
memo attach abc123 document.pdf

# Extract attachment
memo attach get def456 --output ./downloads/

Export/Import

# Export all notes to JSON
memo export --format json --output backup.json

# Export to markdown directory
memo export --format md --output ./notes/

# Import from JSON
memo import backup.json

# Import markdown files
memo import ./notes/

MCP Server

Start the MCP server for AI assistant integration:

memo mcp

Add to your Claude desktop config (~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memo": {
      "command": "memo",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Available MCP Tools

Tool	Description
add_note	Create a new note
list_notes	List notes with optional filtering
get_note	Get a note by ID
update_note	Update note title or content
delete_note	Delete a note
search_notes	Full-text search
add_tag	Add tag to note
remove_tag	Remove tag from note
add_attachment	Add attachment (base64)
list_attachments	List note attachments
get_attachment	Get attachment content
export_note	Export note as JSON or markdown

Storage

memo supports two storage backends:

• Markdown (default for new users): Notes stored as markdown files in ~/.local/share/memo/
• SQLite: Notes stored in ~/.local/share/memo/memo.db

Configure the backend in ~/.config/memo/config.json:

{
  "backend": "markdown",
  "data_dir": "~/.local/share/memo"
}

Use memo migrate --to markdown or memo migrate --to sqlite to switch backends.

Building

# Build
make build

# Run tests
make test

# Run tests with race detector
make test-race

# Run linter
make lint

# Run all checks
make check

License

MIT