Bear stores your notes in a local SQLite database. bearcli reads it directly in read-only mode — Bear doesn't even need to be running — and performs every write through Bear's own x-callback-url API, verifying each change against the database. Your notes are never touched behind Bear's back.

Install

uv tool install bearcli        # or: uvx bearcli, pipx install bearcli

Or from a clone: uv sync, then uv run bearcli --help.

Quick start

bearcli list                       # 20 most recently modified notes
bearcli search "quarterly report"  # search titles, tags, and content
bearcli get <note-id>              # print a note's markdown
bearcli create "Idea" --tag inbox  # create a note
bearcli export ~/bear-backup       # export everything as markdown folders

Commands

Commands are grouped under note and tag; the most common ones (list, search, get, open, create) also work directly as shortcuts.

Browse & read

bearcli note list                            # 20 most recently modified
bearcli note list --limit 5 --tag work       # filters: tag (incl. nested), dates...
bearcli note list --modified-after 2026-07-01
bearcli note list --only pinned              # or: encrypted, trashed, archived
bearcli note list --all --trashed --archived
bearcli note list --ids                      # only identifiers, one per line

bearcli get C44D09DC-7F0E-43BB-BEB8-67E3A389A448
bearcli get C44D09DC-... --meta              # with YAML-style frontmatter
bearcli get C44D09DC-... -r                  # rewrite attachment refs to absolute paths
bearcli open C44D09DC-...                    # open in the Bear app

Search

bearcli search "invoice" --tag work -n 5     # case-insensitive substring
bearcli search "quarterly planing" --fuzzy   # typo-tolerant, ranked by score

Write

Writes go through Bear's x-callback-url API — the database itself is never written. These launch the Bear app if needed.

bearcli create "Meeting notes" --text "agenda..." --tag work
echo "follow-up item" | bearcli note append C44D09DC-...
bearcli note rename C44D09DC-... "New title"
bearcli get C44D09DC-... | sed 's/foo/bar/' | bearcli note replace C44D09DC-...
bearcli note attach C44D09DC-... screenshot.png   # ≤500 KB
bearcli note archive C44D09DC-...
bearcli note trash C44D09DC-...

Tags

bearcli tag list                             # all tags with note counts
bearcli note tag C44D09DC-... "work/ideas"   # add a tag to a note
bearcli note untag C44D09DC-... "work/ideas" # remove a tag from a note
bearcli tag rename old-name new-name         # across all notes
bearcli tag delete old-name                  # across all notes (asks first)

Export

Every note becomes a self-contained directory — <slug>/README.md plus its attachments — with a generated index, so GitHub renders the whole export as a browsable tree.

bearcli export ~/bear-backup
bearcli export ~/bear-backup --sync          # only rewrite notes that changed

Scripting

Every listing takes --format / -f: table (default), json, or tab-separated text built for pipes.

bearcli list -f json | jq -r '.[].title'
bearcli list -f text | cut -f1               # text is: id, modified, tags, status, title

Dates use ISO format (2026-07-01 or 2026-07-01T14:30). The database path defaults to Bear's standard location and can be overridden with --db or the BEAR_DB_PATH environment variable. Encrypted notes are listed but their content cannot be read.

Development

uv sync
uv run ruff format src/ && uv run ruff check src/
uv run ty check src/
uv run python scripts/check_docs.py          # docs must cover every command

Design notes and Bear database internals: docs/IMPLEMENTATION.md. Contributor/agent guidelines: AGENTS.md.

License

MIT · not affiliated with Shiny Frog