metis-brain 0.1.2

metis

a cli second brain for your markdown notes: obsidian (recommended), an alternative, or just a normal folder.

ingest anything. search by meaning. chat with your knowledge. discover connections.

read the full manual →

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setup

install

uv (recommended). installs metis in its own isolated environment, so no dependency is missing and nothing collides with your other packages.

uv tool install metis-brain   # no uv? run: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

pip requires python 3.10+. it installs into your current environment, so isolate it. easiest is pipx (isolated, no venv to manage):

pipx install metis-brain

or a manual virtualenv:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate     # windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install metis-brain

a venv-installed metis only works while that venv is active. pipx and uv tool install avoid this: isolated and always on your PATH.

git (for development):

git clone https://github.com/itsautomata/metis
cd metis
uv tool install -e .             # global
uv tool install -e . --force     # update the global install
# or in a virtualenv:
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate && uv pip install -e "."

then set up, whichever way you installed:

metis init                  # guided: vault, provider, key, and models in one flow
metis --install-completion  # enable tab completion for commands
exec $SHELL                 # restart shell to apply

metis init runs a guided wizard; metis --no-input init / metis --yes init write defaults for CI.

prefer to set things by hand:

metis secret set provider-key  # your one key (works for any provider via base_url)
metis secret set x-token       # optional, for full x/twitter extraction
metis secret set               # interactive, you pick which key you want to set
metis secret list              # show which keys are set (no values)
metis doctor                   # verify the whole setup: key, provider, models, index
metis models                   # show the chat + embedding models (and provider) in use

quick changes via metis config vault <path>. for everything else, edit ~/.metis/config.yaml.

upgrade

uv tool upgrade metis-brain               # installed with uv
pipx upgrade metis-brain                  # installed with pipx
pip install --upgrade metis-brain         # installed with pip
git pull && uv tool install -e . --force  # dev / git clone

uninstall

uv tool uninstall metis-brain     # installed with uv (or the editable/dev install)
pipx uninstall metis-brain        # installed with pipx
pip uninstall metis-brain         # installed with pip, inside the venv

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commands

run metis --help or metis <command> --help for all options. --yes / --no-input make any command non-interactive for scripts and CI; METIS_ACCESSIBLE=1 swaps the arrow-key menus for numbered prompts (screen readers, no-arrow terminals).

ingest

save anything to your vault: summarized, tagged, embedded, and linked back to the source.

metis ingest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metis_(mythology)
metis ingest ~/books/project-hail-mary.pdf
metis ingest lecture-notes.md
metis ingest paper.pdf --folder research/ai
metis ingest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123 --lang fr
metis ingest "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxxx"   # a playlist: pick which videos
metis ingest https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.12345
metis ingest paper1.pdf paper2.pdf https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.00001

accepts one source or many at once. supports pdfs, urls, markdown, arxiv papers, youtube videos, and x/twitter posts. --folder organizes into vault subfolders.

interactive: --pick-folder (vault folders) / --pick-lang (transcript languages)

a youtube playlist url opens a menu of its videos to pick from (space toggles, --yes saves all).

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search

metis search "what role did titans play in greek mythos"

semantic search. finds by meaning, not keywords. pick a result to chat about it. add --json for machine-readable output (also on metis doctor).

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chat

metis chat "how does project hail mary handle the fermi paradox?"
metis chat "what does he say about nash equilibrium?" --note game_theory/intro
metis chat "question" --note game_theory/intro --save
metis chat "question" --expand

answers grounded in your vault with sources cited. --note scopes to a specific note and offers to save the Q&A. --save saves without prompting. --expand searches wikipedia when your vault doesn't have enough.

interactive: --pick (choose vault note to ask about)

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link

metis link
metis link --write
metis link --verbose

discovers connections between notes. --write adds links in your vault's style, auto-detected: [[wikilinks]] for obsidian and similar apps, [markdown](links) for a plain folder (override with metis config link-style). --verbose explains why notes are connected.

interactive: --pick (choose vault note to find connections for)

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sync

metis sync

re-indexes the vault after you edit notes.

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reindex

metis reindex
metis reindex --dry-run   # preview: how many notes would re-embed, no api calls

rebuilds the whole vector index from scratch. run it after changing your embedding_model: the old vectors live in a different space, so metis refuses search/link/health until you reindex. --dry-run reports how many notes would be re-embedded (one call per chunk) without spending anything.

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classification & clustering

metis learns from your vault to help you organize.

auto-categorization: when you ingest without --folder, metis suggests a folder based on your vault's content. accept, override, or pick from menu. every choice improves future suggestions.

vault health:

metis health
metis health --misplaced
metis health --split hermes_folder
metis health --unique

checkup on your vault structure. shows folder alignment, suggests which notes might belong in a different folder, and proposes subfolder splits for large folders.

folder descriptions:

metis folders
metis folders --edit
metis folders some_folder --edit        # just one folder (add --pick to choose from a menu)

list folders with their ML descriptions. --edit opens in your editor to refine how the classifier understands each folder.

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config

metis config                       # show current settings
metis config vault ~/obsidian/my-vault
metis config folder metis-ingested
metis config link-style wikilink   # or markdown, or auto (default: detect from the vault)

for anything not covered above, edit ~/.metis/config.yaml:

# ~/.metis/config.yaml

vault_path: ~/obsidian/my-vault
output_folder: metis-ingested

openai:
  # base_url points at any OpenAI-compatible provider.
  # leave empty for OpenAI; set it for OpenRouter, Ollama, a local server, etc.
  base_url: ""              # e.g. https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
  chat_model: gpt-4o
  embedding_model: text-embedding-3-small

api keys live in your os keychain via metis secret set, or a METIS_* env var for automation (METIS_PROVIDER_KEY, METIS_EMBEDDING_KEY, METIS_X_BEARER). keys never go in the config file. one key covers both chat and embeddings; set an embedding-key only if you split embeddings to a different provider. run metis doctor to check your setup: it verifies the key, the provider, the models, and the index in one pass.

changing embedding_model re-spaces the whole index. metis will refuse until you run metis reindex.

on a gateway like OpenRouter, embedding ids are vendor-prefixed; metis auto-adapts the default text-embedding-3-small to openai/text-embedding-3-small.