xmemcli — xmemory command-line client

Single-command CLI for reading from, writing to, and managing xmemory instances over the HTTP API at $XMEM_API_URL (default https://api.xmemory.ai), using an API key from the Console UI or xmemcli auth login.

Full command reference is included below.

Usage

xmemcli auth login [--no-browser] [--timeout S] [--console-url URL] [--email ADDR [--org-name NAME]]
xmemcli auth logout
xmemcli auth status
xmemcli read <query>
xmemcli write <text>
xmemcli write-status <write_id> [<id> …]
xmemcli quota
xmemcli binding list [--autoload]
xmemcli binding add <instance_id> [--tier autoload|available|off] [--scope project|user]
xmemcli binding remove <instance_id> [--scope project|user]
xmemcli context [--text] [--max-tokens N] [--no-live-state]

Global flags / env: --api-key / $XMEM_API_KEY, --instance-id / $XMEM_INSTANCE_ID, --api-url / $XMEM_API_URL, --rc-dir / $XMEM_RC_DIR, --binding-dir / $XMEM_BINDING_DIR, --json, --verbose. See xmemcli help options.

Credential resolution: --api-key → $XMEM_API_KEY → nearest .xmemrc.json (walk up from --rc-dir toward $HOME). Origin: --api-url → $XMEM_API_URL → rc api_url → default.

context is the exception: it runs unattended from a session-start hook, with no person and no chosen directory behind it, so it resolves the credential from $HOME only — a project .xmemrc.json is used only when --api-key / $XMEM_API_KEY or --rc-dir / $XMEM_RC_DIR names it explicitly. That stops a cloned repository shipping the key and origin its own context is fetched with.

Two local files, same discovery rule, different jobs: .xmemrc.json holds the credential (0600, never committed, nearest wins); .xmemory.json holds the instance binding (0644, meant to be committed at project scope, every scope merged). binding commands are local-only — no network, no credential.

Read / write modes

CLI	API field
xmemcli write --extraction fast (default)	extraction_logic: "fast"
xmemcli write --extraction deep	extraction_logic: "deep"
xmemcli write --no-wait	async write; poll with write-status
xmemcli read --read-mode single (default)	mode: "single-answer"
xmemcli read --read-mode raw	mode: "raw-tables"
xmemcli read --read-mode xresponse	mode: "xresponse"

--read-mode selects the server-side answer shape; --json and the TTY rule govern stdout format.

Curated output

The CLI does not echo raw API payloads. Server internals (sql, diff_plan, extraction trees) are never emitted. Read responses keep pending_suggestions (schema-evolution hint). --verbose adds trace_id and console_url when present.

Output personality — JSON vs pretty

• Non-TTY stdout or --json: exactly one JSON document.
• Interactive TTY without --json: short one-line summaries per command.

Scripts can rely on xmemcli … | jq without --json.

Example session

export XMEM_API_KEY="xmem_..."
export XMEM_INSTANCE_ID="<uuid>"

xmemcli write "John likes orange"
xmemcli read "what colour does John like?"

ID1=$(xmemcli write --no-wait "Ivy likes amber"  | jq -r .write_id)
ID2=$(xmemcli write --no-wait "Lev likes indigo" | jq -r .write_id)
xmemcli write-status "$ID1" "$ID2"

Install

Requires Python 3.12+. Stdlib only — no runtime dependencies.

Preferred:

uv tool install xmemcli

When uv is not available:

pip install xmemcli

Then:

xmemcli version
xmemcli auth login

Version: 0.0.10.

---

xmemcli auth flow — PKCE handoff, email sign-in, and credentials

The CLI is human-approved for key acquisition: an AI-assisted IDE may run reads, writes, and inventory, and may even initiate key acquisition, but a key is only ever issued after one explicit human approval — a click in the browser (PKCE handoff) or an approval of a sign-in email (--email). A key must never enter the AI transcript — it is handed to the CLI out-of-band via xmemcli auth login or environment / .xmemrc.json, and the CLI prints only its prefix.

Two acquisition paths share xmemcli auth login:

• Browser PKCE handoff (default): the CLI sends the human to /xmemcli/<challenge> on the Console, listens on 127.0.0.1:9636/callback, and the Console redirects a signed short-lived code (not the key) to that callback.
• Headless email sign-in (--email <addr>): the CLI plays the waiting-browser role of the Console's cross-device email sign-in and then mints its own key — no browser on this machine. See Email sign-in below.

Scope. Shipped in this package: .xmemrc.json discovery, PKCE auth login / logout / status, email auth login --email, /whoami consumption, and quota. Server endpoints: POST /cli/handoff, POST /cli/token, and — for the email path — the Console sign-in and accounts routes listed below (all pre-existing Console surfaces; the email path added no server endpoint).

Acquiring a key

The human either:

• Provides a key they already hold ($XMEM_API_KEY, .xmemrc.json, or paste at login), or
• Creates a key in the Console and clicks "Use this key in the CLI" (when the page was opened via /xmemcli/<challenge>), or
• Approves a sign-in email for an auth login --email run, after which the CLI mints its own key.

During onboarding, the Console may auto-handoff an onboarding key while a short-lived cookie bridge is active.

Why a code, not the key

Plaintext keys in URLs leak to history and proxies. Handoff uses PKCE + signed code + localhost callback:

1. CLI mints verifier, derives challenge = base64url(SHA256(verifier)), opens /xmemcli/<challenge>.
2. Human clicks "Use this key in the CLI" → Console POSTs the key to /cli/handoff bound to the challenge → receives a short-lived code.
3. Browser navigates to http://127.0.0.1:9636/callback?code=…&state=<challenge> — key never in the URL.
4. CLI POST /cli/token with { code, verifier } → receives key → writes 0600 .xmemrc.json.

Sequence

AI-assisted IDE ── xmemcli auth login ──► CLI: PKCE verifier + localhost listener
Human ── opens Console URL ──► creates key → "Use this key in the CLI"
CLI ◄── localhost redirect ── redeems code + verifier → writes .xmemrc.json
AI-assisted IDE ── xmemcli read/write ──► CLI resolves key; never handles plaintext key

Email sign-in — --email

xmemcli auth login --email <addr> [--org-name <name>] acquires the key with one human action and no browser on this machine — the flow an agent-driven IDE uses. The CLI takes the waiting-device role of the Console's cross-device email sign-in; every endpoint below already served the Console before this flag existed. The fully headless path requires the server to have cross-device hand-off enabled; a server without it only offers the typed six-digit code, so a run with no interactive terminal is refused there (after cancelling the attempt it had to start to find out).

1. POST /api/kingdom-signin-request — the server emails a six-digit code + one-click link; the CLI holds the signed pending cookie in memory. The reply's matching code is consumed only as the hand-off signal and is not printed (the compare UI is retired across all sign-in surfaces for now).
2. The human opens the email on any device and Approves. This is the single human action.
3. The CLI claim-polls POST /api/kingdom-signin-claim on the Console's own waiting-tab cadence (a short grace, ten fast polls, then a slow poll; transient network failures count as missed polls, not aborts) and exchanges the proof via POST /api/kingdom-signin-mint for the browser-session cookie — held in memory only, never written to disk.
4. With the session, the CLI runs the Console onboarding's core sequence: GET /api/check-user; when the address has no account, GET /api/suggest-slug (server-derived org name, --org-name overrides; ignored for an existing account) and POST /api/public-signup — note that creating a new organisation requires the deployment to allow public registration, which the hosted service currently does not: an existing account gets a key, a new address gets the server's "organisation creation is not available" refusal (the Console's admin-fallback signup arm is not implemented here); then GET /api/accounts/users/by-email, GET /api/accounts/api-roles (the seeded default role, or the org's only role — an ambiguous set is refused, never guessed), and POST /api/accounts/api-keys with no cluster list — the key attaches to every cluster the org has at mint time. Clusters created later are attached by a server-side backfill that repairs only keys already linked to every other cluster in the org; an org with no clusters at mint time gets a key attached to nothing. The key is named CLI email login (<hostname>, <timestamp>) so every mint stays individually identifiable and revocable on the Console's API Keys page.
5. The key is written to .xmemrc.json (0600), stdout carries the prefix only, and the session cookie dies with the process.

The wait is bounded by --timeout — 600 seconds for this path by default, which is also a ceiling: nothing stays claimable past the server's pending window, so larger values are clamped. The emailed one-click link and six-digit code themselves expire at about five minutes; the wait continues past that because an approval given in time stays claimable, and the terminal says when the emailed artifacts have lapsed. The Console origin must be https (or a loopback host, for local development). The Console must also match the API origin the key will be used against: with a non-default --api-url the CLI refuses to guess the Console (pass --console-url or set $XMEM_CONSOLE_URL), and an explicitly named Console that provably mismatches the API origin (mixed loopback-ness, or a default-production half paired with a non-default one) is refused rather than trusted.

When the server offers no matching code on the request reply (cross-device hand-off disabled, no public Console origin configured, or a transient degradation), there is nothing for a headless starter to claim — the emailed link then signs in the approving browser — so the CLI falls back to the emailed six-digit code typed into the terminal (POST /api/kingdom-signin-verify), still a single human action. That fallback needs an interactive stdin; a non-interactive run cancels the attempt it just started (the mode is only known from the server's reply, after the email is on its way) and refuses with instructions — the typed code dies with that cancel, but on such a server the one-click link has nothing durable to revoke and stays redeemable in a browser until it expires (about five minutes), which the terminal states plainly.

A credential that already resolves (via /whoami) to the requested address at the requested origin — checked across --api-key, $XMEM_API_KEY, and the rc, in that order — short-circuits without sending any email, so re-running the command is free (a matching $XMEM_API_KEY is copied into .xmemrc.json so the project gains a durable credential; an explicit --api-key is never persisted); when the check itself cannot be made (the API is unreachable) the CLI refuses to mint rather than stranding a duplicate key. Every abort of a started attempt — Ctrl+C, timeout, or an error mid-wait — best-effort-cancels it (POST /api/kingdom-signin-cancel, retried briefly) and reports what the cancel actually achieved: a confirmed cancel of a cross-device attempt makes the emailed link unapprovable; an unconfirmed one is reported as such; and on a hand-off-disabled server the link has nothing durable to revoke — it stays redeemable (in the browser that opens it) until it expires on its own, and the terminal says so.

Credential store (.xmemrc.json)

Project-local .xmemrc.json: {email, api_url, api_key}. Found by walking up from --rc-dir / CWD, ceiling $HOME.

Resolution order: --api-key → $XMEM_API_KEY → .xmemrc.json. Origin: --api-url → $XMEM_API_URL → rc api_url → default — except when the key is explicit (--api-key / $XMEM_API_KEY): the rc's api_url is skipped and the origin falls back to the built-in default unless you also set --api-url / $XMEM_API_URL. The localhost-key-at-prod guard applies when the key comes from the rc and an explicit --api-url / $XMEM_API_URL mismatches that rc origin.

Identity — /whoami

xmemcli auth status calls GET /whoami with the active bearer key and reports {authenticated, email, key_prefix}. Exit 0 when the key resolves; auth error when it does not.

Security model

Threat	Mitigation
Key in AI transcript	localhost callback / in-process mint → 0600 store; login stdout shows key_prefix only
Key in URL	URL carries code only; key over TLS on handoff/token
Captured code replay	PKCE verifier never leaves CLI; code is TTL-bounded
CSRF on callback	state = PKCE challenge; redeem requires verifier
Wrong Console page	CLI button only on /xmemcli/<challenge>
Session token outliving the login	the email-path session cookie is held in process memory only — never printed, never on disk — and is discarded when the process exits; the token itself stays server-valid until its ~2-day expiry, so the containment is the CLI never letting it out of memory, not revocation
Session cookie over cleartext	the email path refuses non-https Console origins (loopback excepted), refuses every redirect on its cookie-carrying requests, and fails fast when a tunnelled Console marks its cookie Secure for an http:// origin
Unsolicited sign-in email initiation	server-side send limits per mailbox (enforced per server node, so the fleet-wide budget scales with node count); the email itself grants nothing without the inbox owner's Approve, and the CLI best-effort-cancels attempts it cannot complete
Approving someone else's email sign-in	user-mediated — the confirmation page leads with "only if this is your address" and states that approving lets the requesting device act on the account, including creating API keys; the stake is higher here than in the browser flow, because approving a CLI-started attempt ends in a durable API key, not a two-day browser session. The matching-code comparison that once narrowed this further is retired for now (the code still travels on the wire but no surface displays it). Approve only sign-ins you started.

Fixed port 9636 ("xmem" on phone keypad) allows SSH/devcontainer forwarding; security rests on PKCE, not port secrecy.

Quota (observe vs escalate)

xmemcli quota observes usage freely. Raising limits requires human approval in the Console — the CLI must not self-grant quota increases.

---

xmemcli — capabilities reference

Version: 0.0.10 (see xmemcli version)

xmemcli is the command-line client for the xmemory HTTP API. It is human-approved for key acquisition: an AI-assisted IDE may run reads, writes, and inventory, and may initiate auth login, but a key is only issued after one explicit human approval — a click in the Console UI (PKCE handoff) or an approval of a sign-in email (--email). Quota limits change only in the Console UI. The full acquisition contract is in the auth-flow reference bundled with this package.

xmemcli …   # installed CLI

---

Commands

Every command below has dedicated help — see Help.

Data

Command	Description
write <text>	Sync write (POST …/write). --extraction fast|deep (default fast). --no-wait queues async write, returns write_id. --scope TYPE:ID (repeatable) anchors the write to existing objects: only they may be modified/deleted, new objects and links to them are allowed, anything else fails; fast extraction only.
write-status <write_id> …	Poll async writes until terminal or --timeout (default 60s). Accepts multiple ids.
read <query>	Read from active instance. --read-mode single|raw|xresponse, --scope TYPE:ID (repeatable), --scope-relations.

Requires --instance-id or $XMEM_INSTANCE_ID for read/write (or auto-pick when exactly one instance is visible — see Global flags).

---

Org inventory

Permission-filtered view of what this API key can see.

Command	Description
org list clusters	Clusters visible to this credential
org list instances	Instances visible to this credential
org list keys	API keys visible to this credential (metadata only; plaintext never returned)

---

Instances

Command	Description
instance get <instance_id>	Fetch one instance
instance create	Create from XMD/JSON schema. Required --name; schema via --schema-file or --schema-stdin.
instance instructions [instance_id] [text] [--clear]	Read, set or clear the instance's standing instructions to an agent — the owner's own words, carried to every agent that connects it. No text and no --clear reads and changes nothing. Setting reads the current value first and writes with the epoch it read, so an edit composed against instructions someone has since replaced is refused rather than applied (the console form and the instance chat write the same field). Clearing is --clear; an empty string is refused, because that is what a shell substitutes for an unset variable. The id may be pinned with --instance-id or $XMEM_INSTANCE_ID and the text given alone — a lone positional that is not an id is read as the text.
instance setup [instance_id] [--format agent|project]	How to connect this instance to an agent, ordered for where it is likely to be used. Prints the same steps the get_setup_instructions MCP tool gives an agent, so a person and the agent beside them read the same thing. --format project additionally prints the shared setup files to commit; each teammate still approves the install and signs in once. Carries no credential.

---

Schema & XMD

XMD (xmemory Data) is the typed schema format for instances. These commands mirror the Console schema workflow (read/update/dry-run/migrations, LLM generate/enhance, and validation).

Command map

User task	CLI command	Notes
Read live schema	schema get [instance_id]	Live schema for one instance. -o writes YAML.
Apply migration	schema update [instance_id]	--schema-file, optional --migration-plan, --confirm-destructive.
Preview migration	schema dry-run [instance_id]	Same flags as schema update; returns planned DDL without applying.
List migrations	schema migrations list [instance_id]	Newest first. --limit, --before-id, --include-yaml.
Fetch one migration	schema migrations get [instance_id] <migration_id>	Optional positional instance id; else --instance-id / $XMEM_INSTANCE_ID. --include-yaml.
Review suggestions	schema suggestions review [instance_id]	Suggestion engine: consolidated proposal from read-traffic gaps.
Decide suggestions	schema suggestions decide [instance_id]	--proposal-version (required) + --accept/--reject/--defer/--file.
Apply suggestions	schema suggestions apply [instance_id]	--proposal-version plus mandatory --confirm-destructive; preview removals in Console first.
Enhance bound schema	xmd enhance --from-instance <description>	Uses live schema; requires instance id.
Synthesize schema	xmd generate <description>	Cluster-scoped LLM synthesis. -o writes YAML.
Enhance from file	xmd enhance [schema_file] <description>	From a file, or --from-instance for bound enhance. -o, --plan-output.
Create instance	instance create	--name, --schema-file or --schema-stdin.
Validate schema	xmd validate / validate-yaml / validate-json	Cluster-scoped server validation.
Convert JSON Schema	xmd convert	JSON Schema → XMD YAML via the API (validate_json_schema).

Not exposed in CLI (Console-only today): the suggestions before/after YAML preview.

Typical workflow

# 1. Synthesize or enhance
xmemcli xmd generate "people and their pets" -o schema.yml
xmemcli xmd enhance schema.yml "add a Pet.breed field" -o next.yml --plan-output plan.json

# 2. Validate before create or update
xmemcli xmd validate next.yml

# 3. Create instance OR migrate existing
xmemcli instance create --name demo --schema-file schema.yml
xmemcli schema dry-run INST_ID --schema-file next.yml --migration-plan plan.json
xmemcli schema update INST_ID --schema-file next.yml --migration-plan plan.json --confirm-destructive

# 4. Inspect history
xmemcli schema migrations list INST_ID
xmemcli schema migrations get INST_ID MIGRATION_UUID

# 5. Suggestion engine (from real read traffic) — confirm with the user before decide/apply
xmemcli schema suggestions review INST_ID
xmemcli schema suggestions decide INST_ID --proposal-version PV --accept FP1 --accept FP2
xmemcli schema suggestions apply INST_ID --proposal-version NEXT_PV --confirm-destructive

Commands

Command	Description
schema get [instance_id]	Live XMD schema. Optional -o file.
schema update [instance_id]	Replace schema from --schema-file. Optional --schema-type, --migration-plan, --confirm-destructive.
schema dry-run [instance_id]	Preview migration (same schema/plan flags as update).
schema migrations list [instance_id]	Applied migrations, newest first. --limit (default 50), --before-id, --include-yaml.
schema migrations get [instance_id] <migration_id>	One record. Optional positional instance id; else global instance flags. --include-yaml.
schema suggestions review [instance_id]	Consolidated proposal from read-traffic gaps. Returns proposal_version + items.
schema suggestions decide [instance_id]	Record accept/reject/defer. Requires --proposal-version plus fingerprints or --file.
schema suggestions apply [instance_id]	Apply accepted items as one migration. Requires --proposal-version and --confirm-destructive.
xmd generate <description>	LLM-synthesize XMD. Optional -o. Requires cluster resolution.
xmd enhance [schema_file] <description>	LLM-augment schema from file, or --from-instance for live schema. -o, --plan-output.
xmd validate <schema_file>	Validate; YAML vs JSON inferred from .json extension.
xmd validate-yaml <schema_file>	Force YAML validation endpoint.
xmd validate-json <schema_file>	Force JSON Schema validation endpoint.
xmd convert <json_schema_file>	JSON Schema → XMD YAML via the API (validate_json_schema). Optional -o, --root-object.

Instance id for schema * commands: positional [instance_id], else --instance-id / $XMEM_INSTANCE_ID.

---

Binding (local only — no network, no credential)

Which instances an agent working in this directory should know about, and how eagerly to engage each one. Stored in .xmemory.json, discovered by walking up from --binding-dir / $XMEM_BINDING_DIR (or the cwd), ceilinged at $HOME — the same rule .xmemrc.json has always used, and no git anywhere. From a start outside $HOME the walk checks that directory and stops, rather than climbing into a shared parent like /work or /tmp where another user's file could be planted. A session-start hook passes the project root explicitly, so it never depends on the walk at all. ~/.xmemory.json is consulted as the outermost scope whenever $HOME is the user's own rather than part of the tree being read. Where the session root is the home directory — a dotfiles repository, a devcontainer or an archive unpacked as $HOME — that file is treated as project scope like any other file inside the tree.

Unlike the rc — where the nearest file simply wins — every scope is merged, git-config style: ~/.xmemory.json supplies personal instances, a repository's committed .xmemory.json adds the team's, and the nearer file wins field by field on any instance both mention.

Command	Description
binding list	Merged view for this directory. --autoload lists only what a session-start hook would pull.
binding add <id>	Bind an instance, or update the binding it already has. --name, --purpose, --tier, --engage (repeatable), --scope.
binding remove <id>	Unbind from one scope. To silence an instance inherited from a wider scope, bind it here with --tier off instead.
context	Session-start pack for the autoload-tiered bindings here. --text prints the pack alone, --max-tokens, --no-live-state, --timeout. The only one of these that needs a credential.

Tiers: autoload (pull its context every session) · available (default; engage on demand) · off (bound but dormant).

Scopes: --scope project (default) writes the committable file — at an existing nearer binding, else the git work-tree root when git can say and the reader would actually look there, else the cwd. git only ever suggests: no git, or a directory that is not a checkout, is an ordinary state and never blocks a write. The one refusal left is when the target would resolve onto the home directory, which would write the user-scope file while calling it a project one. --scope user always writes ~/.xmemory.json.

context makes no request when nothing is tiered autoload, and resolves no credential either — a hook running on every session start must not error in a project that was never going to fetch anything. A server without the endpoint is treated as nothing to inject, so a client ahead of its deployment degrades quietly instead of failing every session, as does a binding this build cannot parse.

--timeout bounds the whole command. Not the request — everything: binding discovery, the credential preflight, the git provenance lookup, name resolution, TLS, response headers and body. It is a wall-clock limit, because it is the only bound a session-start hook has (POSIX sh has no portable timeout) and a bound with an exception in it is not one. Expiry degrades like every other failure: exit 0, empty pack, one warning: line naming the budget.

--text prints the pack and nothing else, for a caller that will wrap it. Do not point a hook at it directly: a hook's stdout is parsed as its control document on some events, so a pack that happened to be valid JSON would be read as control fields rather than injected. A companion editor-integration plugin wraps this output in the documented hook envelope its own client expects; it ships from a separate repository and is not part of this one.

No secrets. An instance id is not a credential, so a project .xmemory.json is written 0644 and is meant to be committed — the opposite of .xmemrc.json (0600, never committed). ~/.xmemory.json is written 0600: it stays on one machine, and on a shared host its instance names and purposes are nobody else's business.

Scope precedence has one exception: your own entries are a ceiling. A nearer scope normally wins field by field, but a project file arrives by git clone and is the less trusted of the two. So for any instance ~/.xmemory.json lists, a committed file may make it less eager, never more:

• Tier. Ranked autoload > available > off. A project may take your autoload down to available or off; it can never raise off to available, or available to autoload. An omitted tier in your file means available and binds as one — so binding add --scope user <id> with no --tier caps that instance at available everywhere. If you want a project's autoload to stand, say --tier autoload in your own file: your entry states the most eager you are willing to be, not merely that you know the id.
• engage. Replaced by a nearer scope for every other instance, but not for one of yours — otherwise a committed file could rewrite the cues attached to your own instance, which is a quieter version of raising its tier.

Everything else (name, purpose) still merges nearest-wins, and a project may always add detail to an instance you listed.

File format (v1). id is required; everything else is optional. Unknown keys are rejected, so a typo fails loudly rather than being ignored.

{
  "version": 1,
  "instances": [
    {
      "id": "9c421cd4-77ab-4a51-a7e3-b8fd5d09d394",
      "name": "Team Knowledge",
      "purpose": "shared dev conventions",
      "tier": "autoload",
      "engage": ["a convention is learned or corrected"]
    }
  ]
}

---

Auth & meta

Command	Description
auth login	PKCE via Console /xmemcli/<challenge> → .xmemrc.json. --no-browser, --timeout, --console-url. With --email ADDR (+ optional --org-name, used only when a new account is created; requires --email): headless email sign-in — one emailed approval, then the CLI mints its own org-wide key named CLI email login (<hostname>, <timestamp>); details in the auth-flow reference. New-organisation creation additionally requires the deployment to allow public registration. Payload shapes: a fresh email mint carries method: email, key_name, api_role, and org_created; the browser path carries method: pkce (no role/org fields); a matching --api-key or rc credential short-circuits to status: already_authorized with source: flag / rc (persisted: false on the flag arm, which saves nothing); a matching $XMEM_API_KEY is copied into the rc and reports status: authorized, source: environment. Exit codes follow the standard HTTP contract (401 → 4 with stage auth, 403 → 3 with stage permission, other HTTP/network/server-state failures → 3).
auth logout	Remove active .xmemrc.json
auth status	Call /whoami. No key → exit 0; bad key → auth error; good key → email + prefix.
mcp <instance-id>	Serve one instance to an MCP client over stdio, using this CLI's credential. Not for humans — see below.
version	CLI release version (no network)
status	Local health: version + whether .xmemrc.json exists (no network)

mcp is a transport, not a command you run. An MCP client starts it and speaks JSON-RPC to it over stdio; it forwards each frame to <mcp-url>/instance/<id> with this CLI's credential attached, and writes the answer back. Register it with claude mcp add <name> -- xmemcli mcp <instance-id> (or the equivalent for another client).

It exists because an MCP client can reference an environment variable in an Authorization header but cannot read .xmemrc.json. Reading the credential per connection means nothing is captured when the server is registered, so a configuration written today still works in a session opened next week with an empty environment.

Two consequences worth knowing:

• stdout is the protocol. Alone among these commands it emits no JSON document and honours neither --json nor the exit-code table above; its exit code is a process status. Diagnostics go to stderr.
• Signed out is reported, not fatal. Every request is answered with a JSON-RPC error naming auth login, because a client that is told only "the server failed to start" gives the reader nothing to act on. Exit code and stage do not apply.

Console /xmemcli routing:

• Onboarding → silent onboarding-key handoff to the CLI (no overlay, no button click).
• Post-onboarding → API Keys create modal → “Use this key in the CLI”.

---

Quota (read-only)

Command	Description
quota	Usage / limit / window start for the key's cluster (derived from instance → cluster).

• Default: exit 0 when quota is readable; stderr warning when usage is high.
• --fail-if-under THRESHOLD — exit 7 when remaining quota is below that share of the limit (0.1 or 10%). Distinct from exit 6 (API quota exhausted). See xmemcli help quota.

Quota increases are Console-only — see What xmemcli does not do.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
2	Usage error (bad flags, unknown help topic, missing required args)
3	HTTP / request failure — see HTTP status mapping (includes permission denied, other API errors, and unwritable -o paths)
4	Auth error — invalid or missing API key (401; stage: "auth")
5	Timeout
6	Quota exhausted (API quota-exceeded response; stage: "quota")
7	Quota headroom below --fail-if-under
130	Interrupted (Ctrl+C)

HTTP status → exit code and JSON stage

xmemcli mirrors the API's 401 vs 403 distinction on the process exit code and on the machine-readable stage field. This is the single contract for every command that performs an HTTP call (read/write, org list *, schema/XMD, quota, auth status, …) — with one deliberate exception, below.

context is exempt, by design — from the release that introduces context, which is the first one where this carve-out means anything. It is the one command nobody invokes: a session-start hook runs it unattended, and a non-zero exit there costs the user their session rather than their context. So every HTTP outcome — 401 and 403 included — exits 0 with an empty context and an explanatory warnings[] entry. Use auth status to tell a credential problem apart from an empty binding; context will not.

The exemption goes further than HTTP status. Any runtime failure inside context — a malformed binding, an unreadable response shape, a timeout, a bug nobody anticipated — exits 0 with an empty pack and a warning: line naming the cause. This is enforced in code rather than by enumerating failure modes, so an unforeseen one degrades like the rest.

And it is exempt from the one-JSON-document rule on stdout. Every other command emits a JSON error document in machine mode, including on usage errors. A piped, non---json context whose arguments fail to parse writes zero bytes to stdout and puts its reason on stderr instead, because a hook discards stdout at exit 2 — so a JSON error document there is a session start failing with no stated cause anywhere the user can see it. Usage and parse errors are the only paths that still exit 2; they are a mistake in the hook's own configuration, not a runtime condition, and the hook author is the one reading stderr.

Quick reference

API HTTP status	Shell exit code	JSON stage	Meaning
401	4	auth	Bad credential — missing, invalid, expired, or inactive API key
403	3	permission	Bad authorization — key is valid but this key/role cannot perform the operation
Other 4xx/5xx	3	request	Request failed for another reason (404, 422, 5xx, …)
402 (quota exhausted)	6	quota	Quota window exhausted — human must extend quota in Console

How to interpret failures

1. Exit 4 / stage: "auth" / HTTP 401 → fix the key: login again, rotate the key, check $XMEM_API_KEY / .xmemrc.json, confirm --api-url points at the environment that issued the key.
2. Exit 3 / stage: "permission" / HTTP 403 → the key works, but the operation needs a broader API role (for example data.write, instance.generate_schema, cluster.get_own). Do not treat this as a wrong password.
3. Exit 3 / stage: "request" → other HTTP failure (instance not found, validation error, server error). Read the error message and HTTP status in the JSON body.

Some commands attach a more specific stage (validate, usage, limit, …) while still using exit 3 unless the row above applies. The schema suggestions commands add their own stages: stale_proposal (re-run review for a fresh proposal_version), invalid_decision, dependency (accept the dangling dependencies first), not_initialised (submit a write first), and apply; review reports an evolution_in_progress condition as a successful status with exit 0.

Envelope errors (HTTP 200 with non-empty errors[]) are not HTTP 401/403; they typically exit 3 with stage: "request".

Breaking change in 0.0.5: HTTP 403 previously exited 4 (auth); it now exits 3 (permission). Scripts that treated exit 4 as “any auth-layer failure” must check stage or handle exit 3 for permission denials.

See also ACCOUNTS_AUTH.md for the server-side 401/403/404 rules.

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Help

xmemcli supports root -h / --help (same overview as bare xmemcli) and the help subcommand for nested topics.

Invocation	What you get
xmemcli	Full command overview (grouped list of every capability)
xmemcli help	Same as bare xmemcli
xmemcli help options	Global flags (--api-url, --api-key, --json, …)
xmemcli help <topic>	Usage, options, and subcommands for that topic
xmemcli <cmd> … -h / --help	Same as help <topic> for that command path

Unknown help topics exit 2 (same as other usage errors).

Every command in this document has help. Examples:

xmemcli help write
xmemcli help write-status
xmemcli help read
xmemcli help org
xmemcli help org list instances
xmemcli help instance create
xmemcli help schema
xmemcli help schema get
xmemcli help schema update
xmemcli help schema dry-run
xmemcli help schema migrations
xmemcli help schema migrations list
xmemcli help schema migrations get
xmemcli help schema suggestions
xmemcli help schema suggestions review
xmemcli help schema suggestions decide
xmemcli help schema suggestions apply
xmemcli help xmd
xmemcli help xmd generate
xmemcli help xmd enhance
xmemcli help xmd validate
xmemcli help xmd validate-yaml
xmemcli help xmd validate-json
xmemcli help xmd convert
xmemcli help auth login
xmemcli help quota
xmemcli help options

Nested topics work at any level that exists in the parser (help org, help org list, help org list keys, …). Unknown topics print a short error and suggest xmemcli or help options.

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What xmemcli does not do

Area	Use the Console instead
Quota increases	No quota request-increase. Observe with xmemcli quota; raise limits in Billing / Quotas UX.
Routine API key creation	Post-onboarding: API Keys UI (CLI opens that flow via /xmemcli).
Billing & plans	Console only
Users, roles, org admin	Console only
Instance chat / trace inspection	Console only
Cluster create/delete	CLI lists clusters; provisioning in Console
read --extraction deep	Server has no read-depth knob today
Raw REST proxy	Curated response fields only
Instance deletion	Human operators only — a hidden instance delete exists for interactive TTY use (type yes to confirm). It is omitted from help and must not be used by agents or automation. Console UI remains the primary human path.

On HTTP 402 (quota exhausted), stop and ask a human to extend quota in the Console.

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Global flags & environment

These apply before any subcommand (xmemcli help options).

Flag	Env var	Purpose
--api-url	XMEM_API_URL	API origin (default https://api.xmemory.ai)
--api-key	XMEM_API_KEY	Bearer API key
--instance-id	XMEM_INSTANCE_ID	Default instance for read/write and cluster derivation
--rc-dir	XMEM_RC_DIR	Where auth login writes .xmemrc.json; reads walk up toward $HOME
--binding-dir	XMEM_BINDING_DIR	Where binding commands look for .xmemory.json; reads walk up toward $HOME and merge every scope
--json	—	Force one JSON document on stdout
--verbose	—	Add trace_id / console_url when present (never SQL, diff plans, or internals)

Credential resolution: --api-key → $XMEM_API_KEY → nearest .xmemrc.json → Not logged in — run xmemcli auth login first.

context is the one exception, and it is a security boundary. Every other command walks up from the current directory for the nearest .xmemrc.json, which is deliberate: a person chose that directory and ran the command in it. context has neither — a session-start hook runs it unattended, in whatever tree the editor happened to open — so it resolves the credential from $HOME only, and consults a project .xmemrc.json only when the caller named that source explicitly with --api-key / $XMEM_API_KEY or --rc-dir / $XMEM_RC_DIR. Without the pin, a cloned repository could ship a key and an origin and have both used automatically. This is a rule rather than a detector: earlier versions tried to detect a checkout-supplied credential and each delivery mechanism turned out to be a fresh bypass.

Origin resolution: --api-url → $XMEM_API_URL → rc api_url → default — with one escape hatch: when the key comes from --api-key / $XMEM_API_KEY (not from the rc), the rc's api_url is not consulted and the origin falls back to the built-in default (https://api.xmemory.ai) unless you also set --api-url / $XMEM_API_URL. That keeps an explicitly supplied key from being silently paired with an unrelated origin in a project .xmemrc.json. If $XMEM_API_KEY is set without $XMEM_API_URL, the CLI warns once per invocation.

Instance resolution (read/write): --instance-id → $XMEM_INSTANCE_ID → if exactly one instance is visible, auto-select with a stderr warning → else error.

Output: Pipes and non-TTY stdout → JSON. Interactive TTY → one-line summaries unless --json.