CLI

naute is built for agent use.

The naute CLI is the direct path to your notes from a terminal. If you use Claude Code, the agent discovers naute on your PATH and runs commands without any MCP setup.

Install

Install the Naute desktop app. The bundled CLI becomes available as naute once the app launches. The CLI talks to the embedded API in the desktop app, so keep the app open while you run commands.

Quick start

Confirm the CLI can reach Naute, then run your first commands.

naute doctor
naute search "release notes"
naute note create '# Launch notes\n\nDraft plan'

Using with Claude Code

With the desktop app running, Claude Code can run naute commands directly — no MCP configuration required. Pass --format json so the agent receives structured output it can parse reliably. 

naute search "q3 roadmap" --format json
naute note get <id> --format json
naute note append <id> --content '## Follow-up items'
naute folder list --tree --format json

When Claude is running outside a terminal (Claude Desktop, claude.ai, Cursor) or the desktop app is closed, use the MCP path instead.

Common workflows

naute search "launch plan" --folder 'projects/*'
naute note move <id> projects/client-a
echo '## Follow-up' | naute note append <id>
naute folder list --tree
naute attachment upload <note_id> ./diagram.png

Remote image URLs

Note bodies can render images only from Naute attachments. If a note write contains a Markdown or HTML image with an http or https URL, pass --import-remote-images to download the image, store it as an attachment, and rewrite the note body to attachments/<id>.<ext>.

naute note create '# Profile\n\n![Avatar](https://example.com/avatar.png)' --import-remote-images
echo '<img src="https://example.com/chart.png" />' | naute note append <id> --import-remote-images
cat article.md | naute pipe --folder research --import-remote-images

Without this flag, remote image references are rejected so notes do not depend on external image URLs that can change or disappear.

Global options

--format human|json
Choose readable terminal output or structured JSON for scripts. Default: human. Example: naute note list --format json.
--quiet
Suppress non-essential output when a script only needs success or failure. Example: naute note delete <id> --quiet.

Command reference

Read Write

System & utilities

naute doctor Diagnose whether the CLI can reach Naute.
naute health Print the basic health response from Naute.
naute status Show counts of notes, tags, links, and attachments.
naute search Search note titles and bodies. --folder filter optional.
naute pipe Create a note from stdin. --folder and --import-remote-images optional.
naute open Open a note in the desktop app.
naute diff Compare a note with its previous version.
naute completions Generate shell completion scripts (bash, zsh, fish).

Notes

naute note get Fetch one note, including body and metadata.
naute note list List notes. --folder filter optional.
naute note create Create a note from inline markdown. --folder and --import-remote-images optional.
naute note update Replace title, body, and tags. --import-remote-images optional.
naute note move Move a note to another folder.
naute note append Append markdown to a note. Reads stdin without --content; --import-remote-images optional.
naute note prepend Prepend markdown to a note. Reads stdin without --content; --import-remote-images optional.
naute note delete Move a note to trash.
naute note restore Restore a trashed note.

Folders

naute folder list List folders represented by notes. --tree for nested view.

Tags

naute tag list List tags.
naute tag create Create a tag.
naute tag rename Rename a tag.
naute tag update Update a tag name.
naute tag delete Delete a tag definition.

Links

naute link backlinks List notes that link to this one.
naute link forward List notes referenced by this one.

Attachments

naute attachment list List attachments for a note.
naute attachment upload Upload a file attachment to a note.
naute attachment download Download an attachment to a local path.
naute attachment delete Delete an attachment.

Versions

naute version list List version history for a note.
naute version get Fetch one historical version of a note.

Run naute <command> --help for full argument signatures and flags.

Tips

  • Use --format json when a script or agent needs structured output.
  • Use --quiet when a script only needs success or failure.
  • Use stdin for longer note content, for example cat meeting.md | naute pipe --folder meetings.
  • If a command cannot reach Naute, make sure the desktop app is open and run naute doctor.
  • Every command has built-in help: naute --help, naute note --help, etc.