Quill CLI

High-UX command line access to Quill Meetings, backed by the local Quill MCP server.

The CLI is designed for two audiences:

Humans get interactive browsing, short aliases, readable tables, and no UUID copy/paste for common flows.
Agents and scripts get compact structured output, --json, stable errors, pagination hints, and no prompts.

Install

Run the CLI without installing it globally:

npx @quillmeetings/cli init
npx @quillmeetings/cli doctor

Or install it globally:

npm i -g @quillmeetings/cli
quill init

For local development from this repo:

npm link
quill --help

Or run without linking:

node bin/quill.js --help

Prerequisite: Enable Quill MCP Bridge (In Desktop App)

The CLI talks to Quill through a local MCP bridge that ships with the Quill desktop app. Don't have Quill yet? Download it from quillmeetings.com. Install Quill desktop, sign in, and enable the MCP server in Quill Settings -> MCP / Integrations.

The default bridge path is platform-aware:

macOS:   ~/Library/Application Support/Quill/mcp-stdio-bridge.js
Windows: %APPDATA%\Quill\mcp-stdio-bridge.js

The CLI uses built-in defaults and does not need a config file for the happy path. To write the default config and check the bridge path:

quill init

To diagnose setup problems without running a meeting command:

quill doctor

If your bridge is elsewhere, point the CLI at it:

quill config set mcp.args '["/path/to/mcp-stdio-bridge.js"]'

The equivalent MCP client config looks like:

{
  "quill": {
    "command": "node",
    "args": ["<absolute path to mcp-stdio-bridge.js>"]
  }
}

Human Workflow

Start with the interactive picker:

quill init
quill doctor
quill browse
quill meetings browse --limit 20
quill meetings browse --search "roadmap"

Keyboard controls:

From the list
  up/down, j/k    Move selection
  Enter           View selected meeting
  n               Open notes/minutes
  t               Open transcript
  a               Generate action-item note after confirmation
  f               Generate follow-up note after confirmation
  y               Confirm note generation
  /               Search (live filter while typing, Enter fetches from server)
  ?               Toggle help
  q or Esc        Quit (Esc first clears active search/filter)

From a detail panel
  b or Esc        Back to the list
  up/down, j/k    Scroll the panel one line
  PgUp/PgDn       Scroll the panel eight lines
  c               Copy the current panel content to clipboard
  n               Switch to notes
  t               Switch to transcript
  a               Generate action-item note after confirmation
  f               Generate follow-up note after confirmation
  y               Confirm note generation
  Enter           Re-open the meeting view
  ?               Toggle help
  q               Quit

Browse uses an Ink-powered fullscreen terminal UI with color, keyboard navigation, viewport-aware lists, scrollable detail panels, clipboard copy, and confirmation screens for generated notes. This is intentionally separate from normal command output, which defaults to human tables and supports compact TOON/JSON for agents.

Commands that need a meeting ID also open the picker in a real terminal:

quill notes
quill transcript

Short aliases:

quill ls                 # meetings list
quill v <id>             # meetings view
quill <id>               # meetings view
quill n <id>             # notes
quill t <id>             # transcript

Common Commands

quill doctor
quill meetings list --limit 10
quill meetings list --today
quill meetings view <id>
quill notes <id>
quill summarize <id>
quill note create <id> --prompt "Summarize risks and blockers"
quill note create <id> "Summarize risks and blockers"            # positional prompt
quill note create <id> --template <template-id> --instruction "Focus on next steps"
quill actions <id> --instruction "Group by owner"
quill followup <id> --instruction "Tone: friendly, ready to send"
quill transcript <id>
quill search "roadmap risk" --since "last week"
quill contacts list --search "Jane"
quill threads list --include-meetings
quill events list --limit 10
quill templates list --kind minutes

Agent Mode

Agent mode disables interactive prompts and keeps output machine-oriented. Without --json or --human, agent mode defaults to compact TOON output.

quill meetings list --json
quill search "pricing" --json
quill notes <id> --json
quill meetings list --agent                # TOON by default
quill meetings list --agent --human        # force human tables in agent mode

Enable it globally:

quill config set agent.enabled true

Global flags:

--json                  Print structured JSON and enable agent mode
--agent                 Disable interactive prompts and human formatting
--no-agent              Override agent.enabled from config for one command
--human, --table        Force human table output when not using --json
--fields <a,b,c>        Select list fields
--full                  Disable large text truncation
--truncate <chars>      Large text truncation limit
-o, --format <fmt>      Select output format: human, toon, or json
-l, --limit <n>         Default result limit
-h, --help              Show help
-v, --version           Show version

Interactive browsing is disabled in agent mode. quill browse --json returns a structured error instead of prompting:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "interactive_unavailable",
    "message": "Interactive browsing is disabled in agent mode. Use `quill meetings list --json`."
  }
}

LLM Agent Usage

LLM agents should use --json for deterministic output and should avoid interactive commands.

Recommended preflight:

quill doctor --json

Common agent-safe commands:

quill meetings list --json --limit 10
quill meetings list --json --today
quill search "pricing risk" --json --limit 5
quill meetings view <meeting-id> --json
quill notes <meeting-id> --json
quill transcript <meeting-id> --json --full
quill actions <meeting-id> --json --instruction "Group by owner"
quill followup <meeting-id> --json --instruction "Tone: concise and ready to send"

Agent rules:

Always pass --json when another program will parse the result.
Do not call quill browse; it requires a real terminal.
If setup fails, run quill doctor --json and follow the first remediation.
Use --fields to reduce context for list commands.
Use --full only when the complete transcript or note body is needed.
Use quill mcp tools --json and quill mcp schema <tool> --json only when curated commands do not cover the task.

See SKILL.md for a compact agent instruction file that can be copied into agent systems such as local agent runners, Claude Code, or Codex.

Shell Automation

Use --json with jq for scripts:

quill meetings list --json --limit 5 \
  | jq -r '.result.meetings[]? | [.id, .title, .date] | @tsv'

Fetch notes for today's meetings:

quill meetings list --json --today \
  | jq -r '.result.meetings[]?.id' \
  | while read -r id; do
      quill notes "$id" --json
    done

Search meetings and print IDs:

quill search "customer renewal" --json --limit 10 \
  | jq -r '.result.meetings[]?.id'

Fail fast in CI or cron:

set -euo pipefail
quill doctor --json >/dev/null
quill meetings list --json --limit 1 >/dev/null

For repeatable scripts, prefer command flags over persistent config. Precedence is: command flags > environment variables > config file > built-in defaults.

Output

Default output is human-readable. Lists render as tables in normal CLI use. Use --format toon for compact, YAML-like output that's cheap on LLM context, or --json for machine consumers.

Default human output:

Meetings (1)
id                                    title    date        duration
------------------------------------  -------  ----------  --------
36dc4314-b6dc-4950-88ee-1b33556a6578  jtbd II  2 days ago  92min

Run `quill meetings view <id>`
Run `quill transcript <id> --full`
Run `quill search "<query>"`

Compact TOON output:

quill meetings list --limit 1 --format toon

tool: search_meetings
result:
  count: 1
  meetings[1]{id,title,date,duration}:
    36dc...,jtbd II,2026-05-13T17:32:28.579Z,92min
  next_offset: 1
help[3]:
  Run `quill meetings view <id>`
  Run `quill transcript <id> --full`
  Run `quill search "<query>"`

JSON output:

quill meetings list --limit 1 --json

Ask for more fields only when needed:

quill meetings list --fields id,title,tags,url

Get concise help for a specific command:

quill meetings --help
quill browse --help
quill transcript --help

Config

Persistent settings live in JSON:

~/.config/quill-cli/config.json

Use QUILL_CONFIG=/path/to/config.json to point the CLI at a different config file for tests or one-off runs. Precedence is: command flags > environment variables > config file > built-in defaults.

quill config path
quill config init
quill config show
quill config get mcp.mutation_timeout_ms
quill config set mcp.mutation_timeout_ms 180000
quill config set mcp.args '["/path/to/mcp-stdio-bridge.js"]'

quill init is the guided setup command. It creates the config only if it is missing, then runs the same setup checks as quill doctor.

The only Quill-specific environment overrides are:

QUILL_CONFIG=/path/to/config.json
QUILL_AGENT_MODE=1
QUILL_DEBUG=1

Raw MCP Access

The curated commands cover common Quill workflows. Raw MCP remains available for discovery and debugging:

quill mcp tools
quill mcp schema <tool>
quill mcp call <tool> --input '{"key":"value"}'

Shell Completion

quill completion zsh
quill completion bash
quill completion fish

Completion covers commands and subcommands. Meeting IDs are not currently completed.

Design Principles

Prefer curated meeting workflows over raw MCP tool sprawl.
Avoid UUID copy/paste for humans.
Keep agent output compact, structured, and prompt-free.
Default to 3-4 list fields, with --fields for extra context.
Truncate large strings by default, with --full as the escape hatch.
Use help[] hints to make next actions discoverable.
Keep raw MCP available as an escape hatch.

Development

npm run check    # node --check on every source file
npm run smoke    # `quill --help` exits cleanly
npm test         # run the unit-test suite
node bin/quill.js mcp tools

The test suite uses Node's built-in node:test and node:assert — no external test framework. Files live in test/ and cover the highest-leverage code:

test/mcp-client.test.js — MCP result parsing and client error handling.
test/tool-router.test.js — fuzzy alias matching in findTool and key remapping in buildArgs.
test/format.test.js — shapeForOutput, toHuman, toToon, truncateText, etc.

To run a single file: node --test test/mcp-client.test.js.

Useful debug commands:

QUILL_DEBUG=1 node bin/quill.js mcp tools
node bin/quill.js config set mcp.timeout_ms 30000
node bin/quill.js config set mcp.mutation_timeout_ms 180000
node bin/quill.js config set mcp.max_buffer_bytes 20971520
node bin/quill.js mcp schema search_meetings --json

Code layout:

bin/quill.js          CLI entrypoint and top-level error handling
src/cli.js            command parsing, routing, help, and MCP command wiring
src/browser.js        Ink-powered interactive meeting browser
src/config.js         JSON config defaults, path resolution, get/set helpers
src/doctor.js         First-run diagnostics for Quill desktop and MCP setup
src/mcp-client.js     Quill MCP bridge client and result parsing
src/format.js         TOON/JSON/human output shaping, truncation, field selection
src/tool-router.js    curated command to MCP tool mapping

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Trademarks

Quill and Quill Meetings are trademarks of Quill Meetings. See TRADEMARKS.md.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 17 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
bin		bin
docs		docs
src		src
test		test
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
RELEASING.md		RELEASING.md
SKILL.md		SKILL.md
TRADEMARKS.md		TRADEMARKS.md
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json

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Quill CLI

Install

Prerequisite: Enable Quill MCP Bridge (In Desktop App)

Human Workflow

Common Commands

Agent Mode

LLM Agent Usage

Shell Automation

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Config

Raw MCP Access

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Design Principles

Development

License

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Quill CLI

Install

Prerequisite: Enable Quill MCP Bridge (In Desktop App)

Human Workflow

Common Commands

Agent Mode

LLM Agent Usage

Shell Automation

Output

Config

Raw MCP Access

Shell Completion

Design Principles

Development

License

Trademarks

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