CLI Commands

CLI Commands

All commands accept --config path/to/config.yaml (default: config.yaml in current directory).

Daemon Management

Command	Description
alfred up	Start all daemons in background
alfred up --foreground	Start attached to terminal (for dev/debug)
alfred up --live	Start with real-time TUI dashboard (Textual)
alfred up --only curator,janitor	Start only specific tools
alfred down	Stop all background daemons
alfred status	Show per-tool status overview
alfred tui	Launch standalone Ink TUI dashboard (requires Node.js)

How alfred up Works

alfred up (without flags) daemonizes by re-executing itself with an internal flag. It writes a PID file to data/alfred.pid and detaches from the terminal.

alfred up --foreground stays attached and prints log output to the terminal. Useful for development and debugging.

alfred up --live starts the Live Dashboard — a Textual TUI showing a 2x2 grid of per-worker interpreted feeds with health indicators, pipeline step tracking, and LLM usage stats.

alfred tui launches the standalone Ink TUI dashboard — a Node.js-based terminal UI with sparklines, inline progress bars, pipeline visualizations, and hex color theming. It reads the same data/ files as --live but runs as a separate process. Requires Node.js 18+.

alfred down creates a sentinel file (data/alfred.stop) and sends SIGTERM. The orchestrator catches the signal and gracefully shuts down all workers.

Batch Processing

Command	Description
alfred process	Batch-process all inbox files
alfred process -j 8	Use 8 parallel workers (default: 4)
alfred process -n 10	Process only first 10 files
alfred process --dry-run	Preview what would be processed

Batch processing uses a Rich progress display and runs multiple curator pipelines in parallel. Useful for initial vault population or catching up on a large inbox.

Bulk Import

Command	Description
alfred ingest <file>	Split ChatGPT/Anthropic JSON export into inbox files
alfred ingest <file> --dry-run	Preview without writing

Supports conversation export formats from ChatGPT and Anthropic. Each conversation becomes a separate inbox file.

Individual Tool Commands

Curator

Command	Description
alfred curator	Run curator daemon in foreground

The curator also runs as part of alfred up. For standalone use, it watches the inbox and processes files as they appear.

Janitor

Command	Description
alfred janitor scan	One-shot structural scan, print report
alfred janitor fix	Scan + apply fixes (with agent for deep issues)
alfred janitor watch	Run periodic sweep daemon

scan is read-only and fast — it just reports issues. fix actually modifies files. watch runs both light and deep sweeps on configurable intervals.

Distiller

Command	Description
alfred distiller scan	Find extraction candidates and print scores
alfred distiller run	Scan + extract knowledge records
alfred distiller watch	Run periodic extraction daemon

scan analyzes vault records for keyword signals indicating latent knowledge. run processes the top candidates through the full extraction pipeline.

Surveyor

Command	Description
alfred surveyor	Run full embed/cluster/label/write pipeline

The surveyor runs its 4-stage pipeline once and exits. As part of alfred up, it runs as a daemon with configurable intervals.

Temporal (Kinetic Layer)

Requires pip install alfred-vault[temporal] and a running Temporal server.

Command	Description
alfred temporal worker	Start the workflow worker (connects to Temporal, runs workflows)
alfred temporal run <workflow>	Trigger a one-off workflow execution
alfred temporal run <workflow> --params '{"key": "value"}'	Trigger with JSON parameters
alfred temporal run <workflow> --id my-run-id	Trigger with a custom workflow ID
alfred temporal schedule register <file>	Register cron schedules from a Python file
alfred temporal schedule list	List registered schedules
alfred temporal list	List discovered workflow definitions

The worker discovers workflows from directories configured in temporal.workflow_dirs plus bundled examples. See Kinetic Layer for details on writing workflows and schedules.

Vault Operations

Direct CRUD operations on vault records:

Command	Description
alfred vault create <type> <name>	Create a new record
alfred vault read <path>	Read a record (JSON output)
alfred vault edit <path>	Edit record fields
alfred vault list [type]	List records, optionally filtered by type
alfred vault search --grep <pattern>	Search vault content
alfred vault move <old> <new>	Move/rename a record
alfred vault delete <path>	Delete a record
alfred vault context	Print vault summary (used by agents)

Vault Create Options

alfred vault create project "My Project" \
  --set status=active \
  --set 'client="[[org/Acme Corp]]"' \
  --body-stdin < body.md

• --set key=value — set frontmatter fields
• --body-stdin — read body content from stdin
• Without --body-stdin, the template body (with base-view embeds) is used automatically

Vault Edit Options

alfred vault edit project/My\ Project.md \
  --set status=completed \
  --append related='[[project/Other]]' \
  --body-append "## New Section\nContent here"

• --set key=value — overwrite a field
• --append key=value — append to a list field
• --body-append text — append text to the body

Exec

Run external commands with vault environment variables injected:

alfred exec -- <command>               # injects ALFRED_VAULT_PATH
alfred exec --scope curator -- <cmd>   # also sets ALFRED_VAULT_SCOPE

Environment variables injected:

• ALFRED_VAULT_PATH — absolute path to the vault
• ALFRED_VAULT_SCOPE — tool scope (restricts which operations are allowed)
• ALFRED_VAULT_SESSION — path to mutation log session file

Quickstart

alfred quickstart

Interactive wizard that scaffolds a new vault and writes configuration. See Installation for details.