Command Reference

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Reference for fnord CLI commands. Commands with dedicated documentation link to it; everything else is covered here.

ask

Ask the AI a question about the project. This is the primary command - most fnord usage flows through it.

fnord ask -q "how does the auth middleware work?"
fnord ask -q "refactor the config module" --edit
fnord ask -q "continue from here" --follow <uuid>

See Ask Options for the full list of flags and options.

index

Index (or re-index) a project's files for semantic search and AI context.

Commit indexing: when a project is a git repository, fnord indexes commits as part of the same run. Foreground indexing computes real embeddings for commits and displays a progress bar; the background commit indexer continues processing and emits a concise per-commit log line. Commits are enumerated by walking from HEAD. Commit index data is stored under $HOME/.fnord/projects/<project>/commits. Note that this index is not exposed via the search command, but is available to the coordinator LLM as an internal tool during fnord ask sessions.

fnord index
fnord index --dir /path/to/project
fnord index --reindex
fnord index --exclude "vendor/*" --exclude "*.min.js"
  • --dir / -d DIR - project root directory (required on first index or after moving)
  • --exclude / -x PATTERN - glob pattern to exclude (repeatable, persisted to config)
  • --reindex / -r - force full rebuild of the index
  • --quiet / -Q - suppress progress bar, log file names instead
  • --yes / -y - assume yes to all prompts

On first run, fnord asks for the project root directory (or uses --dir). Subsequent runs detect new, changed, and deleted files automatically.

--reindex deletes all existing entries before rebuilding. --exclude patterns are stored in project config and apply to all future runs.

After indexing, fnord offers to prime the knowledge base if no research notes exist yet.

Perform a semantic search across indexed files.

fnord search -q "authentication middleware"
fnord search -q "error handling" --limit 20 --detail
  • --query / -q QUERY - search query (required)
  • --limit / -l N - max results (default: 10)
  • --detail - include AI-generated file summaries in output

Output is tab-separated: similarity score and file path.

files

List all indexed files in the current project.

fnord files
fnord files --relpath
  • --relpath / -r - print paths relative to cwd instead of stored paths

projects

List all known projects.

fnord projects

No options. Prints one project name per line.

conversations

List, search, or prune conversations.

fnord conversations
fnord conversations -q "worktree setup" --limit 10
fnord conversations --prune 30
fnord conversations --prune <uuid>
  • --query / -q QUERY - semantic search across conversations
  • --limit / -l N - max search results (default: 5)
  • --prune / -P VALUE - prune by age (integer = days) or delete a specific conversation (uuid)

Default output (no options) lists all conversations as JSON with id, timestamp, question, file, and length.

Pruning by age requires interactive confirmation and cannot be undone.

replay

Replay a saved conversation to stdout.

fnord replay --conversation <uuid>
  • --conversation / -c UUID - conversation id to replay (required)

fnord ask --follow <uuid> --replay offers the same replay behavior from the ask workflow.

summary

Show the AI-generated summary and code outline for an indexed file.

fnord summary -f lib/settings.ex
  • --file / -f FILE - file path to summarize (required)

torch

Permanently delete a project from the store.

fnord torch

Irreversible. Deletes all indexed data, conversations, and notes for the project.

config

See Configuration Reference for config set, config list, validation rule management, MCP subcommands, and related subcommands.

Approval-specific commands:

fnord config approvals
fnord config approvals --global
fnord config approve --kind shell --global "mix"
fnord config approve --kind shell_full "git status"

See Approval Patterns for the full guide.

frobs

See Frobs Developer Guide.

skills

See Skills.

memory

List or search across memory scopes (session, project, global).

fnord memory
fnord memory -q "validation rules"
fnord memory --global

notes

List facts about the project inferred from prior research conversations.

fnord notes
fnord notes --reset

prime

Prime fnord's research notes with basic information about the project by running an initial indexing pass.

fnord prime

worktrees

Manage fnord-managed git worktrees for conversations.

fnord worktrees list
fnord worktrees create --conversation <uuid>
fnord worktrees create --conversation <uuid> --branch feature-name
fnord worktrees delete --conversation <uuid>
fnord worktrees view --conversation <uuid>
fnord worktrees merge --conversation <uuid>

See Worktrees for lifecycle details and how these commands interact with fnord ask --edit.