Lemma User
You are operating inside an existing pod — use its resources (tables, files,
functions, agents, workflows, connectors) to get work done for the user. You are
not redesigning the pod; that's the lemma-builder skill.
This is the operator companion to lemma-builder: the runtime view of the same
model. For the model itself, read lemma-builder/references/pod-model.md — this
doc grounds in it and assumes it.
The model, from the operator's seat
(Grounds in pod-model.md.) A pod is one team's workspace under one permission
boundary. What that means when you run commands:
- You act as a specific user. Whether a human at a terminal or an agent on
someone's behalf, every call carries your identity. A workload (function or
agent) runs under delegated identity — it acts as the user who invoked it,
never as a service account. So
/me and row visibility always resolve to that
user.
- RLS scopes what you see. On an RLS table (the per-user default) you see
and edit only your own rows — another member's row is invisible (a fetch
returns
404, a list omits it). On a shared table (enable_rls: false)
everyone sees the same rows. This holds for everyone, admins included; reading
across all users' rows needs an explicit mode=ADMIN opt-in (admin-gated, not
the default flow). The read-only query API enforces RLS the same way.
/me is your private tree. /me/... resolves to your own file subtree
(owner-only). Every other path is pod-shared — top-level folders like
/knowledge, /contracts. There is no /pod prefix: a path is shared
unless it's under /me. Folder grants cascade to everything beneath them.- Missing access has two shapes. A human without the pod role gets a
permission error; a workload missing a grant gets
MISSING_WORKLOAD_RESOURCE_GRANT (naming the resource a builder must grant).
Put user-facing deliverables in /me (or the appropriate shared folder) — never
leave the only copy in a local temp path.
Orient first
lemma pods list # marks the currently active pod
lemma pods describe # full inventory: tables, agents, functions, workflows, schedules, apps
Workspace sessions inject LEMMA_TOKEN, LEMMA_BASE_URL, LEMMA_ORG_ID,
LEMMA_POD_ID (and LEMMA_WORKSPACE_URL) — use them; never invent bootstrap
config. (Outside an injected workspace — e.g. running the CLI on a laptop —
project-root .lemma.<server>.env files supply the same LEMMA_* values per
server for that folder; injected/real env always takes precedence.) Default output is a compact,
complete table/detail view (schemas
included) — prefer it; it costs far fewer tokens than JSON. Use --output json
only to pipe/save, and --full to expand folded fields. Pass payloads with
--data '<json>' (-d) or --file path.json (-f); target another pod with
--pod <id-or-slug>; add --yes for destructive commands in automation. CLI
groups are plural (lemma files, lemma tables, lemma records, …); the
singular alias (lemma file, lemma table) is the same command.
For multi-step scripting prefer the Python SDK over chained CLI calls:
from lemma_sdk import Pod
pod = Pod.from_env() # auth + pod from the environment
Files — the pod is a searchable knowledge base
This is the area you'll lean on most. Uploaded documents are auto-indexed —
the pod is the RAG system. PDF/DOC/DOCX/ODT/RTF/Markdown/text/HTML/EPUB are
extracted, chunked, embedded, and converted to page-marked markdown on upload.
Data/binary (CSV, JSON, XLSX, images, email) are stored but never indexed —
they won't appear in search. So: search to find, cat to read, child + view-image
to see.
Because the pod auto-produces a document's markdown, page images, and figures, read
those first (the commands below) — never re-parse a pod file. Reach for the
liteparse-documents skill (lit) only for a document from outside the pod (e.g. a
PDF an agent fetched from the web) or as a fallback when a pod file's derived
artifact is missing or insufficient (scanned/OCR, bounding boxes).
Search — find the relevant passages
lemma files search "refund policy" --scope /knowledge # HYBRID, folder + all subfolders
lemma files search "termination clause" --scope /contracts --method VECTOR # semantic only
lemma files search "invoice 4471" --scope /inbox --method TEXT --direct # keyword, immediate children only
Results are ranked passages with page numbers, so you can jump straight to
cat … --pages N. --scope + the default SUBTREE (folder and everything
beneath) is your retrieval lever — scope a search to one knowledge folder to keep
it tight. --method is HYBRID (default), VECTOR (semantic), or TEXT
(keyword); --direct limits to a folder's immediate children. Reach for search
before reading whole files or guessing.
Read — cat is page- and mode-aware
lemma files cat /knowledge/handbook.pdf # auto: raw text for .md/.txt, converted markdown for PDF/DOCX/…
lemma files cat /knowledge/handbook.pdf --pages 3-7 # 1-based page slice over the converted markdown (great for long books)
lemma files cat /me/notes/log.md --lines 10-50 # 1-based line slice over raw text
lemma files cat /knowledge/handbook.pdf --mode markdown # force converted markdown (errors if not a document)
lemma files cat /scratch/data.csv --mode text # raw bytes (binary → flagged, not dumped)
--mode is auto (default) / text / markdown. Output is capped at ~50,000
chars by default (matching the in-process agent tool); widen with --max-chars 0
(unlimited), --max-lines N, --max-tokens N, or --full, or narrow with
--pages / --lines. The payload reports page_count, the returned range, and a
truncated flag so you know when to page — page-range slicing is how you read a
long document without blowing the budget.
lemma files download /knowledge/handbook.pdf ./handbook.md --markdown # save converted markdown
lemma files download /knowledge/handbook.pdf ./handbook.pdf # exact original bytes
See — child page images + view-image
A processed document exposes hidden child artifacts at <file-path>/<artifact>:
lemma files children /knowledge/handbook.pdf # list them
lemma files child /knowledge/handbook.pdf/document.md --pages 3-7 # page-marked markdown range
lemma files child /knowledge/handbook.pdf/pages/page_0003.jpg ./p3.jpg # fetch a rendered page image
…/document.md — page-marked converted markdown (<!-- PAGE n -->)…/pages/page_0001.jpg … — rendered page images (1-based)…/images/image_0.png … — extracted figures
Use view-image to actually see a pod file. Those rendered page JPEGs (and any
uploaded image) are exactly what the view-image capability reads — fetch one
with files child (or a URL with files url) and view it to see a chart, a
signature, a scanned form, a layout. This also works on workspace files
directly. So: "what does page 3 look like?" → files child …/pages/page_0003.jpg
→ view-image; "what does it say?" → files cat … --pages 3.
Write & transfer
lemma files mkdir /knowledge
lemma files upload ./report.md /me/reports/report.md # documents auto-index
lemma files upload ./data.csv /scratch/data.csv --no-search # skip indexing
lemma files write /me/notes/draft.md "first line" # create/overwrite (or pipe via stdin)
lemma files append /me/notes/draft.md "next line" # append (read-modify-write, last writer wins)
lemma files ls /knowledge ; lemma files tree /
lemma files stat /knowledge/handbook.pdf # metadata incl. indexing status
lemma files mv /me/notes/draft.md /me/notes/final.md
lemma files rm /scratch/data.csv
Indexing lags briefly after upload — stat shows status (COMPLETED =
searchable, NOT_REQUIRED = stored but not an indexed document,
PENDING/PROCESSING/FAILED).
Link to a file — pick by who opens it
lemma files url /reports/summary.pdf # app_url (in-app, signed-in member) + short-lived download url
lemma files share /reports/summary.pdf --ttl 3h --max-hits 50 # public, no-login, expiring + hit-capped
url returns an app_url deep-link for pod members (must be logged in) plus a
short-lived raw download url. share mints a public link anyone can open
without logging in — it expires (--ttl = 30m/3h/24h; default 3h, max 24h)
and stops serving after --max-hits downloads (default 50, max 100), bounding
egress if it leaks. Emailing/messaging someone outside the pod → share; pointing
a member at a file in the app → url. (In a function or agent, the same via the
SDK: pod.files.get_url(path) / pod.files.create_signed_url(path, …).)
Tables, records, query
lemma tables list
lemma tables get tickets # schema: columns, types, enums
lemma records list tickets --limit 20
lemma records get tickets <record-id>
lemma records create tickets --data '{"title":"New item","status":"new"}'
lemma records update tickets <record-id> --data '{"status":"done"}'
lemma query run "select status, count(*) as total from tickets group by status"
Read the table schema before writing — ENUM columns reject values outside
options. Prefer query run (a read-only SELECT subset — one SELECT, no writes)
for aggregates and joins instead of paging records; it reads across any tables,
including RLS tables, where it returns only your own rows (RLS scopes every caller
the same way). To read across all users' rows on an RLS table you'd pass
mode=ADMIN — admin-gated, not the default, and agents never use it.
Functions, workflows, schedules
lemma functions list
lemma functions run score_ticket --data '{"ticket_id":"..."}' # check output_data / status / logs
lemma functions runs list score_ticket # past runs (debug); runs get <id> for one
lemma workflows list
lemma workflows run intake --data '{"title":"..."}' # creates the run; --data is submitted to the entry form
lemma workflows runs list intake
lemma workflows runs get <run-id> # status, current node, active_wait, step_history, errors
lemma workflows runs waiting # form waits assigned to you (your approval queue)
lemma workflows runs submit-form <run-id> --data '{"approved": true}' # complete the form the run is waiting on
lemma workflows runs cancel <run-id> # cancel a running/waiting run
lemma schedules list
lemma schedules pause <id> ; lemma schedules resume <id>
A run in WAITING is paused on a human form, an agent conversation, an async
function, or a timer — runs get shows which via active_wait (wait_type,
node_id, assignee, external reference, and the form schema for human waits). If a
form wait is assigned to you (runs waiting lists them), runs submit-form --data
with the form's fields completes it and advances the run. This is how you
participate in human-agent workflows.
Agents and chat
lemma agents list
lemma agents chat triage-agent "Summarize today's urgent tickets" # interactive or one-shot
lemma agents run triage-agent "Classify this: ..." # waits + streams the result (--no-wait to detach)
lemma conversations list --agent triage-agent # an agent's runs (each run is a conversation)
lemma conversations messages <conversation-id>
lemma conversations send <conversation-id> "Continue with the next batch"
An agent acts under your delegated identity — it sees exactly what you'd see (your
RLS rows, your /me, your connected accounts), plus only the resource grants its
builder gave it.
First-party tools and connectors
First-party tools (no third-party account needed):
lemma tools list
lemma tools web-search "latest API docs" --limit 5
lemma tools connector-helper-agent "send tomorrow's calendar summary by email" --app googlecalendar --app gmail
Third-party connector operations — always check what's connected, then
overview → search → details → execute. Never guess operation names or
payloads:
lemma connectors overview # every configured app: auth-config NAME, provider, connected accounts
lemma connectors status # installed apps + your connected accounts
lemma connectors describe gmail # per-app usage guide (provider-aware)
lemma connectors operations search workspace-gmail "send email" --limit 5
lemma connectors operations details workspace-gmail GMAIL_SEND_EMAIL
lemma connectors operations execute workspace-gmail GMAIL_SEND_EMAIL \
--data '{"payload": {"recipient_email": "a@b.com", "subject": "Hi", "body": "..."}}'
Operations are addressed by the auth-config name (the first column of
connectors overview / auth-configs list), not the app id — and names differ per
provider (LEMMA vs COMPOSIO), so overview is the one place to find the exact one
to pass. Workloads execute operations via the invoking user's connected account
(delegated) — they never touch raw credentials. If no account is connected, create
a connect request and hand the link to the user:
lemma connectors connect-requests create gmail --auth-config-id <id>. If the goal
is clear but the operation isn't, ask connector-helper-agent first.
Workspace execution notes
- Long-running processes (dev servers, watchers, REPLs): keep one persistent
interactive session and reuse it; one-shot shell commands for everything else.
- Local services are
http://127.0.0.1:<port> inside the container; the shareable
preview URL is https://port-<port>-${LEMMA_WORKSPACE_URL#https://} (workspace
https://abc.lemma.work + port 3000 → https://port-3000-abc.lemma.work).
Confirm the port is listening before sharing.
- To keep web sources, use the
browser skill's save-webpage <url> --formats markdown,pdf; upload durable artifacts to /me or a shared folder.
- Network errors (
Could not resolve host, ENOTFOUND, TLS timeouts): check
curl -sS "$LEMMA_BASE_URL" once, retry once, then report — don't loop.
Troubleshooting
- Row not visible / empty list /
404 on an RLS table. You only ever see your
own rows — an absent row usually belongs to another member, not a missing
record. Confirm with the owner or, if you have the admin role and the feature
warrants it, the mode=ADMIN read path. Don't assume data loss.
- Permission denied / resource not visible. As a human you may lack the pod
role — they ladder up:
POD_VIEWER reads; POD_USER also writes records and
runs agents/functions/workflows; POD_EDITOR also creates/updates tables and
writes files; POD_ADMIN also deletes and manages members. As an agent,
MISSING_WORKLOAD_RESOURCE_GRANT names a missing workload grant — a builder
must add it (it never silently grants itself).
- Resource not found. Confirm the active pod (
lemma pods list) and exact
names (lemma pods describe).
- ENUM rejected on a record write. Read
lemma tables get <table> and use one
of the listed options.
- Fresh upload not in search. Indexing lag —
files stat for status, retry
shortly. NOT_REQUIRED means it isn't an indexed document (CSV/JSON/XLSX/images/
email are stored but never searchable).
- Workflow stuck.
runs get <run-id> → active_wait shows what it's blocked
on; step_history shows the failing node, its input, and error. A human wait
needs runs submit-form.
See also
- The model →
lemma-builder/references/pod-model.md
- Build/restructure a pod → the
lemma-builder skill
- Inline live views over pod data → the
lemma-widget skill
- Drive a browser / test a pod app → the
browser skill
- Local parsing/OCR of ad-hoc files → the
liteparse-documents skill
