Setting up the Forgetful CLI

The CLI is the shell-native surface: same tool registry as MCP, reachable by anything that can run a command. Setup ends with a verified round-trip, not an installed binary.

Install

uvx forgetful-ai --version     # ephemeral, no install
pip install forgetful-ai       # or: uv tool install forgetful-ai

Both forgetful and forgetful-ai invoke the same CLI.

Choose a mode

Connection precedence: --local > --server URL > FORGETFUL_SERVER env > local default.

• Local (default): runs in-process against the locally configured database — zero config, no server needed. Right for a personal knowledge base on one machine.
• Remote: drives a deployed server. Interactive use: forgetful auth login --server <url> (browser OAuth; tokens cached under ~/.config/forgetful/, server written to the user config). Headless/CI use: set FORGETFUL_SERVER and FORGETFUL_TOKEN (bearer) in the environment — no browser involved.

Config merges shell env over ~/.config/forgetful/.env. Check state anytime with forgetful auth status.

Verify — the completion criterion

forgetful tools list                          # registry categories come back
forgetful project list --json                 # one real call round-trips

Done when: both succeed against the intended target (local or the remote URL).

The machine contract

For scripts and agents, pass --json on data commands — tools, call, memory, and project verbs: results are machine JSON, errors arrive as {"error": ...} on stderr. auth subcommands are human-oriented and don't take --json. Exit codes are contractual — 0 success, 1 tool or runtime error, 2 usage error. Parse output, branch on exit code.

The discovery ladder

1. Curated verbs for the common paths: forgetful memory search|save|get|recent, forgetful project list.
2. forgetful tools list [--category <c>] to discover every registry operation.
3. forgetful tools info <operation> for the schema.
4. forgetful call <operation> --args '<JSON>' to invoke anything the registry has.

The judgment for what to store, query, and link lives in the domain skills (forgetful-remember, forgetful-recall, ...) — the ladder is how the CLI reaches the same operations.

Operating a local server

• forgetful serve --transport http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8020 (or --transport stdio for MCP clients that spawn a process).
• Database via env: DATABASE=SQLite with SQLITE_PATH (file) or SQLITE_MEMORY=true (ephemeral), or DATABASE=Postgres with POSTGRES_HOST/PORT/DB/USER/PASSWORD.
• Feature flags (default off): SKILLS_ENABLED, FILES_ENABLED, PLANNING_ENABLED — discovery reflects whatever is enabled.
• After changing embedding provider or model: forgetful re-embed --dry-run to preview, then forgetful re-embed (batch size tunable via --batch-size).

Done when: /health answers (HTTP) or an MCP client lists the three meta-tools (stdio).