CLI Memo Commands

The backlog memo subcommand group provides fast capture and browsing in the terminal. It shares the same storage module (src/core/memos.ts) with the HTTP API and MCP tools, ensuring a single ID scheme and a single file format.

Creating Memos

# Inline creation (memo create does not accept positional arguments; body must use --content)
backlog memo create --content "Weekly meeting conclusion: v2 release delayed by one week" --tags meeting

# Multi-line content read from stdin (when --content is omitted)
cat debug.log | backlog memo create --tags debug

# Manual multi-line input: type the body directly in the terminal, end with EOF
backlog memo create --tags debug
# Type the memo, then end with Ctrl+D (Ctrl+Z on the classic Windows console). Ctrl+C aborts.
# First line
# Second line

In an interactive terminal, omitting --content enters keyboard capture: prompts go to stderr (so they do not mix into the body), and multiple lines are written as-is. Ctrl+C aborts without creating a file (exit code 130). Ending input with an empty body reports Memo content is empty. and does not create a file.

End key: prefer Ctrl+D—VS Code integrated terminal, Git Bash, and Windows Terminal all pass this key to the program as-is, and on Unix/macOS/WSL it produces a real EOF. The classic Windows console (cmd/PowerShell) does not deliver any EOF, so use Ctrl+Z instead; note that Ctrl+Z is intercepted in VS Code and is a suspend signal in mintty (Git Bash), so use Ctrl+D uniformly in those two environments.

Implementation note: in TTY mode the command switches to raw mode to recognize these keys, so echo is handled by the CLI itself (character-by-character echo, Enter for new line, Backspace to erase the current line). In pipe/redirect mode it remains "read stdin directly, no echo".

• --content <text>: inline body; when omitted, read from stdin—direct read for pipes/redirects, keyboard capture in TTY.
• --tags <tags>: comma-separated tag list; effective in both input modes.
• On success, the CLI prints the new memo ID (such as 20261003-1).

Listing Memos

backlog memo list

# View memos for a specific day only
backlog memo list --date 2026-10-01

# Filter by tags (comma-separated or repeatable, case-insensitive, any match)
backlog memo list --tags meeting,debug

The list outputs the latest first, one line per memo as "ID + one-line preview" (first 20 characters of the body, newlines removed, truncated with ellipsis). Use memo view for the full text.

List Paging

memo list supports the same unified paging window options as other list commands:

Truncated text output ends with Showing <first>-<last> of <total> items. Next: backlog memo list --skip <n>; copy it to page forward. --count outputs only a number and cannot be combined with --json. The centralized explanation of paging semantics for list commands is in the "List Paging" section of Search & Sequences.

Plain-Text Output

backlog memo list --plain

--plain outputs a plain-text list, good for AI agents and scripts to parse. Note: CLI text search output (backlog search) does not include memo results—memos are treated as Web-only types (consistent with Wiki results); JSON output carries memo summaries.

Viewing a Memo

# TTY environment: open scrollable viewer (PageUp / PageDown to page)
backlog memo view 20261003-1

# Non-TTY or --plain: print full text and frontmatter directly
backlog memo view 20261003-1 --plain

Updating a Memo

# Replace the body
backlog memo update 20261003-1 --content "Corrected conclusion"

# Append a line (preserves existing content)
backlog memo update 20261003-1 --append "Supplement: performance regression located in cache layer"

# Change only tags (body unchanged)
backlog memo update 20261003-1 --tags meeting,important

# Change body and tags together
backlog memo update 20261003-1 --append "Add one sentence" --tags meeting,important

# Clear tags
backlog memo update 20261003-1 --tags ""

--content and --append are mutually exclusive; --tags can be combined with either or used alone (changing only tags is a valid update). Providing none of the three errors with No update options provided. and exits. Omitting --tags leaves the original tags unchanged; passing an empty value --tags "" clears tags. Updates refresh updated_date.

Tag parsing is consistent with REST PATCH /api/memos/:id: trim, drop empty items, deduplicate, and support comma-separated or repeated input (--tags a --tags b). Note that memos have no title; modifying the first non-empty line of the body changes the card title shown in lists.

Deleting a Memo

backlog memo delete 20261003-1

Deletion success prints a confirmation; a non-existent ID is reported clearly.

Viewing the Usage Guide

The CLI has a built-in memos usage guide:

backlog instructions memos

This guide covers parameters, filtering, paging semantics, and not-found error handling for all subcommands. AI agents read it along with configuration on first load.