Follow the Basic Memory knowledge graph from a note: the note, its observations, and the notes its relations reach, up to depth hops (1-5). identifier is a path, permalink, memory:// URL, or a pattern such as 'specs/*'. since limits related results to recent changes. compact returns the graph without note bodies; read chosen notes with bm_read.

Delete a Basic Memory note (identifier) or a directory (path). A directory delete removes every file under it and needs recursive=true. Pass expected_checksum (from bm_read) to delete a note only if it is still the revision you read. A note that does not exist is an error. This cannot be undone.

Change part of an existing Basic Memory note. command: append or prepend content; find_replace find_text with content (exact text, which must occur expected_replacements times, default 1); replace_section, insert_before_section or insert_after_section for a section heading ('Decisions', 'Auth/Decisions', 'Decisions[1]', as bm_read takes it); set_metadata to merge metadata into the frontmatter without touching the body. metadata also merges with any other command. Pass expected_checksum (from bm_read) to edit only the revision you read. A missing note is an error; create notes with bm_write.

Find files in a Basic Memory project, recursively. With name, match file names against a glob ('meeting'). With filters, match notes by frontmatter, e.g. {"status": "active"} or {"priority": {"$in": ["high"]}}, and with fields return just those frontmatter values per note. path limits the search to a folder. For ranked text or meaning search, use bm_search.

List one folder of a Basic Memory project: its subfolders, then its files with title, date and id. project is required; '/' lists its root. Discover projects with bm_project(command='list'). Filter files with glob and order them with sort. For a recursive search by name or frontmatter, use bm_find.

Read the Basic Memory manual. With no arguments, the index of every page. page reads one page: 'bm-search(3)' for an MCP tool, 'grep(1)' for a shell command; a tool name such as 'bm_search' works too. query lists the pages that mention every word given, like man -k.

Move or rename a Basic Memory note (identifier) or a directory (path) within its project. destination is the new project-relative path; ending it with '/' moves into that folder under the current name ('archive/'). A note keeps its file extension ('.markdown' may become '.md'). Pass expected_checksum (from bm_read) to move a note only if it is still the revision you read. Moving into another project is refused: bm_read, bm_write there, then bm_delete.

Basic Memory note schemas (Picoschema). command: validate notes against their schema (one note_type, one note by identifier, or every type that has a schema); infer a schema from the notes of a note_type; diff a note_type's notes against its schema to find drift. A schema is a note with type: schema whose entity field names the note type it describes.

Basic Memory projects. command: list (projects, grouped by workspace); create (name, path, optional set_default, workspace); recent (what changed lately in the required project: since, items, paging).

Search a Basic Memory project, ranked by relevance. query supports quoted phrases, AND/OR/NOT and tag:name. mode picks hybrid (the default when semantic search is available), text, semantic, title or permalink (globs with *). Narrow with filters (frontmatter), note_types, items (notes, observations, relations) and since. lines returns the matching lines of each hit with that many lines of context, like grep. path limits the search to a folder; identifier searches one note. Scope every search with project (one project), projects (a list), or all_projects=true. Read full notes with bm_read.

Read a Basic Memory note or file by path, permalink, memory:// URL or exact title. Slice a long note with section (a heading), start_line/end_line or max_tokens; line numbers count the whole file, frontmatter included. A text file such as .txt takes start_line/end_line too. include_content=false returns only the metadata and the checksum that bm_write and bm_edit take as expected_checksum. Images come back as images and other binary files as documents. A missing note is an error: find notes with bm_search.

Create or replace a Basic Memory note. Give a file path as identifier ('notes/plan.md'), or title plus directory. With a path the file lands exactly there and the title comes from the content's frontmatter, then title, then the file name. An existing note is an error unless overwrite=true; pass expected_checksum (from bm_read) to replace only the revision you read. To change part of a note use bm_edit. Content may hold frontmatter, observations ('- [category] fact #tag') and relations ('- relation_type [[Other Note]]').