Commands¶

Every command supports --help for its full flag list:

pmb <command> --help          # e.g. pmb recall --help
pmb connect --help

Every command is fully offline unless tagged LLM — the few commands that need an LLM backend (Claude CLI / ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / Ollama, see LLM-powered commands). A LLM optional tag means the command runs offline by default and only calls an LLM if you opt in.

Nothing leaves your machine except the workspace-sync commands you run on purpose.

Setup & connect¶

Command	What it does
`pmb setup [agent]`	Recommended one-command setup. Detect your agent, pick the memory model, wire MCP + rules + hooks, warm the engine, and start the shared daemon - in one guided flow. Omit `agent` to auto-detect.
`pmb setup --all`	Wire every detected agent at once (Claude Code + Codex + Cursor + …), all sharing the one warm daemon.
`pmb connect <agent>`	Wire PMB into an agent's MCP config + install its rules. Agents: `claude-code`, `cursor`, `codex`, `windsurf`, `gemini`, `vscode`, `zed`, `opencode`, `continue`. Points at the shared daemon by default (codex via the `pmb mcp proxy` bridge); `--stdio` keeps a per-client server.
`pmb connect <agent> --active`	Same, but installs proactive-logging rules: the agent records its own decisions / lessons / what it did during coding, without waiting for "remember". Recall stays lazy.
`pmb connect --list`	Show every supported agent and where its config lives.
`pmb connect <agent> --workspace NAME`	Point several agents at one shared workspace.
`pmb connect <agent> --probe`	After wiring, spawn `pmb-mcp` briefly to confirm it starts.
`pmb model [light\\|balanced\\|best]`	Switch the embedding model later: download + re-embed memory + restart the daemon in one step. Omit the arg for the interactive menu.
`pmb daemon start\\|stop\\|status\\|restart`	Manage the ONE warm daemon (Engine + model + LanceDB) that N clients share for instant recall.
`pmb daemon kill-all`	Stop the daemon AND kill every registered PMB process, then clear the registry - the reset when stray/duplicate warm processes pile up.
`pmb mcp serve` / `pmb mcp status`	Run a shared HTTP MCP server (team mode) / list running PMB servers + their RAM.
`pmb mcp proxy`	(Advanced; auto-wired for codex.) Lightweight stdio↔daemon bridge so a stdio-only host shares the warm daemon instead of loading its own model.
`pmb doctor`	Diagnose the install + runtime state. `--remote user@host:/path` prints an SSH-tunneled MCP snippet.
`pmb warmup`	Pre-load the model + BM25 + LanceDB so the next recall is fast (avoids the ~1-2 s cold start).
`pmb init [--name NAME]`	Initialize a workspace in the current directory (optional - a workspace auto-detects from cwd).

pip install pmb-ai      # or: npx pmb-ai  (then the command is `pmb-ai`)
pmb setup               # guided: detect agent, pick model, wire + warm + daemon
# or wire everything you have at once (one shared warm daemon):
pmb setup --all
# restart the agent

Capture (write memory)¶

Command	What it does
`pmb note "..."`	Jot a memory from the terminal. `--pin` to keep it forever, `--ttl 30d` to auto-expire.
`pmb learn "..."`	Record a durable lesson ("this repo uses pnpm, never npm"). `--failed` records a failure to avoid repeating.
`pmb fact "..."`	Record a standalone fact. `--ttl 30d` optional.
`pmb remember "query" "response"`	Store a Q/A pair.
`pmb import <source> <path>`	Import existing history: `chatgpt`, `claude`, `mem0`, `markdown` (Obsidian vault). Rebuilds the graph after.
`pmb watch <file\\|dir>`	Auto-capture new paragraphs from a notes file/folder. `--once` for cron.

pmb note "decided to use Postgres for JSONB" --pin
pmb learn "always run make fmt before committing"
pmb import chatgpt ~/Downloads/conversations.json

Recall & explore (read memory)¶

Command	What it does
`pmb recall "query" [-k 5]`	Search memory. Each hit shows source, confidence, freshness, and markers for lessons and failures.
`pmb why "query"`	Explain the ranking - which of the 14 PAMVR rules fired and each multiplier.
`pmb overview "<topic>"`	Structured "what do I know about X?" - key facts & decisions, lessons, failures, goals, timeline, related topics. Also an MCP tool so the agent can get up to speed on a topic in one call.
`pmb timeline`	Chronological, day-grouped view (`--days`, `--type`, `--newest-first`).
`pmb insights`	Analytics: totals, type breakdown, weekly growth, top topics, lessons/goals counts.
`pmb digest [today\\|week\\|month]`	Recap of recent memories (`--days N`).
`pmb audit`	"What does PMB know about me?" - grouped, read-only view + memory-health signals.
`pmb lessons`	List the durable lessons & failures (procedural memory).
`pmb reminders`	Goals that are overdue or due soon (`--within N`, `--all`).
`pmb tags` / `pmb tagged <tag>`	List tags / list memories in a tag "collection".
`pmb list [-n 20] [--type T]`	Recent events.
`pmb stats`	Workspace stats.
`pmb graph stats\\|top\\|neighbors\\|rebuild`	Inspect the entity/association graph.

pmb recall "where do I live now" -k 5
pmb why "what port did we choose"
pmb timeline --days 7
pmb insights

Own-your-data & lifecycle¶

Command	What it does
`pmb export [--format markdown\\|json] [--out FILE]`	Dump all memory to readable text (`--include-archived`). Plain/unencrypted.
`pmb tag <ulid> <tags...>` / `pmb untag`	Tag / untag a memory for local organization.
`pmb ttl <ulid> 30d\\|clear`	Set / clear an expiry on a memory.
`pmb prune-expired`	Archive memories past their TTL (run from cron).
`pmb forget <ulid>`	Archive one memory (reversible).
`pmb delete <ulid...>`	Archive one or more memories after a preview and confirmation. Reversible.
`pmb delete <ulid...> --hard`	Permanently purge matching memories, vectors, and graph links after confirmation.
`pmb restore <ulid>`	Restore a soft-deleted or archived memory.
`pmb forget-topic <topic>`	Archive everything about a topic in one command (`--dry-run`, `--yes`, `--in content\\|tag\\|source`).
`pmb pin <ulid>`	Pin a memory (max importance, never auto-archived).
`pmb snapshot create\\|list\\|restore`	Local, offline, timestamped workspace snapshots.
`pmb decay`	Apply the forgetting curve (lowers importance, archives stale).
`pmb dedupe` LLM optional	Deduplicate. Offline cosine sweep by default; `--run-pending` uses an LLM for borderline pairs.
`pmb compact`	Move old archived events to cold storage + VACUUM.

pmb export --format json --out memory.json
pmb delete 0193abc12345_deadbeef
pmb restore 0193abc12345_deadbeef
pmb forget-topic project-x --dry-run
pmb snapshot create --note "before refactor"

Sync & backup (only these touch the network - and only when you run them)¶

Command	What it does
`pmb workspace init [--remote URL]`	Turn the workspace into a git repo.
`pmb workspace push` / `pull` / `status`	Sync memory to/from a git remote (cross-device, team, backup).
`pmb workspace clone <url> <name>`	Clone a remote workspace locally.
`pmb workspace export <out> [--key-file]`	Encrypt the workspace into one portable bundle (scrypt + AES/HMAC) - safe even on a public remote. Needs `pip install 'pmb-ai[crypto]'`.
`pmb workspace import <bundle> <name>`	Decrypt a bundle into a local workspace.
`pmb workspaces`	List all known workspaces.

Config & UI¶

Command	What it does
`pmb config list`	Every setting, its value, and where the value comes from (`--only-overridden`).
`pmb config get\\|set\\|reset <key> [value]`	Read / change / reset a setting (workspace or `--global`).
`pmb tune`	TUI to browse + edit all 67 settings live (needs `textual`).
`pmb tui`	Full 5-tab terminal workspace (Memory / Recall / Stats / Dedup / Tune).
`pmb dashboard`	Local web dashboard on `127.0.0.1:8765` (graph, events, perf, recall debugger).

pmb config set recall.top_k 8
pmb config list --only-overridden

Pro: tune what `--active` logs¶

pmb connect --active builds the agent's rules from these toggles (all default on). Change them, then re-run pmb connect <agent> --active to regenerate.

Key	Effect
`agent.active_mode`	When on, `pmb connect` / `pmb setup` install the proactive rules by default (no `--active` flag needed)
`agent.log_decisions`	Log design/code decisions
`agent.log_completed`	Log what was done (features / fixes)
`agent.log_lessons`	Log project conventions / corrections
`agent.log_failures`	Log failures (don't-repeat)
`agent.log_goals`	Log the user's goals / intents
`agent.apply_lessons`	Self-improvement loop - recall + apply past lessons/failures before a task, so the agent gets better at this project over time
`agent.context_continuity`	Tell the agent to call `session_brief` to re-orient after its own context compacts in a long session

pmb config set agent.log_goals false       # don't log goals
pmb connect codex --active                 # regenerate rules

Pro: choose the entity-graph extractor¶

The dashboard's memory graph and recall's graph-boost step both lean on the entity extractor - the thing that turns event text into nodes (file / tech / person / concept). PMB ships three backends; swap one at runtime, no code changes:

Backend	What it does	Cost	Deps
`regex` (default)	Fast file/tech regex + improved stop-list + multi-word phrase detection ("Claude Code" → one node). Fully offline.	~0 ms	none
`spacy`	Adds POS-filter (noun/proper-noun only) and real NER (PERSON / ORG / GPE / PRODUCT). Cleanest no-LLM option.	~3-10 ms	`pip install spacy` + `python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm`
`llm:claude` LLM	One Claude Code CLI call per event - returns clean named-entity JSON. Same idea as graphify / Penpax. Falls back to regex on timeout / error.	~1-3 s/event	`claude` CLI on PATH
`llm:ollama` LLM	Same, but via a local Ollama model (default `qwen2.5:3b`). Fully offline if you have a model pulled.	~1-4 s/event	`ollama` CLI + a model
`llm:codex` LLM	OpenAI Codex CLI.	~1-3 s/event	`codex` CLI on PATH

# default - leave it at regex unless the noise bugs you
pmb config set graph.extractor regex

# nicer no-LLM extraction
pip install spacy && python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm
pmb config set graph.extractor spacy

# cleanest knowledge graph (LLM at write time)
pmb config set graph.extractor llm:claude       # uses your Claude Code login
pmb config set graph.llm_max_concepts 5
pmb config set graph.llm_timeout_s 30

# hide one-off noise in the dashboard graph (DB stays intact)
pmb config set graph.viz_min_mentions 2

LLM backends never block the write path: if the CLI times out or returns malformed output, the record falls back to the regex extractor for that one event. Recall still works exactly the same - the choice only changes WHICH entities end up as graph nodes, not the recall pipeline.

Ollama (optional fully-local LLM)¶

Command	What it does
`pmb ollama status`	Health check + list installed models.
`pmb ollama use <profile>`	Select a model profile (tiny / balanced / quality).
`pmb ollama test`	Smoke-test the local model.

Ollama is optional - PMB works fully offline without any LLM. It's only used by the LLM-powered commands below (and only if you choose it over Claude CLI / Anthropic).

LLM-powered commands¶

These are the only commands that need an LLM backend (Claude CLI in PATH / ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / Ollama). They run off the recall hot path - recall itself never calls an LLM.

Command	What it does
`pmb consolidate` LLM	Sleep-stage consolidation: cluster related memories, extract one rule per cluster.
`pmb reflect` LLM	For each event, an LLM asks "why does this matter?" and stores searchable bridges for multi-hop queries.
`pmb distill` LLM	Extract durable lessons/failures from a session's events automatically.
`pmb arcs cluster` LLM	Cluster events into narrative threads ("Postgres adoption journey").
`pmb dedupe --run-pending` LLM	Resolve borderline duplicate pairs via LLM.

pmb consolidate --backend auto        # auto = Claude CLI > Anthropic > Ollama
pmb distill                           # turn a session into lessons

Maintenance¶

Command	What it does
`pmb regraph`	Rebuild the entity/edge graph from active events.
`pmb prune-graph`	Drop weak co-occurrence edges to keep recall fast on large workspaces.
`pmb reindex`	Re-embed all events (after switching the embedding model).
`pmb rehearse`	Spaced-repetition refresh of important-but-idle memories.
`pmb session start\\|end\\|current\\|brief`	Session management. `brief` = digest of what was decided/done/learned this session (re-orient after a long session or context loss). Also an MCP tool `session_brief` the agent calls when it loses the thread. End can auto-distill lessons if enabled.
`pmb sync [--days N]`	Capture git commits into memory.
`pmb schedule`	Print OS scheduler config (cron / Windows schtasks) for background jobs.

Hooks & ambient memory¶

Hooks force-feed PMB at the protocol level, so memory works without the model remembering to call anything. pmb hooks install claude-code wires all four lifecycle hooks; Codex and MCP-only hosts get the equivalent via their own mechanisms (check pmb hooks capabilities).

Command	What it does
`pmb hooks install <agent>`	Wire the lifecycle hooks. Claude Code: UserPromptSubmit + PostToolUse + SessionStart + Stop. Codex: a `notify` → `pmb codex-notify`.
`pmb hooks list`	Show which hooks are installed.
`pmb hooks capabilities`	What ambient mechanism each agent supports: `hooks` (Claude Code) / `rollout` (Codex) / `mcp-only` (git observer).
`pmb hooks uninstall <agent>`	Remove the hooks.
`pmb auto-context "..."`	Preview the per-turn memory a UserPromptSubmit hook would inject.
`pmb session-restore [-m MIN]`	Preview the "where you left off" digest a SessionStart hook injects after a compaction.
`pmb lesson-followcheck --dry-run`	Preview deterministic follow-through scoring for surfaced lessons.
`pmb autowrite [--dry-run]` LLM optional	Ambient auto-write for the current turn: if the agent didn't call a `record_*` tool, synthesize ONE activity entry from observed actions. No-op unless `autowrite.enabled`. Uses an LLM only if `autowrite.synthesizer` is an LLM backend - the default template needs no model.
`pmb track-action`	(Hook-invoked.) Append one observed action to the ambient journal - the PostToolUse hot path (single SQLite INSERT, no model).
`pmb ambient-watch <dir>` LLM optional	Ambient auto-write for MCP-only hosts (Cursor/Zed/VS Code): poll git for changes, auto-write once the project goes idle.
`pmb codex-notify` LLM optional	(Hook-invoked by Codex on `agent-turn-complete`.) Parse the session rollout, then run ambient auto-write.
`pmb forget-auto [--minutes N]`	Archive memory the ambient layer wrote itself (`source=autowrite`). Reversible - archived, not hard-deleted.

Ambient auto-write is ON by default and never duplicates the agent's own record_* calls - it only fills the gap when the agent stays silent. A turn is journaled only if it clears an outcome-based quality bar (tests passed, a failure fixed, a deploy ran), so mechanical churn is dropped. Tune everything via autowrite.* (pmb config list).

How it embeds into your workflow (no lock-in)¶

Lazy by default. After pmb connect, the agent ignores PMB for general and coding questions and only touches it on explicit triggers (or, with --active, when it finishes a meaningful unit of work). You can talk to the agent normally and never trigger PMB.
Nothing is forced. Use the agent's native abilities freely; PMB only chimes in when asked.
Remove it anytime. Delete the pmb entry from the agent's MCP config to disconnect - your stored memory stays on disk and is still readable via the CLI.