CLI overview

This page maps the public command groups. Use the workflow guides when you need help deciding which command to run.

Core workflow

Use these commands for the normal local path:

• kbolt setup local
• kbolt doctor
• kbolt collection add
• kbolt watch enable
• kbolt search

Command map

Search and retrieval

• search for ranked retrieval
• ls for listing indexed files in a collection
• get for reading one document
• multi-get for reading multiple documents within size limits

Reference:

• Search
• Read and integration

Content management

• space for namespaces
• collection for registered directories
• ignore for gitignore-style exclusions
• watch for automatic freshness as files change
• update for immediate manual re-indexing
• schedule for periodic batch re-indexing

Reference:

• Content management
• Watch
• Schedule

Local setup and health

• setup local for the default local stack
• local for managed llama-server processes
• doctor for readiness checks
• status for index and storage summary
• models list for configured role bindings

Reference:

• Local and health

Agent integration

• mcp to start the MCP server

Reference:

• Read and integration
• MCP tools

Benchmarking

• eval for retrieval benchmarks and dataset import

Reference:

• Eval

Output formats

Most commands support:

kbolt --format cli ...
kbolt --format json ...

Use cli for humans and json when another tool needs structured output.

Next steps

• For the end-to-end path, see Quickstart.
• For freshness choices, see Keep indexes fresh.
• For health checks, see Health and status.
• For concepts that shape the CLI, see Search modes and Spaces and collections.