qmd

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# QMD — Query Markup Documents

Local, on-device search engine for personal knowledge bases. Indexes markdown
notes, meeting transcripts, documentation, and any text-based files, then
provides hybrid search combining keyword matching, semantic understanding, and
LLM-powered reranking — all running locally with no cloud dependencies.

Created by [Tobi Lütke](https://github.com/tobi/qmd). MIT licensed.

## When to Use

- User asks to search their notes, docs, knowledge base, or meeting transcripts
- User wants to find something across a large collection of markdown/text files
- User wants semantic search ("find notes about X concept") not just keyword grep
- User has already set up qmd collections and wants to query them
- User asks to set up a local knowledge base or document search system
- Keywords: "search my notes", "find in my docs", "knowledge base", "qmd"

## Prerequisites

### Node.js >= 22 (required)

```bash
# Check version
node --version  # must be >= 22

# macOS — install or upgrade via Homebrew
brew install node@22

# Linux — use NodeSource or nvm
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
# or with nvm:
nvm install 22 && nvm use 22
```

### SQLite with Extension Support (macOS only)

macOS system SQLite lacks extension loading. Install via Homebrew:

```bash
brew install sqlite
```

### Install qmd

```bash
npm install -g @tobilu/qmd
# or with Bun:
bun install -g @tobilu/qmd
```

First run auto-downloads 3 local GGUF models (~2GB total):

| Model | Purpose | Size |
|-------|---------|------|
| embeddinggemma-300M-Q8_0 | Vector embeddings | ~300MB |
| qwen3-reranker-0.6b-q8_0 | Result reranking | ~640MB |
| qmd-query-expansion-1.7B | Query expansion | ~1.1GB |

### Verify Installation

```bash
qmd --version
qmd status
```

## Quick Reference

| Command | What It Does | Speed |
|---------|-------------|-------|
| `qmd search "query"` | BM25 keyword search (no models) | ~0.2s |
| `qmd vsearch "query"` | Semantic vector search (1 model) | ~3s |
| `qmd query "query"` | Hybrid + reranking (all 3 models) | ~2-3s warm, ~19s cold |
| `qmd get <docid>` | Retrieve full document content | instant |
| `qmd multi-get "glob"` | Retrieve multiple files | instant |
| `qmd collection add <path> --name <n>` | Add a directory as a collection | instant |
| `qmd context add <path> "description"` | Add context metadata to improve retrieval | instant |
| `qmd embed` | Generate/update vector embeddings | varies |
| `qmd status` | Show index health and collection info | instant |
| `qmd mcp` | Start MCP server (stdio) | persistent |
| `qmd mcp --http --daemon` | Start MCP server (HTTP, warm models) | persistent |

## Setup Workflow

### 1. Add Collections

Point qmd at directories containing your documents:

```bash
# Add a notes directory
qmd collection add ~/notes --name notes

# Add project docs
qmd collection add ~/projects/myproject/docs --name project-docs

# Add meeting transcripts
qmd collection add ~/meetings --name meetings

# List all collections
qmd collection list
```

### 2. Add Context Descriptions

Context metadata helps the search engine understand what each collection
contains. This significantly improves retrieval quality:

```bash
qmd context add qmd://notes "Personal notes, ideas, and journal entries"
qmd context add qmd://project-docs "Technical documentation for the main project"
qmd context add qmd://meetings "Meeting transcripts and action items from team syncs"
```

### 3. Generate Embeddings

```bash
qmd embed
```

From Colin4k1024/hermesx, MIT.

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