qmd

Original🇺🇸 English
Translated

Search personal markdown knowledge bases, notes, meeting transcripts, and documentation using QMD - a local hybrid search engine. Combines BM25 keyword search, vector semantic search, and LLM re-ranking. Use when users ask to search notes, find documents, look up information in their knowledge base, retrieve meeting notes, or search documentation. Triggers on "search markdown files", "search my notes", "find in docs", "look up", "what did I write about", "meeting notes about".

15installs
Sourcetobi/qmd
Added on

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add tobi/qmd qmd

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter

QMD - Quick Markdown Search

QMD is a local, on-device search engine for markdown content. It indexes your notes, meeting transcripts, documentation, and knowledge bases for fast retrieval.

QMD Status

!
qmd status 2>/dev/null || echo "Not installed. Run: bun install -g https://github.com/tobi/qmd"

When to Use This Skill

  • User asks to search their notes, documents, or knowledge base
  • User needs to find information in their markdown files
  • User wants to retrieve specific documents or search across collections
  • User asks "what did I write about X" or "find my notes on Y"
  • User needs semantic search (conceptual similarity) not just keyword matching
  • User mentions meeting notes, transcripts, or documentation lookup

Search Commands

Choose the right search mode for the task:
CommandUse WhenSpeed
qmd search
Exact keyword matches neededFast
qmd vsearch
Keywords aren't working, need conceptual matchesMedium
qmd query
Best results needed, speed not criticalSlower
bash
# Fast keyword search (BM25)
qmd search "your query"

# Semantic vector search (finds conceptually similar content)
qmd vsearch "your query"

# Hybrid search with re-ranking (best quality)
qmd query "your query"

Common Options

bash
-n <num>                 # Number of results (default: 5)
-c, --collection <name>  # Restrict to specific collection
--all                    # Return all matches
--min-score <num>        # Minimum score threshold (0.0-1.0)
--full                   # Show full document content
--json                   # JSON output for processing
--files                  # List files with scores
--line-numbers           # Add line numbers to output

Document Retrieval

bash
# Get document by path
qmd get "collection/path/to/doc.md"

# Get document by docid (shown in search results as #abc123)
qmd get "#abc123"

# Get with line numbers for code review
qmd get "docs/api.md" --line-numbers

# Get multiple documents by glob pattern
qmd multi-get "docs/*.md"

# Get multiple documents by list
qmd multi-get "doc1.md, doc2.md, #abc123"

Index Management

bash
# Check index status and available collections
qmd status

# List all collections
qmd collection list

# List files in a collection
qmd ls <collection-name>

# Update index (re-scan files for changes)
qmd update

Score Interpretation

ScoreMeaningAction
0.8 - 1.0Highly relevantShow to user
0.5 - 0.8Moderately relevantInclude if few results
0.2 - 0.5Somewhat relevantOnly if user wants more
0.0 - 0.2Low relevanceUsually skip

Recommended Workflow

  1. Check what's available:
    qmd status
  2. Start with keyword search:
    qmd search "topic" -n 10
  3. Try semantic if needed:
    qmd vsearch "describe the concept"
  4. Use hybrid for best results:
    qmd query "question" --min-score 0.4
  5. Retrieve full documents:
    qmd get "#docid" --full

Example: Finding Meeting Notes

bash
# Search for meetings about a topic
qmd search "quarterly review" -c meetings -n 5

# Get semantic matches
qmd vsearch "performance discussion" -c meetings

# Retrieve the full meeting notes
qmd get "#abc123" --full

Example: Research Across All Notes

bash
# Hybrid search for best results
qmd query "authentication implementation" --min-score 0.3 --json

# Get all relevant files for deeper analysis
qmd query "auth flow" --all --files --min-score 0.4

MCP Server Integration

This plugin configures the qmd MCP server automatically. When available, prefer MCP tools over Bash for tighter integration:
MCP ToolEquivalent CLIPurpose
qmd_search
qmd search
Fast BM25 keyword search
qmd_vsearch
qmd vsearch
Semantic vector search
qmd_query
qmd query
Hybrid search with reranking
qmd_get
qmd get
Retrieve document by path or docid
qmd_multi_get
qmd multi-get
Retrieve multiple documents
qmd_status
qmd status
Index health and collection info
For manual MCP setup without the plugin, see references/mcp-setup.md.