CLI

Capture, search, manage, and export your Capd library from the terminal.

The bundled capd command works with the same local library as the Capd app. It is useful for quick terminal capture, bulk imports, shell scripts, backups, and AI-assistant integrations.

Homebrew adds capd to your PATH. Direct installations keep it at /Applications/capd.app/Contents/MacOS/capd.

Capture

capd add https://example.com/article      # save a link and queue its page content
capd add https://example.com --no-fetch   # save the link without fetching the page
capd add "Remember this" --note "Why"     # save text with a note
capd add https://example.com --title "…"  # provide a title
pbpaste | capd add -                      # capture standard input
capd add https://example.com --wait       # wait for enrichment to finish

When standard input contains only URLs, each non-empty line becomes a separate capture. Otherwise, the complete input becomes one text capture.

--wait times out after 60 seconds by default. Use --timeout <seconds> to change it. CLI captures use the same duplicate detection as the app.

Search and list

capd search swift concurrency --site swift.org --since 2026-01-01
capd search 'error handling until:2026-06-30'
capd list --limit 20

search and list accept --limit and --format plain|tsv|json. The filter syntax is shared with the app.

Manage captures

capd rm 12 14       # delete captures by ID
capd refetch        # retry all failed or thin page extractions
capd refetch 12     # retry a specific capture

IDs appear in capd list and capd search output.

Export

capd export                    # lossless JSON with every stored field
capd export --format markdown  # readable links, notes, and selections

The JSON export is the complete portable backup format. Copy the entire storage folder when captured image files must be included as well.

Connect an AI assistant

capd mcp

capd mcp serves three read-only tools over the Model Context Protocol:

search_captures uses Capd’s full-text search and filters.
get_capture returns one capture with its extracted page text.
list_recent returns the latest captures.

claude mcp add capd -- capd mcp

Or add it to Claude Desktop’s claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "capd": { "command": "capd", "args": ["mcp"] }
  }
}

Capd’s MCP server cannot add, edit, or delete captures. It communicates over standard input and output; review the privacy policy of the assistant receiving the results to understand whether that assistant sends them elsewhere.

Check health

capd status   # queue, capture, storage, and background-helper status
capd doctor   # integrity checks, repairs, and permission status

capd doctor can rebuild the search index, remove orphaned image files, and repair the background helper. Use capd doctor --uninstall-agent to remove the helper or --skip-agent to check only the library.

Conventions

Data goes to standard output; diagnostics go to standard error.
Exit codes are 0 for success, 1 for no results, 2 for invalid usage, 3 when the store is unavailable, and 4 when the helper is not running.
CAPD_DIR overrides the default storage root.
JSON output is stable for scripts. Existing fields are not renamed, retyped, or removed, but new fields may be added. Consumers should ignore unknown keys.