Quick Start

1. Initialize a Vault

tmd init

This creates the .typemd/ directory structure and SQLite database in the current directory. You’ll be prompted to select starter types (idea, note, book) — press Enter to accept the defaults, or customize your selection with Space to toggle and Esc to skip.

2. Open the TUI

tmd
tmd --readonly  # read-only mode (no editing)

This launches the interactive TUI for browsing your vault — objects are grouped by type in a list on the left, with a title, body, and properties panel on the right.

3. Define a Type

Create a type schema to define the structure of your objects:

name: book
emoji: 📚
properties:
  - name: title
    type: string
  - name: status
    type: select
    options:
      - value: to-read
      - value: reading
      - value: done
  - name: rating
    type: number

4. Create Your First Object

Use the CLI to create an object:

tmd object create book "Go in Action"

Names with spaces are automatically converted to slugs (e.g., “Go in Action” → go-in-action). The original name is preserved in the name frontmatter property.

The CLI automatically appends a ULID to the slug for uniqueness. Alternatively, you can create a file manually at objects/book/golang-in-action.md — manual files do not require a ULID and are backward compatible.

---
title: Go in Action
status: reading
rating: 4.5
---

# Notes

A great book about Go...

The TUI will automatically detect the new file and display it. If you cloned an existing vault, the index is automatically synced on first open.

5. List and Search

# List all objects
tmd object list

# Full-text search
tmd search "concurrency"

6. Open the Web UI

tmd serve

Opens a browser-based interface at http://localhost:3000 with the same three-panel layout as the TUI. See tmd serve for details.