Command line options

Usage

tiki [command] [options]

Running tiki with no arguments launches the TUI over the current directory. There is no project setup step — tiki recursively reads every .md file under the cwd, skipping .git/, dotted directories, and paths matched by .gitignore/.tikiignore. See Installation for the full scan model.

Commands

exec

Execute a ruki query and exit.

tiki exec [--format table|json] [--] '<ruki-statement>'

Option	Description
--format <table|json>	Output format. table (default) prints human-readable text; json emits compact JSON
--	End-of-options marker. Use when the statement starts with - (e.g. a -- ruki line comment)

Examples:

tiki exec 'select where status = "ready" order by priority'
tiki exec 'update where id = "ABC123" set status="done"'

# JSON output for scripting
tiki exec --format json 'select id, title where status = "ready"'
tiki exec --format=json 'count(select where assignee = user())'

# statement that starts with a `--` ruki line comment
tiki exec -- '-- backlog count
count(select where status != "done")'

workflow

Manage workflow configuration files.

workflow reset

Reset configuration files to their defaults.

tiki workflow reset [target] [--scope]

Targets (omit to reset all files):

• config — config.yaml
• workflow — workflow.yaml

Scopes (default: --current):

• --global — user config directory
• --current — current working directory (the scan root)
• --local — deprecated alias for --current (the project tier and the cwd tier are the same directory now)

For --global, workflow.yaml is overwritten with the default. config.yaml is deleted (built-in defaults take over).

For --current, files are deleted so the next tier in the precedence chain takes effect.

# restore all global config to defaults
tiki workflow reset --global

# remove the cwd workflow override (falls back to global)
tiki workflow reset workflow --current

# remove the cwd config override
tiki workflow reset config --current

workflow install

Install a workflow from a name, local file, or URL. Writes workflow.yaml into the scope directory, overwriting any existing file.

tiki workflow install <source> [--scope]

Sources: bundled name (kanban, todo, bug-tracker), file path (./custom.yaml), or URL (https://example.com/workflow.yaml).

Scopes (default: --current):

• --global — user config directory
• --current — current working directory (the scan root)
• --local — deprecated alias for --current

# install the kanban workflow globally
tiki workflow install kanban --global

# install from a local file into the current directory
tiki workflow install ./custom.yaml --current

# install from a URL
tiki workflow install https://example.com/workflow.yaml --global

workflow describe

Print a workflow's description. Reads the top-level description field from the workflow YAML. Prints nothing and exits 0 if the workflow has no description field.

tiki workflow describe <source>

Sources: embedded name, file path, or URL (same as workflow install).

Examples:

# preview the todo workflow before installing it
tiki workflow describe todo

# describe a local workflow file
tiki workflow describe ./custom.yaml

# describe a remote workflow
tiki workflow describe https://example.com/workflow.yaml

demo

Launch the demo project. The demo files are extracted into a tiki-demo/ directory in the current working directory.

tiki demo

sysinfo

Display system and terminal environment information useful for troubleshooting.

tiki sysinfo

Markdown viewer

tiki doubles as a standalone markdown and image viewer. Pass a file path or URL as the first argument.

tiki file.md
tiki https://github.com/user/repo/blob/main/README.md
tiki image.png
echo "# Hello" | tiki -

See Markdown viewer for navigation and keybindings.

Piped input

When stdin is piped and no positional arguments are given, tiki creates a tiki from the input. The first line becomes the title; the rest becomes the description.

echo "Fix the login bug" | tiki
tiki < bug-report.md

What fields the new tiki carries is decided by the active workflow:

• If the workflow declares a status with default: true (as kanban, todo, and bug-tracker do), captured input gets the default status, type, priority, and points filled in. The result appears on board/list views whose lane filters match.
• If the workflow has no default: true status, captured input is saved with only id and title in the frontmatter. It is reachable by id and file path; views that filter on workflow-declared fields via has(...) will skip it.

See Quick capture for more examples.

Flags

Flag	Description
--help, -h	Show usage information
--version, -v	Show version, commit, and build date
--log-level <level>	Set log level: debug, info, warn, error