keep now

May 20, 2026 · View on GitHub

Get or set the current working intentions.

The nowdoc is a singleton document that tracks what you're working on right now. It has full version history, so previous intentions are always accessible.

Usage

keep now                              # Show current intentions
keep now "Working on auth flow"       # Update intentions
keep now "Auth work" -t project=myapp # Update with tag
echo "piped content" | keep now       # Set from stdin

Options

Option	Description
`-t`, `--tag KEY=VALUE`	Set tag on the update (repeatable)
`--truncate`	Truncate content to `max_inline_length` instead of failing
`--scope NAME`	Write to a per-workstream version chain (doc id `now:NAME`)
`--auto-scope`	Derive `--scope` from the cwd (git `project/branch`, else cwd basename)
`-q`, `--quiet`	Suppress the trailing context dump on stdout

When several agent sessions run in parallel — different worktrees, different branches, different projects — they all clobber a single global now. --auto-scope routes each session's writes to its own chain:

keep now "..." --auto-scope     # in ~/play/myproj on branch feature-x
                                # → writes to doc id `now:myproj/feature-x`
keep now --auto-scope           # shows that scoped chain

Slug derivation:

In a git repo: {project}/{branch} where project is the basename of the main repo (worktrees inherit the main project's name).
Detached HEAD: {project}/{worktree-basename}.
Outside any git repo: cwd basename.

Pass --scope NAME to override the derived slug with an explicit name.

The plugin hooks shipped with keep use --auto-scope so each Claude Code or Codex session gets its own chain automatically. Stop-event hooks add --quiet so the formatted context dump doesn't leak onto stdout (which the host parses as JSON).

Version history

The nowdoc retains full history. Each update creates a new version. See VERSIONING.md for details.

Similar items and meta sections

When updating (keep now "..."), the output surfaces similar items and meta sections as occasions for reflection:

---
id: now
tags:
  project: "myapp"
  topic: "auth"
similar:
  - %a1b2c3d4 OAuth2 token refresh pattern...
meta/todo:
  - %e5f6a7b8 validate redirect URIs
meta/learnings:
  - %c9d0e1f2 Token refresh needs clock sync
---
Working on auth flow

keep move

When a string of work is complete, move the now history into a named note.

keep move "auth-string"                       # Move all of now's versions
keep move "auth-string" --source other-note   # Move from a different source

Moving to an existing name appends incrementally. The CLI itself only takes name and --source; for tag-filtered moves or "only the current version", drop down to the underlying flow:

keep flow move -p name=auth-string -p tags='{"project":"myapp"}'
keep flow move -p name=auth-string -p only_current=true

See KEEP-MOVE.md for details.

keep prompt reflect

Deep structured reflection practice. Guides you through gathering context, examining actions, and updating intentions.

keep prompt reflect                       # Reflect on current work
keep prompt reflect "auth flow"           # Reflect with search context
keep prompt reflect --since P7D           # With time filter

See KEEP-PROMPT.md for full prompt options including --id, --tag, --since, --until.