CLI Reference

The command-line binary, built from the cognee-cli crate. It drives the full pipeline and is also the on-device (Android) runner. Run cognee-cli <command> --help for the authoritative flag list; the clap definitions are in crates/cli/src/cli.rs.

cargo build --release          # produces target/release/cognee-cli

Subcommands

The memory API verbs (remember / recall / improve / forget) are the primary surface; the add / cognify / memify / search commands below them are the lower-level pipeline they compose. All of these are always built (not feature-gated).

Command	Purpose	Notable flags	Feature gate
`remember <data…>`	Store memory: `add` + `cognify` + (by default) `improve`. `<data…>` is inline text and/or file paths	`-d/--dataset-name` (`main_dataset`), `--session-id`, `--no-improve` (default OFF — improve runs by default), `--tenant-id`	—
`recall <query>`	Query memory with auto-routing (session-aware + graph-backed)	`-t/--query-type` (optional — omit to auto-route), `-d/--datasets` (repeatable), `-k/--top-k` (10), `--session-id`, `-f/--output-format` (`pretty`/`json`/`simple`, default `pretty`)	—
`improve`	Enrich memory / bridge sessions (feedback + enrichment stages)	`-d/--dataset-name` (`main_dataset`), `--session-id` (repeatable), `--node-name` (repeatable), `--feedback-alpha` (`0.1`), `--tenant-id`	—
`forget`	Remove memory (a dataset, a single data item, or everything)	`-d/--dataset-name` \| `--data-id` (UUID; requires `--dataset-name`; conflicts with `--all`) \| `--all`, `--tenant-id`	—
`add <inputs…>`	Ingest text / file paths / HTTP(S) URLs into a dataset	`-d/--dataset-name` (`main_dataset`), `--tenant-id`	—
`cognify`	Build the knowledge graph from one or more datasets	`-d/--datasets`, `--chunk-size`, `--chunker` (`TextChunker`/`LangchainChunker`/`CsvChunker`), `--ontology-file`, `-b/--background`, `--llm-max-retries`, `--llm-max-parallel-requests`, `--temporal-cognify`	—
`add-and-cognify <inputs…>`	`add` then `cognify` in one step	union of the above	—
`memify`	Enrich an existing graph with triplet embeddings	`-d/--datasets`, `--node-type`, `--node-name`, `--batch-size` (100)	—
`search <query>`	Query the graph/vectors	`-t/--query-type` (`GRAPH_COMPLETION`), `-d/--datasets`, `-k/--top-k` (10), `--system-prompt` / `--system-prompt-path`, `--session-id`, `-f/--output-format` (`pretty`/`json`), `--llm-max-retries`	—
`delete`	Remove data/datasets across all backends	`-d/--dataset-name` \| `--dataset-id`, `--data-id`, `--all`, `--mode` (`soft`/`hard`), `--dry-run`, `-f/--force`	—
`config get\|set\|unset <key>`	Read/write the persisted JSON config	—	—
`run-sequence`	Run a scripted add/cognify/search sequence	—	—
`visualize`	Render the graph to a self-contained HTML file	`-o/--output` (`~/graph_visualization.html`)	`visualization`
`bench`	Phase-timed benchmark driver	`--memories`, `--mock-llm`, `--output`	`bench`

The feature-gated commands are enabled in the default build of cognee-cli (except platform-specific ones). See Architecture: feature strategy. Cloud serve / disconnect are not part of OSS — they ship in the closed-source cognee-cli-cloud binary (cognee-cli-cloud serve --url … / cognee-cli-cloud disconnect).

Memory API

The four primary verbs cover the common workflow end-to-end:

# Store memory (add + cognify + improve). Inline text and/or file paths.
cognee-cli remember "Cognee turns data into a knowledge graph" ./notes.txt -d my_dataset

# Scope a turn to a session (session-backed memory) instead of permanent graph memory
cognee-cli remember "follow-up note" --session-id chat-42

# Query memory — omit -t to let recall auto-route the retrieval strategy
cognee-cli recall "what did we learn about X?" -d my_dataset -k 10

# Enrich memory / bridge sessions
cognee-cli improve -d my_dataset --session-id chat-42

# Remove memory
cognee-cli forget --all
cognee-cli forget -d my_dataset
cognee-cli forget --data-id 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 -d my_dataset

remember with a --session-id records session memory; without one it persists permanent, graph-backed memory. recall is session-aware and graph-backed; with no -t/--query-type it auto-routes to a suitable retrieval strategy.

Lower-level pipeline

The memory verbs compose add → cognify → search, which you can also drive directly for fine-grained control (remember ≈ add + cognify + improve; recall ≈ auto-routed search):

cognee-cli add ./notes.txt "some inline text" -d my_dataset
cognee-cli cognify -d my_dataset
cognee-cli search "what did we learn about X?" -t GRAPH_COMPLETION -d my_dataset -k 10

`config` subcommand

Reads/writes ~/.config/cognee-rust/config.json. Keys are the snake_case Settings field names. See Configuration: CLI config.

cognee-cli config set llm_max_retries 4
cognee-cli config get llm_model
cognee-cli config unset embedding_endpoint

LLM retries

--llm-max-retries N (accepted by cognify, add-and-cognify, search) overrides the retry count for structured-output LLM calls for that run; the persistent default is the llm_max_retries config key (default 2, minimum 1). The CLI flag wins over the config value. It is passed to OpenAIAdapter and governs the strict-schema, function-call, and JSON-fallback parsing paths.

cognee-cli cognify --llm-max-retries 4
cognee-cli search "What is TechCorp?" --llm-max-retries 4

Logging

The CLI calls cognee_logging::init_logging at startup. The env-var surface (COGNEE_LOG_*, RUST_LOG/LOG_LEVEL, LOG_FILE_NAME) is shared with the HTTP server and bindings and documented canonically in Configuration: logging. Example — JSON logs to a custom directory:

COGNEE_LOG_FORMAT=json COGNEE_LOGS_DIR=/var/log/cognee cognee-cli cognify -d main_dataset

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Setup Configuration

Guides

Examples

CLI

Rust SDK

TypeScript SDK

OSS

Subcommands

Memory API

Lower-level pipeline

`config` subcommand

LLM retries

Logging

​Subcommands

​Memory API

​Lower-level pipeline

​config subcommand

​LLM retries

​Logging

Subcommands

Memory API

Lower-level pipeline

`config` subcommand

LLM retries

Logging