CLI Search and Tagging

Search across Dots or within a Dotabase and create or list custom tag categories from a scriptable terminal surface.

Overview

Description

CLI Search and Tagging gives agents a compact discovery surface for finding knowledge and managing the category vocabulary used to organize it. dots search drives universal search with filters and formatted result handles, while dots rows search provides Dotabase-scoped modes. dots tags creates and lists custom categories against the live API schema.

The workflow is designed for operators and coding agents. It uses the same authenticated, company-scoped service contracts as the rest of Dots, so terminal or protocol convenience never creates a second source of truth. Inputs are validated before or at the route boundary, and outputs preserve identifiers and structured details needed for a reliable next step.

Selling Points

  • Returns follow-up identifiers that agents can immediately pass into row and graph commands.
  • Supports broad discovery and focused Dotabase retrieval without changing tools.
  • Produces structured formats for pipelines as well as readable Markdown for interactive use.
  • Lets a company evolve its tag taxonomy without source changes.
  • Keeps search and classification vocabulary accessible from headless environments.

User Story

A support agent searches for a customer's issue across the vault, narrows into the relevant Dotabase, captures the canonical row handle, and creates a missing category for future triage. They finish with both the answer source and a better organizational vocabulary. The result is a concrete, inspectable outcome that another person or automation can continue from without reconstructing hidden state.

Extension Surface

The command family is automatable: packages/cli/src/commands/search.ts and packages/cli/src/commands/tags.ts expose fixed route-backed verbs. Search entity registries exist in the SDK, but CLI command registration does not. The rating reflects the most-open supported seam that is true for this capability, not a transitive implementation detail. The cited path is the operational proof: consumers can use the documented seam, while unsupported changes still require a core release.

Capabilities & Limits

  • Capability: Universal natural-language or keyword search with filters and result handles.
  • Capability: Dotabase-scoped row search modes for narrower retrieval.
  • Capability: Custom tag-category creation and catalog listing.
  • Limit: Result quality depends on indexed content and available embeddings; the CLI reports what the search service can retrieve rather than guaranteeing semantic recall.

The limit is intentional product truth rather than missing documentation. Calls also remain subject to authentication, tenant selection, schema validation, and the permissions enforced by the authoritative service.

Implementation Map

  • packages/cli/src/commands/search.ts
  • packages/cli/src/commands/tags.ts
  • docs/cli/search-and-tags-commands.md

Properties

Property
Value
product
dots-platform
extensibility
automatable
module
CLI, Search
packages
cli, search, tags
status
shipped
surface
cli
summary
Search across Dots or within a Dotabase and create or list custom tag categories from a scriptable terminal surface.

Connections

CLI Search and Tagging · Explore connections

  • documented bytodots search and dots tags
  • implemented bytopackages/cli/src/commands/search.ts
  • implemented bytopackages/cli/src/commands/tags.ts
  • complementstoMCP Built-In Vault Tool Catalog
  • complementstoCLI Row and Page Content Management

Connected Records5

Complements
Documented by
Implemented by
packages/cli/src/commands/search.ts
packages/cli/src/commands/tags.ts
5 connections.

Documents

Title
Type