guides/quick-start

Quick Start Guide

Get productive with memex in 5 minutes.

1. Set Up Your Knowledge Base

# Create a directory for your KB
mkdir -p ~/kb

# Set environment variables (add to shell profile for persistence)
export MEMEX_KB_ROOT=~/kb
export MEMEX_INDEX_ROOT=~/.memex-indices

# Initialize the KB
mx init

2. Create Your First Entry

mx add \
  --title="Git Stash Workflow" \
  --tags="git,workflow,cli" \
  --category=tooling \
  --content="# Git Stash Workflow

Quick save work in progress:
\`\`\`bash
git stash push -m 'WIP: feature X'
git stash list
git stash pop
\`\`\`

Use \`git stash apply\` to keep the stash after applying."

This creates tooling/git-stash-workflow.md in your KB.

3. Search for It

# Keyword search
mx search "stash"

# With semantic search (if installed)
mx search "save work in progress"

# Filter by tag
mx search "git" --tags=workflow

4. Read It Back

# Full entry with content
mx get tooling/git-stash-workflow.md

# Metadata only
mx get tooling/git-stash-workflow.md --metadata

5. Check KB Health

mx health

Audits your KB for:

  • Missing frontmatter
  • Broken links
  • Orphaned entries
  • Index sync issues

Essential Commands

Command Description
mx search "query" Search the KB
mx get path/entry.md Read an entry
mx add --title="..." --tags="..." --category=... Create entry
mx tree Browse structure
mx tags List all tags
mx whats-new Recent changes
mx health Audit KB

Next Steps