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Add context (human-written summaries) to collections or specific paths to improve search quality and provide helpful metadata.

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Usage

qmd context <command> [options]

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Subcommands

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add

Add context for a path or collection. 
qmd context add [path] "context text"
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path
string
Path to add context for. Can be:
  • / for global context (applies to all collections)
  • Virtual path: qmd://collection/ or qmd://collection/subpath
  • Filesystem path (auto-detects collection)
  • Omit to use current directory
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context text
string
required
Human-readable description of what the path contains
Examples: 
# Add context to current directory
qmd context add "Meeting notes from 2025"

# Global context (system message for all collections)
qmd context add / "Internal company documentation"

# Context for entire collection
qmd context add qmd://journals/ "Personal daily journal entries"

# Context for subfolder
qmd context add qmd://notes/projects "Active project documentation"

# Using filesystem path
qmd context add ~/notes/meetings "Weekly team meetings"

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list

List all configured contexts. 
qmd context list
Displays contexts grouped by collection, showing path and context text.

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rm

Remove context from a path. 
qmd context rm <path>
qmd context remove <path>  # alias
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path
string
required
Path to remove context from (virtual path or / for global)
Examples: 
# Remove global context
qmd context rm /

# Remove collection context
qmd context rm qmd://journals/2024

# Remove subfolder context
qmd context rm qmd://notes/archive

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How Context Works

Context appears in search results and is used by:
  1. Search results — Displayed alongside matching documents
  2. MCP tools — Included in document metadata for AI agents
  3. Multi-get — Shown when retrieving multiple files
Context is inherited hierarchically:
  • Path /meetings/2025/jan.md inherits context from /meetings/2025, /meetings, and collection root
  • Global context (/) applies to all collections

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Storage

Contexts are stored in ~/.config/qmd/index.yml under the context key for each collection.

qmd collection

Manage collections

qmd query

Search with context

qmd status

Check context coverage

Collections guide

Learn about collections