Dinox CLI Reference

Dinox CLI (dino) is a command-line tool for managing a personal knowledge base (notes, tags, card boxes / zettel boxes). Data is stored locally in SQLite and synced to the cloud via PowerSync.

Global Options

Flag	Description
--json	Output machine-readable YAML
--offline	Skip sync, use local cache only
--sync-timeout <ms>	Override default 300000 ms (5 min) sync/connect timeout
--verbose	Enable verbose logging

Commands Quick Reference

Auth

dino auth login "Bearer <token>"   # Login with token
  --no-verify                      #   Skip credential exchange & initial sync
dino auth logout                   # Logout
  --clear-local-db                 #   Also delete local SQLite database
dino auth status                   # Show auth status (userId, sync state, etc.)

Sync

dino sync                          # Sync local data with cloud

Update CLI

dino update                        # Update @dinoxx/dinox-cli via detected package manager

Notes

dino note search [query]           # Search notes (supports FTS + Chinese tokenization)
  --tags <expr>                    #   Tag expression: '(work OR life) AND NOT archived'
  --from <date>                    #   Filter by created_at start (YYYY-MM-DD or ISO)
  --to <date>                      #   Filter by created_at end
  --days <n>                       #   Recent N days
  --box <string|@file>             #   Filter by card box names (comma-separated or JSON array)
  --sql <expr>                     #   SQL-like expression over id/content_md/summary/tags/zettel_boxes/created_at/type
  --include-deleted                #   Include soft-deleted notes

dino note get <id>                 # Get note summary by ID
dino note detail [id]              # Get full note detail (single or batch)
  --ids <string|@file>             #   Batch note IDs (JSON array or comma/newline-separated)

dino note create                   # Create a new note
  --title <string>                 #   (required) Note title
  --content <string|@file>         #   (required) Markdown content (or @filepath)
  --type <note|crawl>              #   Note type (default: crawl)
  --tags <string|@file>            #   Tag names (JSON array or comma-separated)
  --zettel_boxes <string|@file>    #   Card box names (JSON array or comma-separated)

dino note update [id]              # Update note tags and/or card boxes (single or batch)
  --ids <string|@file>             #   Batch note IDs (JSON array or comma/newline-separated)
  --tags <string|@file>            #   Full-replace tag names (use [] to clear)
  --boxes <string|@file>           #   Full-replace card box names (use [] to clear)

dino note delete <id>              # Soft-delete a note

Todo

dino todo search [query]           # Search todo tasks
  --status <status>                #   all|completed|uncompleted (default: all)
  --tags <string|@file>            #   Task tags (JSON array or comma/newline-separated)
  --from <date>                    #   Date range start (YYYY-MM-DD or ISO)
  --to <date>                      #   Date range end (YYYY-MM-DD or ISO)
  --days <n>                       #   Recent N days
  --limit <n>                      #   Returned task count cap (default 50)
  --scan-limit <n>                 #   Max scanned note rows (default 200)
  --include-deleted                #   Include deleted notes

dino todo append [task]            # Append tasks to an existing note
  --task <text>                    #   Repeatable task text
  --tasks <string|@file>           #   Task list (JSON array or comma/newline-separated)
  --note-id <id>                   #   Target note ID (optional)

dino todo create [task]            # Create a new note with tasks
  --task <text>                    #   Repeatable task text
  --tasks <string|@file>           #   Task list (JSON array or comma/newline-separated)
  --title <string>                 #   Optional title (auto-generated by default)

dino todo update <taskId>          # Update task status by task ID
  --status <status>                #   completed|uncompleted (+ aliases done/undone/true/false/1/0)

Tags

dino tag list                      # List all tags
dino tag add <name>                # Create a tag (supports slash hierarchy like "work/projects")
  --emoji <string>                 #   Optional emoji for the tag

Card Boxes (Zettel Boxes)

dino box list                      # List all card boxes
dino box add <name>                # Create a new card box
  --description <string>           #   Box purpose/usage description (helps AI route notes)
  --color <string>                 #   Box color

Prompts

dino prompt list                   # List all prompts
dino prompt add                    # Create a prompt template in c_cmd
  --name <string>                  #   Prompt display name (required)
  --cmd <string>                   #   Prompt command/text (required)
  --sync-timeout <ms>              #   Override connect/sync timeout
  --offline                        #   Skip connect/sync and use local cache only
  --json                           #   Output machine-readable YAML

Config

dino config get                    # View current config
dino config set <key> <value>      # Set a config value

Info

dino info                          # Show CLI version

Important Notes

• The --content and --tags options accept @filepath syntax to read from a file
• Tags must exist before being used in note create; create them first with tag add
• Card box names must exist before being used; create them first with box add
• prompt add fails fast when --name or --cmd is empty
• prompt add rejects active duplicates by (name, cmd) and restores soft-deleted duplicates
• If c_cmd includes user_id, prompt add requires a logged-in user (dino auth login)
• Search uses FTS + tokenization (with @node-rs/jieba); falls back to LIKE when needed
• note search returns streamlined fields: id, title, summary, tags, created_at, zettel_boxes
• todo search returns { meta, tasks }; each task includes task_key, task_id, note_id, note_title, status, hierarchy, and time fields
• All todo subcommands perform a sync-before-run step unless --offline is set
• todo mutations (append/create/update) treat content_json as source-of-truth and sync derived image_detail, content_md, and content_text
• todo append defaults to latest note (created_at desc) with non-empty image_detail when --note-id is omitted
• todo search date filtering checks due_time/start_time; when task time is missing, note created_at is used
• todo update fails when same taskId appears in multiple notes; disambiguate before retrying
• Tag expressions support AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses
• The --sql option supports SQL-like WHERE conditions (read-only; no INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE); zettel_boxes values are matched by name and auto-resolved to IDs
• note detail supports batch read via [id] + --ids; at least one is required
• note update supports batch update via [id] + --ids; at least one is required
• note update requires at least one of --tags/--boxes, and both fields are full-replace semantics
• dino update auto-detects the install package manager (npm/pnpm/yarn/bun) and runs the matching global update command
• dino update output includes the skills repo URL and an AI reminder to review/update local Dinox skills
• Notes use soft-delete (is_del=1), not permanent deletion
• Output is YAML format when --json is used
• If dino is not found, try npx dino or check that dinox-cli is installed globally