Command reference

The CLI uses noun-verb syntax (notes list, not list-notes) — same convention as gh, kubectl, aws, stripe.

Global flags

Flag	Effect
`--local`	Force the local desktop bridge backend
`--remote`	Force the remote cloud API backend
`--format <fmt>`	Output format, per command. Supported values vary (`json`, `table`, `markdown`, `text`). Default depends on TTY: human-readable in a terminal, JSON when piped. Not all commands accept this flag — `notes create`, `notes update`, and `folders create` always emit full JSON.
`-h, --help`	Show command help
`-V, --version`	Print CLI version

Notes

openwhispr notes list [--folder <id>] [--limit N] [--format json|table]
openwhispr notes get <id> [--transcript] [--format json|markdown]
openwhispr notes create --content <text> | --content-file <path>
                        [--title <t>] [--folder <id>]
openwhispr notes update <id> [--content <t>] [--folder <id>] [--title <t>]
openwhispr notes delete <id> [--dry-run] [--format json|table]
openwhispr notes search <query> [--limit N] [--format json|table]

For notes with an AI-enhanced version (e.g. meeting notes), notes get’s markdown output shows the enhanced note when one exists, matching the desktop app. The raw fields are always available via --format json (content, enhanced_content). Pass --transcript to output only the note’s transcript — as speaker-labeled markdown, or as { "transcript": "..." } with --format json.

Folders

openwhispr folders list [--format json|table]
openwhispr folders create --name <name> [--sort-order <n>]

Transcriptions

openwhispr transcriptions list [--limit N] [--format json|table]
openwhispr transcriptions get <id> [--format json|text]
openwhispr transcriptions delete <id> [--dry-run] [--format json|table]

--format text returns the plain transcript body. SRT and VTT subtitle formats aren’t currently exposed by the CLI — use --format json and post-process the segment data if you need timestamped subtitles.

Audio

openwhispr audio delete <transcription-id> [--format json|table]

Local-only. Deletes the audio file for a dictation transcription (meeting transcripts have no audio to delete — only their text is captured). The cloud API doesn’t store audio at all, so running with --remote exits with a “not supported” error.

Auth

openwhispr auth login    # prompts for API key, stores in ~/.openwhispr/cli-config.json
openwhispr auth logout
openwhispr auth status

Config

openwhispr config get
openwhispr config set backend auto|local|remote
openwhispr config set api-base https://api.openwhispr.com

Doctor

openwhispr doctor [--format json]

Reports which backends are reachable and exits non-zero if neither is.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	User error (bad arguments, missing required flag)
2	Backend unreachable (app not running, API unreachable)
3	Authentication failure (missing/invalid key, insufficient scope)
4	Not found (no such note/transcription/folder)

Getting started

Features

CLI

Platform

Resources

Global flags

Notes

Folders

Transcriptions

Audio

Auth

Config

Doctor

Exit codes

​Global flags

​Notes

​Folders

​Transcriptions

​Audio

​Auth

​Config

​Doctor

​Exit codes

Global flags

Notes

Folders

Transcriptions

Audio

Auth

Config

Doctor

Exit codes