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Overview

The multi_get tool retrieves multiple documents in a single request using:
  • Glob patterns — journals/2025-05*.md, src/**/*.ts
  • Comma-separated lists — docs/api.md, docs/errors.md, #abc123
Files larger than maxBytes are skipped with a message. Use get to retrieve them individually.

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Input Schema

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pattern
string
required
Glob pattern or comma-separated list of file paths/docidsExamples:
  • journals/2025-05*.md — All May 2025 journal entries
  • src/**/*.ts — All TypeScript files in src/
  • docs/api.md, docs/errors.md — Specific files
  • #abc123, #def456 — Multiple docids
​
maxLines
number
Maximum lines per file. Truncates long documents with a [... truncated N more lines] suffix.
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maxBytes
number
default:"10240"
Skip files larger than this (in bytes). Default: 10KB.Skipped files show a message with instructions to use get instead.
​
lineNumbers
boolean
default:"false"
Add line numbers to output (format: N: content)

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Response Format

​
content
array
Array of text messages (errors) and resource objects (documents)

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Examples

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Glob Pattern

Request: 
{
  "pattern": "journals/2025-05*.md"
}
Response: 
{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "resource",
      "resource": {
        "uri": "qmd://notes/journals/2025-05-01.md",
        "name": "notes/journals/2025-05-01.md",
        "title": "May 1 Journal",
        "mimeType": "text/markdown",
        "text": "# May 1 Journal\n\nToday I worked on..."
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "resource",
      "resource": {
        "uri": "qmd://notes/journals/2025-05-02.md",
        "name": "notes/journals/2025-05-02.md",
        "title": "May 2 Journal",
        "mimeType": "text/markdown",
        "text": "# May 2 Journal\n\nContinued work on..."
      }
    }
  ]
}

​
Comma-Separated List

Request: 
{
  "pattern": "docs/api.md, docs/errors.md, #abc123"
}
Response: 
{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "resource",
      "resource": {
        "uri": "qmd://myproject/docs/api.md",
        "name": "myproject/docs/api.md",
        "title": "API Reference",
        "mimeType": "text/markdown",
        "text": "# API Reference\n\n..."
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "resource",
      "resource": {
        "uri": "qmd://myproject/docs/errors.md",
        "name": "myproject/docs/errors.md",
        "title": "Error Handling Guide",
        "mimeType": "text/markdown",
        "text": "# Error Handling Guide\n\n..."
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "resource",
      "resource": {
        "uri": "qmd://myproject/src/utils.ts",
        "name": "myproject/src/utils.ts",
        "title": "utils.ts",
        "mimeType": "text/markdown",
        "text": "export function formatDate(date: Date): string {\n  return date.toISOString();\n}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

​
With Line Numbers

Request: 
{
  "pattern": "src/errors.ts",
  "lineNumbers": true
}
Response: 
{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "resource",
      "resource": {
        "uri": "qmd://myproject/src/errors.ts",
        "name": "myproject/src/errors.ts",
        "title": "errors.ts",
        "mimeType": "text/markdown",
        "text": "1: export function handleError(err: Error) {\n2:   logger.error(err.message);\n3:   return { success: false, error: err.message };\n4: }\n"
      }
    }
  ]
}

​
Truncate Long Files

Request: 
{
  "pattern": "docs/*.md",
  "maxLines": 20
}
Each file is truncated to 20 lines with a suffix: 
[... truncated 150 more lines]

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Skipped Files

Request: 
{
  "pattern": "data/*.json",
  "maxBytes": 5000
}
Response: 
{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "[SKIPPED: data/large.json - file too large (12345 bytes > 5000 bytes). Use 'get' with file=\"data/large.json\" to retrieve.]"
    },
    {
      "type": "resource",
      "resource": {
        "uri": "qmd://myproject/data/small.json",
        "name": "myproject/data/small.json",
        "title": "small.json",
        "mimeType": "text/markdown",
        "text": "{\n  \"key\": \"value\"\n}\n"
      }
    }
  ]
}

​
No Matches

Request: 
{
  "pattern": "nonexistent/*.md"
}
Response: 
{
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "text": "No files matched pattern: nonexistent/*.md"
    }
  ],
  "isError": true
}

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Glob Syntax

Supported patterns:
  • * — Match any characters except /
  • ** — Match any characters including / (recursive)
  • ? — Match single character
  • [abc] — Match one of a, b, or c
  • {foo,bar} — Match foo or bar
Examples:
  • journals/2025*.md — All 2025 journals
  • src/**/*.ts — All TypeScript files recursively
  • docs/{api,errors}.md — Either api.md or errors.md
  • src/util?.ts — util1.ts, utilA.ts, etc.

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Context Metadata

If you’ve added context with qmd context add, it appears as a comment: 
<!-- Context: Source code for error utilities -->

export function handleError(err: Error) {
  ...
}

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CLI Equivalent

qmd multi-get "journals/2025-05*.md"
qmd multi-get "docs/api.md, docs/errors.md"
qmd multi-get "src/**/*.ts" -l 50 --max-bytes 20480

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Performance

Default maxBytes is 10KB to prevent overwhelming the response. For large batches:
  • Use maxLines to truncate long files
  • Increase maxBytes if you need larger files
  • Split very large queries into multiple multi_get calls

get Tool

Retrieve a single document (no size limits)

query Tool

Search to discover documents before retrieval

CLI: multi-get

CLI command with same functionality

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