nb Command Reference Overview

nb is a single portable Bash script that provides a full-featured command-line interface for note-taking, bookmarking, and archiving. Every capability is exposed through named subcommands, each with its own help text and shortcut aliases. This page maps the entire command surface so you can find what you need quickly.

Getting Help

nb has built-in help at every level. Run any of the following to get documentation without leaving your terminal:

# Display the full help overview
nb help

# View help for a specific subcommand
nb help add
nb help search
nb help notebooks

# Shortcut: h is an alias for help
nb h add

# Print help text to stdout (instead of the pager)
nb help add --print

# View the full README
nb help --readme

# View color theme information
nb help --colors

nb -h and nb --help are equivalent to nb help and display the same program-level help text.

Program-Level Options

These flags are passed directly to nb before any subcommand and affect global behavior:

Flag	Description
`-h`, `--help`	Display help information
`-i`, `--interactive`	Start the `nb` interactive shell
`--no-color`	Print all output without color highlighting
`--version`	Display version information

# Start the interactive nb shell
nb -i

# Run nb without color (useful for piping output)
nb --no-color ls

# Print version
nb --version

Notebook Selector Syntax

Every subcommand that accepts an item identifier also accepts an optional notebook prefix. This lets you operate across notebooks without switching your active notebook:

# General pattern
nb <notebook>:[<subcommand>] [<identifier>] [<options>...]
nb <subcommand> <notebook>:<identifier> [<options>...]

# Examples
nb example:ls                   # list items in "example" notebook
nb example:add -t "New Note"    # add a note to "example"
nb example:show 12              # show item 12 in "example"
nb search "query" example:      # search within "example"

Identifiers inside the selector can be a numeric ID, a filename, a title, or a folder path:

nb work:3                       # item 3 in "work" notebook
nb work:notes/report.md         # path-based selector
nb work:"Project Plan"          # title-based selector

All Subcommands

Run nb help <subcommand> for the full usage, options, and examples for any command listed below.

Subcommand	Description
`add`	Add a note, folder, or file
`archive`	Archive the current or specified notebook
`bookmark`	Add, open, list, and search bookmarks
`browse`	Browse and manage linked items in terminal and GUI web browsers
`completions`	Install and uninstall shell completion scripts
`copy`	Copy or duplicate an item
`count`	Print the number of items in a notebook or folder
`delete`	Delete a note
`do`	Mark a todo or task as done
`edit`	Edit a note
`env`	Print environment information and install dependencies
`export`	Export a note to a variety of different formats
`folders`	Add, delete, and list folders
`git`	Run `git` commands within the current notebook
`help`	View help information for the program or a subcommand
`history`	View git history for the current notebook or a note
`import`	Import a file into the current notebook
`init`	Initialize the first notebook
`list`	List notes in the current notebook
`ls`	List notebooks and notes in the current notebook
`move`	Move or rename a note
`notebooks`	Manage notebooks
`open`	Open a bookmarked web page or notebook folder, or edit a note
`peek`	View a note, bookmarked web page, or notebook in the terminal
`pin`	Pin an item so it appears first in lists
`plugins`	Install and uninstall plugins and themes
`remote`	Configure the remote URL and branch for the notebook
`run`	Run shell commands within the current notebook
`search`	Search notes
`settings`	Edit configuration settings
`shell`	Start the `nb` interactive shell
`show`	Show a note or notebook
`status`	Print notebook status information
`subcommands`	List, add, alias, and describe subcommands
`sync`	Sync local notebook with the remote repository
`tasks`	List tasks in todos, notebooks, folders, and other items
`todo`	Manage todos and tasks
`unarchive`	Unarchive the current or specified notebook
`undo`	Mark a todo or task as not done
`unpin`	Unpin a pinned item
`unset`	Return a setting to its default value
`update`	Update `nb` to the latest version
`use`	Switch to a notebook
`version`	Display version information

Shortcut Aliases

Many subcommands have single-character or symbolic shortcuts for fast interactive use:

Shortcut	Full Subcommand	Example
`a`	`add`	`nb a "Note content."`
`+`	`add`	`nb + --title "Example Title"`
`b`	`browse`	`nb b sample/`
`d`	`delete`	`nb d 19`
`-`	`delete`	`nb - example:123`
`e`	`edit`	`nb e 5`
`h`	`help`	`nb h add`
`o`	`open`	`nb o 12`
`p`	`peek`	`nb p 6`
`q`	`search`	`nb q "example query"`
`s`	`show`	`nb s 27`
`u`	`use`	`nb u example-notebook`

Additional aliases available for specific subcommands:

Shortcut	Subcommand
`n`, `nb`	`notebooks`
`ar`	`archive`
`unar`	`unarchive`
`bk`, `bm`	`bookmark`
`f`	`folders`
`i`	`import`
`mv`	`move`
`st`	`status`
`t`	`tasks`
`to`	`todo`

Detail Pages

nb add

Create notes, bookmarks, todos, and folders with full option coverage

edit / show / delete

Open notes in your editor, print or render content, and remove items

nb search

Full-text search with AND/OR/NOT logic, tags, types, and regex

nb notebooks

Create, rename, archive, and sync multiple note collections

Command Reference

Advanced

nb Command Reference Overview

Getting Help

Program-Level Options

Notebook Selector Syntax

All Subcommands

Shortcut Aliases

Detail Pages

nb add

edit / show / delete

nb search

nb notebooks

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Command Reference

Advanced

Documentation Index

​Getting Help

​Program-Level Options

​Notebook Selector Syntax

​All Subcommands

​Shortcut Aliases

​Detail Pages

nb add

edit / show / delete

nb search

nb notebooks

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Getting Help

Program-Level Options

Notebook Selector Syntax

All Subcommands

Shortcut Aliases

Detail Pages