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Readwise Cli

Organization
readwiseio
readwise-cli

How to use the Readwise CLI — access highlights, documents, and your entire reading library from the command line

Overview

Publisherreadwiseio
Repositoryreadwise-skills
Skill namereadwise-cli
Stars
324
Forks
13
Bundled files
Instructions only
Links
Skill sourceRepositoryHomepage
  • Markdown instructions

    A SKILL.md file the model loads on demand, so it only costs tokens when a request actually matches.

  • Works with any LLM

    AI skills are plain Markdown, not provider-specific code, so this works with GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or a local model.

  • Self-contained

    Everything the model needs lives in the instructions — no extra files to sync.

  • Open source

    Published by readwiseio on GitHub. Read the source before you install it.

Installation

Install the Readwise Cli AI skill in TypingMind to use it with any LLM, or drop it into another agent that reads SKILL.md.

1

Install in TypingMind

TypingMind installs a skill straight from its GitHub folder — it reads SKILL.md, bundles the resource files, and stores the result locally.

  1. Open the app and go to Plugins → Skills.
  2. Choose "Install from GitHub".
  3. Paste the skill folder URL below and confirm.
    https://github.com/readwiseio/readwise-skills/tree/master/skills/readwise-cli
  4. Enable the skill in any chat where you want it available.
Plugins → Skills → Add skill → From GitHub URL, then paste the folder URL and press Continue.
2

Install in another agent

Any agent that reads the Agent Skills format can use this skill — copy the folder into that agent's skills directory.

Claude Code — .claude/skills
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/readwiseio/readwise-skills.git /tmp/readwise-skills
mkdir -p .claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/readwise-skills/skills/readwise-cli .claude/skills/readwise-cli
Restart Claude Code after copying so it picks up the new skill.

Use it in TypingMind

Enable Readwise Cli in any TypingMind chat and the model takes it from there. Its name and description sit in the system prompt, and the moment a request matches, the model loads the full instructions itself — you never invoke it by hand, and it costs no tokens until it is actually used.

The model loads Readwise Cli on its own as soon as a request matches it.

Works with any AI model

AI skills are plain Markdown instructions rather than provider-specific code, so Readwise Cli is not tied to the model it was written for. Install it once in TypingMind and use it with GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral, Llama, or a local model you run yourself — all on your own API keys.

  • Loaded only when it is needed

    The system prompt carries just the name and description. The instructions are fetched on the first matching request, so an idle skill costs nothing.

  • Switch models mid-chat

    Because the skill is instructions rather than code, changing model does not break it — the next model reads the same SKILL.md.

Skill instructions

This is the SKILL.md content the model loads. Read it before installing — a skill is instructions your model will follow.

Readwise CLI

Use the readwise command to access the user's Readwise highlights and Reader documents. Readwise has two products:

  • Readwise — highlights from books, articles, podcasts, and more. Includes daily review and spaced repetition.
  • Reader — a read-later app for saving and reading articles, PDFs, EPUBs, RSS feeds, emails, tweets, and videos.

Setup

If readwise is not installed:

bash
npm install -g @readwise/cli

If not authenticated, ask the user for their Readwise access token (they can get one at https://readwise.io/access_token), then run:

bash
readwise login-with-token <token>

Discovering Commands

Every command supports --help for full option details:

bash
readwise --help
readwise reader-search-documents --help
readwise readwise-list-highlights --help

Add --json to any command for machine-readable output. Use --refresh to force-refresh cached data.

Reader Commands

Searching documents

bash
# Semantic search across all saved documents
readwise reader-search-documents --query "spaced repetition"

# Search only articles saved for later
readwise reader-search-documents --query "machine learning" --category-in article --location-in later,shortlist

# Search by author within the inbox
readwise reader-search-documents --query "AI" --author-search "Simon Willison" --location-in new

# Search documents published after a date
readwise reader-search-documents --query "transformers" --published-date-gt 2024-01-01

Browsing documents

bash
# List 10 most recent inbox items (minimal fields to save tokens)
readwise reader-list-documents --location new --limit 10 --response-fields title,author,summary,word_count,category,saved_at

# List archived articles tagged "research"
readwise reader-list-documents --location archive --tag research --category article

# List unseen documents in the inbox
readwise reader-list-documents --location new --seen false

# List RSS feed items
readwise reader-list-documents --location feed --limit 20 --response-fields title,author,summary,site_name

# Get a specific document by ID
readwise reader-list-documents --id <document_id>

Locations: new (inbox), later, shortlist, archive, feed. When the user says "inbox", use new.

Reading and highlighting

bash
# Get full document content as Markdown
readwise reader-get-document-details --document-id <id>

# Get all highlights on a document
readwise reader-get-document-highlights --document-id <id>

# Highlight a passage (html-content must match the document's HTML exactly)
# Get the HTML first via reader-list-documents with --response-fields html_content
readwise reader-create-highlight --document-id <id> --html-content "<p>The exact passage to highlight</p>"

# Highlight with a note and tags
readwise reader-create-highlight --document-id <id> --html-content "<p>Key insight</p>" --note "Connects to spaced repetition research" --tags review,concept

Saving documents

bash
# Save a URL — Reader scrapes it automatically
readwise reader-create-document --url "https://example.com/article"

# Save with metadata
readwise reader-create-document --url "https://example.com" --title "Great Article" --tags research,ai --notes "Recommended by Alice"

# Save raw Markdown content (provide a unique URL as identifier)
readwise reader-create-document --title "Meeting Notes" --markdown "# Notes from today..." --url "https://me.com#notes-march-2025"

Organizing

bash
# Move documents between locations (max 50 per call)
readwise reader-move-documents --document-ids <id1>,<id2> --location archive
readwise reader-move-documents --document-ids <id> --location later

# Bulk mark documents as seen
readwise reader-bulk-edit-document-metadata --documents '[{"document_id": "<id>", "seen": true}]'

# Bulk update metadata (title, author, tags, summary, etc.)
readwise reader-bulk-edit-document-metadata --documents '[{"document_id": "<id>", "title": "Better Title", "tags": ["ai", "research"]}]'

# Tags
readwise reader-list-tags
readwise reader-add-tags-to-document --document-id <id> --tag-names important,research
readwise reader-remove-tags-from-document --document-id <id> --tag-names old-tag

# Highlight tags and notes
readwise reader-add-tags-to-highlight --document-id <id> --highlight-document-id <hid> --tag-names concept
readwise reader-remove-tags-from-highlight --document-id <id> --highlight-document-id <hid> --tag-names old-tag
readwise reader-set-highlight-notes --document-id <id> --highlight-document-id <hid> --notes "Updated note"

Exporting

bash
# Export all documents as a ZIP of Markdown files (async)
readwise reader-export-documents
readwise reader-get-export-documents-status --export-id <id>

# Delta export — only docs updated since last export
readwise reader-export-documents --since-updated "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"

Readwise Commands

Searching highlights

bash
# Semantic search across all highlights
readwise readwise-search-highlights --vector-search-term "learning techniques"

# Search with full-text filter on a specific field
readwise readwise-search-highlights --vector-search-term "memory" --full-text-queries '[{"field_name": "document_title", "search_term": "psychology"}]'

Full-text query fields: document_author, document_title, highlight_note, highlight_plaintext, highlight_tags.

Browsing highlights

bash
# List 20 most recent highlights
readwise readwise-list-highlights --page-size 20

# Highlights from a specific book
readwise readwise-list-highlights --book-id <id>

# Highlights from the last month
readwise readwise-list-highlights --highlighted-at-gt "2025-02-01T00:00:00Z"

Creating and editing highlights

bash
# Create a highlight (matched to a book by title/author, or goes into "Quotes")
readwise readwise-create-highlights --highlights '[{"text": "The key insight here", "title": "Book Title", "author": "Author Name"}]'

# Create multiple highlights at once
readwise readwise-create-highlights --highlights '[{"text": "First quote", "title": "Book A"}, {"text": "Second quote", "title": "Book B"}]'

# Update a highlight — text, note, color, tags
readwise readwise-update-highlight --highlight-id <id> --note "New note" --add-tags concept,review --color blue

# Delete a highlight
readwise readwise-delete-highlight --highlight-id <id>

Colors: yellow, blue, pink, orange, green, purple.

Daily review

bash
# Get today's spaced repetition review
readwise readwise-get-daily-review

Returns highlights selected by the spaced repetition algorithm plus a URL for interactive review.

Example Workflows

Triage the inbox: List recent saves, read each one, decide what's worth the user's time.

bash
readwise reader-list-documents --location new --limit 10 --response-fields title,author,summary,word_count,category,saved_at
readwise reader-get-document-details --document-id <id>
readwise reader-move-documents --document-ids <id> --location later    # worth reading
readwise reader-move-documents --document-ids <id> --location archive  # skip

Search across everything: Find all content on a topic across both highlights and documents.

bash
readwise reader-search-documents --query "spaced repetition"
readwise readwise-search-highlights --vector-search-term "spaced repetition"

Quiz on a recent read: Find a finished document, get its content and highlights, quiz the user.

bash
readwise reader-list-documents --location archive --limit 10 --response-fields title,author,summary,word_count
readwise reader-get-document-details --document-id <id>
readwise reader-get-document-highlights --document-id <id>

Catch up on RSS: Browse feed items, surface the best ones, mark the rest as seen.

bash
readwise reader-list-documents --location feed --limit 20 --response-fields title,author,summary,word_count,site_name
readwise reader-bulk-edit-document-metadata --documents '[{"document_id": "<id>", "seen": true}]'
readwise reader-move-documents --document-ids <id> --location later

Save and annotate: Save a URL, highlight key passages, tag and organize.

bash
readwise reader-create-document --url "https://example.com/article" --tags research
readwise reader-create-highlight --document-id <id> --html-content "<p>Key passage here</p>" --note "This connects to..."
readwise reader-add-tags-to-document --document-id <id> --tag-names important

Build a reading recap: See what you've finished and highlighted recently.

bash
readwise reader-list-documents --location archive --updated-after "2025-03-10T00:00:00Z" --response-fields title,author,word_count,reading_progress
readwise reader-get-document-highlights --document-id <id>
readwise readwise-list-highlights --highlighted-at-gt "2025-03-10T00:00:00Z" --page-size 50

Frequently asked questions

What does the Readwise Cli AI skill do?

How to use the Readwise CLI — access highlights, documents, and your entire reading library from the command line

Why use Readwise Cli on TypingMind?

Because you install it once and use it with any model. Readwise Cli is plain Markdown rather than provider-specific code, so the same skill runs on GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or a local model — and you can switch model mid-chat without it breaking. TypingMind runs on your own API keys, so you pay providers directly instead of a per-seat subscription, and your skills and chats stay in your own storage.

How do I install Readwise Cli in TypingMind?

Open Plugins → Skills → Install from GitHub in TypingMind and paste https://github.com/readwiseio/readwise-skills/tree/master/skills/readwise-cli. TypingMind reads its SKILL.md and installs it as a skill you can enable per chat.

Which AI models can use Readwise Cli?

Any model you connect in TypingMind. AI skills are plain Markdown instructions rather than provider-specific code, so GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and local models can all load this skill when a request matches it.

How many AI models can I use with Readwise Cli?

As many as you like. As long as a model supports skills, you can use Readwise Cli with it — GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral, Llama and more — all on TypingMind with your own API keys.

Is the Readwise Cli AI skill free?

It is published on GitHub by readwiseio. Check the repository for licensing terms. You only pay your own AI provider for the tokens you use.

What are AI skills?

An AI skill is a reusable instruction bundle that teaches an AI model how to do one specific task. It follows the open Agent Skills format: a SKILL.md file with a name and description, plus any scripts, templates or reference files the model may need. The model reads the instructions only when your request matches the skill, so an installed skill costs nothing until it is used.

How are AI skills different from plugins or MCP servers?

A plugin or MCP server gives a model new tools to call — code that runs somewhere and returns a result. An AI skill gives the model knowledge and process instead: how to approach a task, which steps to follow, what good output looks like. Skills are plain Markdown, so they need no server, no API key and no runtime, and they work with any model.

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