Single Queries

For quick questions without starting a full interactive session, use the query command.

Basic Usage

zk-chat query "What are my thoughts on productivity?"

Reading from Standard Input

You can pipe questions from files or other commands:

# From a file
cat question.txt | zk-chat query

# From echo
echo "Summarize my machine learning notes" | zk-chat query

# From heredoc
zk-chat query << EOF
Find all documents about:
1. Neural networks
2. Deep learning
3. Computer vision
EOF

Options

All the usual options are available:

# Use specific model
zk-chat query "..." --model qwen2.5:14b

# Use OpenAI
zk-chat query "..." --gateway openai

# Use agent mode for complex queries
zk-chat query "..." --agent

# Specify vault
zk-chat query "..." --vault /path/to/vault

When to Use Queries vs Interactive

Use Query Mode When:

✅ You have a single, specific question
✅ You want to script zk-chat usage
✅ You need quick one-off information
✅ You want to pipe output to other commands

Use Interactive Mode When:

✅ You're exploring your vault
✅ You need follow-up questions
✅ You want to build on previous context
✅ You're doing deep research

Examples

Simple Question

zk-chat query "What is my GTD system?"

Listing Documents

zk-chat query "List all documents about machine learning"

Getting Summaries

zk-chat query "Summarize the key concepts in my productivity notes"

Using Agent Mode

For complex queries that need planning:

zk-chat query "Find all connections between my deep work notes and flow state concepts, then explain the relationship" --agent

Scripting with Queries

Batch Processing

#!/bin/bash
# Process multiple questions

questions=(
    "What are my main productivity techniques?"
    "List recent machine learning concepts I've noted"
    "Summarize my thoughts on remote work"
)

for q in "${questions[@]}"; do
    echo "Question: $q"
    zk-chat query "$q"
    echo "---"
done

Saving Output

# Save to file
zk-chat query "Summarize all my notes" > summary.txt

# Append to file
zk-chat query "List key concepts" >> concepts.txt

Integration with Other Tools

# Use with grep
zk-chat query "List all productivity documents" | grep "GTD"

# Use with jq (if output is structured)
zk-chat query "..." | jq '.documents[]'

# Chain with other commands
zk-chat query "What did I write about today?" | mail -s "Daily Summary" me@example.com

Tips

Be Specific: Single queries work best with specific questions
Use Agent Mode Sparingly: It's slower but handles complex queries better
Test Interactively First: Try your query in interactive mode first
Consider Output Format: Query output goes to stdout