Meridian CLI Reference: Commands, Flags, and Usage

Complete reference for every meridian CLI command and install.sh flag, including start, stop, logs, doctor, config, permissions, and uninstall.

The meridian CLI is a bash script that wraps macOS launchd, letting you manage all Meridian daemons without touching launchctl directly. After installation, the script is symlinked into /usr/local/bin/meridian (or ~/.local/bin/meridian) so you can call it from any directory.

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Commands

meridian start

meridian start

Enables and bootstraps every Meridian LaunchAgent, then prints a live status summary. The daemons started are, in order:

Label	Service
com.meridiona.screenpipe	screenpipe ambient recorder
com.meridiona.daemon	Meridian Rust ETL daemon
com.meridiona.jira-updater	Jira / GitHub / Linear sync
com.meridiona.ui	Next.js dashboard at http://localhost:3000
com.meridiona.mlx-server	MLX inference server
com.meridiona.coding-agent-indexer	Coding-agent context indexer

If any .plist file is missing, meridian start prints an error for that service and exits with a non-zero code. Run ./install.sh to reinstall missing plists.

The Rust daemon TCP-connects to the MLX server at startup to verify it is reachable. If the MLX server is not running, the daemon exits immediately. Start all services together with meridian start rather than launching them individually.

meridian stop

meridian stop

Disables and boots out every LaunchAgent, then kills any orphaned mlx_lm.server processes that launchd does not track. The .plist files in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ are left in place so meridian start can bring everything back up.

Use this command before editing ~/.meridian/.env so the daemon picks up the new values on the next meridian start.

meridian restart

meridian restart

Runs meridian stop, waits one second, then runs meridian start. Use this after changing environment variables or rebuilding the daemon binary.

meridian status

meridian status

Queries launchd for the running state of every registered service and prints a colour-coded summary:

• ✓ running (pid N) — service is up and has a PID
• ⊘ loaded but not running — launchd has the plist but the process is not active (e.g. the jira-updater between scheduled slots)
• ✗ not installed — plist is missing; run ./install.sh

Run meridian status any time you are unsure whether the stack is up.

meridian logs [target] [-f] [-n N]

meridian logs [target] [-f] [-n N]

Tails a log file from ~/.meridian/logs/. All arguments are optional.

Valid targets

Target	File
daemon (default)	~/.meridian/logs/daemon.log
daemon-error	~/.meridian/logs/daemon-error.log
jira-updater	~/.meridian/logs/jira-updater.log
screenpipe	~/.meridian/logs/screenpipe.log
screenpipe-error	~/.meridian/logs/screenpipe-error.log
ui	~/.meridian/logs/ui.log
ui-error	~/.meridian/logs/ui-error.log
mlx-server	~/.meridian/logs/mlx-server.log
coding-agent-indexer	~/.meridian/logs/coding-agent-indexer.log

Flags

Flag	Description
-f	Follow (stream) the log in real time
-n N	Show the last N lines (default: 100)

Examples

# Stream the Rust daemon log live
meridian logs daemon -f

# Last 50 lines of the MLX server log
meridian logs mlx-server -n 50

# Tail errors from screenpipe
meridian logs screenpipe-error

meridian doctor

meridian doctor

Runs a full suite of environment health checks and prints a pass/fail result for each one. Checks include:

• macOS detected
• meridian-daemon binary exists and is executable
• Service .plist files are installed and pass plutil -lint (daemon, jira-updater, screenpipe, UI)
• Daemon process is running
• ~/.meridian/.env configuration file exists
• screenpipe binary is in $PATH
• screenpipe database exists at ~/.screenpipe/db.sqlite
• screenpipe process is running
• Python venv is set up and run_agent is importable
• MCP server has been built (packages/meridian-mcp/dist/index.js exists)
• Next.js UI has been built (ui/.next directory exists)

At the end, doctor prints a count of failed checks. A clean run looks like:

✓ all checks passed

Run meridian doctor as the first diagnostic step whenever something seems wrong.

meridian config edit

meridian config edit

Opens ~/.meridian/.env in your $EDITOR (falls back to nano if $EDITOR is not set). This is the canonical way to update API keys, change the poll interval, or toggle classification without hunting for the file path.

After saving, run meridian restart so the daemon picks up the new values.

You can also set $EDITOR to any editor you prefer before calling this command:

EDITOR=code meridian config edit

meridian permissions

meridian permissions

Walks you interactively through the three macOS privacy panes that screenpipe requires. The command first prints the stable binary path you need to grant access to:

~/.meridian/bin/screenpipe

Then it opens each pane in sequence:

1. Screen Recording — opens the System Settings pane; click +, press ⌘⇧G, paste the path above, click Open, and toggle the entry on.
2. Accessibility — same steps.
3. Microphone — screenpipe appears here only after it first requests mic access. Grant Screen Recording first if screenpipe is not listed yet.

After each step the script waits for you to press Enter. Run meridian restart afterwards so screenpipe picks up the newly granted permissions.

Updates preserve whatever screenpipe path your existing launchd plist points at so the macOS TCC grant stays valid. The ~/.meridian/bin/screenpipe path is used for fresh installs and when no plist exists yet.

Without Screen Recording permission, screenpipe cannot capture frames and Meridian will have no data to process.

meridian uninstall

meridian uninstall

Prompts for confirmation, then stops all daemons, runs each service’s uninstall script, kills orphaned mlx_lm.server processes, and removes the meridian and meridian-daemon symlinks from /usr/local/bin/ and ~/.local/bin/.

Your data at ~/.meridian/ is not removed. Delete it manually if you want to wipe everything:

rm -rf ~/.meridian

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install.sh Flags

The installer (./install.sh) accepts flags that let you customise or automate the setup process.

--no-ui

Skip the Next.js dashboard build. Useful on headless machines or when you only need the daemon and MCP server.

--dry-run

Preview every action the installer would take without executing any of them. Helpful for auditing the setup on a new machine.

--no-daemon

Build all binaries but do not register any launchd agents. Use this if you want to manage service startup yourself.

--skip-permissions

Skip the interactive macOS permissions walkthrough. Useful when re-running the installer after permissions are already granted, or in scripted environments.

--skip-env

Skip all credential prompts entirely. Existing values in the .env files are preserved. Use alongside --skip-permissions for fully non-interactive re-installs.

--mlx

Install and register the persistent MLX inference server as a launchd daemon. Requires Apple Silicon. Enables faster, on-device session classification with no external API calls.

Example — build only, no prompts, no daemon registration:

./install.sh --no-daemon --skip-permissions --skip-env