qmd

what it does

qmd is a tiny CLI search engine for your local files. docs, knowledge bases, meeting notes — whatever sits on your disk. semantic search, tracking current SOTA approaches, entirely local.

built by tobi lütke, CEO of Shopify.

why it matters

when the person running a $100B company builds a personal search tool instead of buying one, the signal is clear: nothing on the market works for personal knowledge search.

the design is militant: minimal CLI, local-only, no syncing, no indexing service, no SaaS dashboard. it plugs into whatever you already have on disk.

key features

• semantic search → not just keyword matching, understands meaning
• all local → zero cloud dependencies
• minimal CLI → unix philosophy, does one thing well
• file-agnostic → works with whatever’s already on your disk

self.md relevance

personal search is a primitive, not a feature. every knowledge worker needs it, no product nails it. qmd is evidence that the gap exists — and that the solution is local-first CLI, not another SaaS.