Show HN: Trieve CLI – Terminal-based LLM agent loop with search tool for PDFs

https://github.com/devflowinc/trieve/tree/main/clients/cli

12•skeptrune•4h ago

Hi HN,

I built a CLI for uploading documents and querying them with an LLM agent that uses search tools rather than stuffing everything into the context window. I recorded a demo using the CrossFit 2025 rulebook that shows how this approach compares to traditional RAG and direct context injection[1].

The core insight is that LLMs running in loops with tool access are unreasonably effective at this kind of knowledge retrieval task[2]. Instead of hoping the right chunks make it into your context, the agent can iteratively search, refine queries, and reason about what it finds.

The CLI handles the full workflow:

```bash

trieve upload ./document.pdf

trieve ask "What are the key findings?"

```

You can customize the RAG behavior, check upload status, and the responses stream back with expandable source references. I really enjoy having this workflow available in the terminal and I'm curious if others find this paradigm as compelling as I do.

Considering adding more commands and customization options if there's interest. The tool is free for up to 1k document chunks.

Source code is on GitHub[3] and available via npm[4].

Would love any feedback on the approach or CLI design!

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAV-esDsRUk [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43998472 [3]: https://github.com/devflowinc/trieve/blob/main/clients/cli/i... [4]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/trieve-cli

Comments

jlarocco•1h ago

I don't really understand the point of it. It seems like a very shallow replacement for skimming (or god forbid reading) the paper, without the benefit of absorbing any of the material yourself.

I have the same critique for a lot of AI tools. We're replacing the meaningful parts of content creation and consumption with a computer so we can pass it off as having created or understood it ourselves. It just seems pointless.

skeptrune•1h ago

Sometimes you just want a quick answer to a question though. I agree that tools like this aren't something I'd use to consume some content I'm actually interested in or produce something I think of as high quality.

However, I also want to flag that the cool part about the agent loop is that it feels less like skimming since you can watch the LLM search, evaluate results, search again, evaluate results, and repeat until it's happy that it has enough information to actually answer.

behnamoh•25m ago

Your comment got me thinking about what it really means to understand something. Is it just about remembering the facts or the ideas? Or is it more about being aware of them? I’ve watched a ton of YouTube videos and read a bunch of articles about physics, but I can’t remember how to derive those equations a few weeks later. So, I don’t feel like I really understand them. But if I have an idea about how to do it, how much of it is just memory, and how much is actually understanding the concept? That’s been a question I’ve been thinking about for a long time. With all the AI stuff, we’ve figured out how to deal with the memory part, so we don’t have to rely on our own memories as much. But that still leaves the question: what does understanding really mean?

dingnuts•17m ago

I've thought about this a lot in the context of "why do I need to learn facts when I can just look them up?"

Understanding a concept means you are able to use it in higher order reasoning. Think about the rote practice necessary to build intuition in mathematics until you're able to use the concept being learned for the next concept which in turn relies on it.

Once that intuition is built, that's understanding.