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Anytype task tools

Twelve verbs over the local Anytype API. Everything composes through a session: find numbers its results (1, 2, …) and sets the working space; every other verb takes --object <number>.

Setup: the local Anytype app must be running; ANYTYPE_API_KEY holds an API key from the app's settings (ANYTYPE_API_URL defaults to http://127.0.0.1:31009).

The loop

anytype spaces                             # space ids, when none is known
# Work — bafyspace1
anytype find --space bafyspace1 --type Task --filter 'done = false'
# 1. Prepare the Q3 report (Task)
# 2. Ship the beta (Task)
anytype edit-text --object 1 --find "Q3" --replace "Q4"
# --block is optional: the snippet locates the block when it matches
# exactly one; an ambiguous snippet refuses and lists the candidates
anytype read --object 1 --mode outline     # block ids + structure

1. spaces when no space id is known — it lists name — id.
2. find next — it creates the handles and the working space.
3. describe before you create or set properties — it lists the live

property names and each one's format and options. Address properties by the names describe shows ("Due date"); select option names must match exactly.

1. read before you edit blocks — block ids come from read

(--mode outline for structure, full mode for text; table row and column ids come from full mode too).

Intent → verb recipes

Filter strings

--filter is a compact expression, not JSON: Done = false AND (Due_date < currentWeek() OR Due_date IS EMPTY) · Status IN ("In progress", "Blocked") · Name CONTAINS "report" · Last_modified_date > daysAgo(7). String values take double quotes; date presets are functions (today(), currentWeek(), daysAgo(n)). Property names here are written as identifiers — a multi-word name takes underscores (Due_date for "Due date"); a name no identifier can spell (C++, 50% done) cannot ride a filter string.

Caveats

• Text is markdown source. edit-text find/replace operates on the

block's markup: **, [, ~~ in a replacement become real formatting. Escape with \ when you mean the literal character.

• Select options are never created by these verbs. An unknown option

name is an error listing the existing names — fix the spelling (option names are case-sensitive). --create-missing is the deliberate escape. Type and property NAMES are more forgiving: case, _/- and spaces fold away, so due_date, dueDate and Due date all address one property; if two properties answer to one spelling the error names both — it never guesses.

• Handles expire on the next find. Re-run find and use the new

numbers. Block ids come from read — use them as served, and re-read after a structural edit rather than reusing remembered ones. A block id always names an EXISTING block: new content is authored without ids (add-blocks takes none). Every edit receipt names the object it changed (ok — "Groceries": …) — check it matches your intent.

• One verb, one intent. There is no batch; run verbs in sequence.

Retries are safe: an identical re-run within a minute is deduplicated, including after a failed or timed-out attempt.

• Errors are self-describing and name valid alternatives — read them, fix

the named field, retry once. Do not loop blindly.

References

• anytype tools — the machine-readable manifest: per-tool JSON schema,

worked example, GBNF grammar (constrained decoding), and the filter grammar (EBNF + GBNF). --tier small narrows it to the 8-tool set for ~8B models (large, the default, is all twelve).

• anytype mcp --tier small|large — serve the same tools over MCP stdio

for LOCAL models (Ollama/LM Studio-class hosts). Coding agents reading this skill should keep using the verbs directly — the CLI is the intended delivery for them; mcp exists for hosts that cannot run commands. Session state is in-memory for the server's lifetime.

• anytype help — the verb list; anytype <verb> --help — its flags.
• Spec: core/api/APIV2.md §7 (the wrapper contract), github.com/anyproto/any-block/format/v2/SPEC.md

(the document format the full-read mode returns).