Use Cases

tldr is built to be flexible. The combination of summary styles, tones, cognitive traits, audio modes, presets, and batch processing means you can shape it to fit very different workflows. Here are some ideas, from the simplest to the most involved.

Quick triage

You have a link someone shared and you want the gist before deciding whether to read it.

tldr "https://example.com/article"

That's it. Default settings give you a structured summary with key points, why it matters, and action items. Press q to discard or Enter to save.

For an even shorter output:

tldr --style quick "https://example.com/article"

Explain it like I'm five

A colleague sent a dense technical paper and you want the core idea without the jargon.

tldr --tone eli5 ./whitepaper.pdf

Combine with --style detailed to get a full breakdown in plain language, complete with an analogy section:

tldr --style detailed --tone eli5 ./whitepaper.pdf

Morning news briefing

Batch-process a handful of news articles with audio so you can listen while making coffee.

tldr --batch --audio \
  --preset morning-brief \
  "https://arstechnica.com/article-1" \
  "https://bbc.co.uk/news/article-2" \
  "https://theverge.com/article-3"

The morning-brief preset uses the briefing audio mode (analyst persona with numbered facts), quick style, professional tone, and a slightly faster speed (1.15x). Each summary and its audio are saved to ~/Documents/tldr/.

Want to browse the results interactively after the batch finishes? Add --browse:

tldr --batch --audio --browse \
  --preset morning-brief \
  "https://..." "https://..." "https://..."

Commute listening

Summarize a few articles before your commute, save the audio files, then transfer them to your phone or queue them in a podcast app.

tldr --batch --audio \
  --preset commute-catch-up \
  "https://..." "https://..." "https://..."

The commute-catch-up preset uses the podcast audio mode — conversational host with hooks and transitions. Audio files are saved as audio.mp3 alongside each summary in ~/Documents/tldr/.

If you want them in a specific folder:

tldr --batch --audio \
  --preset commute-catch-up \
  --output ~/Music/tldr-commute \
  "https://..." "https://..."

Study sessions

Working through a textbook chapter, lecture recording, or research paper? The deep-study preset is designed for this.

tldr --preset deep-study ./chapter-5.pdf

This uses study-notes style (core concepts, how they connect, key facts, visual map, review questions), lecture audio mode (patient teacher building understanding progressively), academic tone, and a slower speed (0.9x). Press a to listen to the audio explanation, then t to chat about anything you didn't follow.

For exam prep specifically, the exam-prep preset uses the study-buddy audio mode, which includes quizzes and mnemonics:

tldr --preset exam-prep ./lecture-notes.pdf

Bedtime wind-down

You want to catch up on a long-read but it's late and you'd rather listen than stare at a screen.

tldr --preset bedtime-read "https://example.com/long-read"

The bedtime-read preset uses the calm audio mode (gentle, soothing narrator), a British voice (Sonia), and a slower pace (0.85x). Press w to save with audio, then play the MP3 from bed.

YouTube video summaries

Skip the 45-minute video. Get the key points in a minute.

tldr "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..."

tldr extracts the transcript and summarizes it. Works with any summary style — study-notes is particularly useful for educational videos:

tldr --style study-notes "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..."

Press a to hear it as a lecture or podcast instead of watching the original.

Team knowledge sharing

Batch-summarize a set of articles for your team and collect the markdown output.

tldr --batch \
  --style standard \
  --tone professional \
  "https://..." "https://..." "https://..."

Batch mode prints summaries to stdout, so you can also pipe the output:

tldr --batch "https://..." "https://..." > team-digest.md

Each summary is also saved to the session directory and appears in /history.

Research reading list

Working through a stack of arXiv papers? Use detailed style to get context, notable details, and analogies:

tldr --batch \
  --style detailed \
  --tone academic \
  "https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00001" \
  "https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00002" \
  "./downloaded-paper.pdf"

Add --browse to review each result interactively after the batch completes, chatting with the AI about individual papers.

Daily automated digest

Combine --batch with a cron job to get a daily audio news digest without lifting a finger.

Create a script:

#!/bin/bash
# ~/scripts/daily-digest.sh

tldr --batch --audio \
  --preset morning-brief \
  --output ~/Documents/tldr/daily-digest \
  "https://news-site.com/feed-page-1" \
  "https://news-site.com/feed-page-2" \
  "https://blog.example.com/latest"

Schedule it with cron:

# Run at 6:30 AM every weekday
30 6 * * 1-5 ~/scripts/daily-digest.sh

When you wake up, the summaries and audio files are waiting in ~/Documents/tldr/daily-digest/.

Fully local and private

If you don't want any data leaving your machine, use Ollama:

# One-time setup
ollama pull llama3.3
tldr config set provider ollama
tldr config set model llama3.3

All summarization happens locally. Audio uses Edge TTS by default (which does send text to Microsoft's servers). For a fully offline setup, you'd skip audio or rely on macOS say as a fallback.

Custom presets for different contexts

Create presets for the different hats you wear:

# Work: professional, quick, briefing audio
tldr preset create work
tldr preset edit work
# Set: style=quick, tone=professional, audio-mode=briefing

# Personal: casual, standard, podcast audio
tldr preset create personal
tldr preset edit personal
# Set: style=standard, tone=casual, audio-mode=podcast

# Learning: academic, study-notes, lecture audio
tldr preset create learning
tldr preset edit learning
# Set: style=study-notes, tone=academic, audio-mode=lecture

Switch between them:

tldr preset use work
tldr "https://..."

# Or override for a single run
tldr --preset learning "https://..."

In interactive mode, type /preset to switch without leaving the app.

Accessibility-tuned workflows

Stack cognitive traits to shape summaries for your needs:

# ADHD + ESL: action-oriented, no filler, common vocabulary
tldr config set traits adhd,esl

# Visual thinker + Dyslexia: hierarchical layout, short sentences, bold terms
tldr config set traits visual-thinker,dyslexia

Traits affect both the written summary and the audio script. Pair them with a matching tone — eli5 for maximum simplicity, academic for structured terminology.

Slack and Notion catch-up

Behind on a long Slack thread or Notion page? Just paste the URL:

tldr "https://your-team.slack.com/archives/C.../p..."
tldr "https://www.notion.so/your-page-id"

Use --style quick for a fast overview, or the full standard style to understand the discussion before jumping in.

Voice tuning

Fine-tune the listening experience for your preferences:

# Deeper, warmer voice at a comfortable pace
tldr config set voice en-US-GuyNeural
tldr config set pitch low
tldr config set tts-speed 0.9

# Brighter, energetic voice for morning briefings
tldr config set voice en-US-AriaNeural
tldr config set pitch high
tldr config set tts-speed 1.2
tldr config set volume loud

For higher quality audio, switch to OpenAI TTS:

tldr config set tts-provider openai
tldr config set voice nova          # friendly, upbeat
tldr config set tts-speed 1.1

Custom instructions

Add a persistent instruction that applies to every summary:

# Always include code examples when relevant
tldr config set custom-instructions "Include code snippets and examples where applicable"

# Focus on business impact
tldr config set custom-instructions "Emphasize business implications and ROI"

# Tailor for a specific domain
tldr config set custom-instructions "I work in genomics — relate concepts to molecular biology when possible"

Custom instructions work alongside your chosen style, tone, and traits.