From a5114aec83e5e578f845431e402122afd0df8b3e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Drew Cain <groksrc@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:56:36 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix(cli): trim frontmatter-strip newlines in plain read-note
 body

The API content field keeps the blank line left by frontmatter stripping;
plain print() rendered it as a double gap under the header. JSON mode stays
byte-faithful.

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: Drew Cain <groksrc@gmail.com>
---
 src/basic_memory/cli/commands/tool.py  |  7 +++++--
 tests/cli/test_cli_tool_rich_output.py | 10 ++++++++--
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/tool.py b/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/tool.py
index bf12f91b..8fe60a29 100644
--- a/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/tool.py
+++ b/src/basic_memory/cli/commands/tool.py
@@ -401,8 +401,11 @@ def _plain_read_note(result: dict[str, Any], *, include_frontmatter: bool = Fals
             print(f"{key}: {value}")
 
     print()
-    if content:
-        print(content)
+    # The API's content field keeps the blank line left by frontmatter
+    # stripping; trim newlines so the header gap stays a single blank line.
+    body = content.strip("\n") if content else ""
+    if body:
+        print(body)
     else:
         print("(no content)")
 
diff --git a/tests/cli/test_cli_tool_rich_output.py b/tests/cli/test_cli_tool_rich_output.py
index 608296ed..0ec65eff 100644
--- a/tests/cli/test_cli_tool_rich_output.py
+++ b/tests/cli/test_cli_tool_rich_output.py
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ READ_NOTE_RESULT = {
     "title": "Test Note",
     "permalink": "notes/test-note",
     "file_path": "notes/Test Note.md",
-    "content": "# Test Note\n\nhello world",
+    # Real payloads keep the leading newline left by frontmatter stripping.
+    "content": "\n# Test Note\n\nhello world",
     "frontmatter": {"title": "Test Note", "tags": ["test"]},
 }
 
@@ -263,7 +264,9 @@ def test_read_note_json_flag_overrides_tty(mock_mcp):
     assert result.exit_code == 0, f"CLI failed: {result.output}"
     data = json.loads(result.output)
     assert data["title"] == "Test Note"
-    assert data["content"] == "# Test Note\n\nhello world"
+    # JSON mode is byte-faithful: the payload's leading newline (frontmatter-strip
+    # artifact) is preserved here even though display modes trim it.
+    assert data["content"] == "\n# Test Note\n\nhello world"
 
 
 @patch(
@@ -747,6 +750,9 @@ def test_read_note_plain_output(mock_mcp):
     assert "hello world" in result.output
     # No frontmatter without the flag
     assert "tags:" not in result.output
+    # Exactly one blank line between header and body: the payload's leading
+    # newline (frontmatter-strip artifact) must not stack with the renderer's.
+    assert "Test Note  [notes/test-note]\n\n# Test Note" in result.output
 
 
 @patch(