Quickstart

Install the desktop app

Download the latest version of the OpenKnowledge desktop app for macOS.

Create a new project

• Open the OpenKnowledge app. On first launch, approve the Connect your AI tools to OpenKnowledge dialog — it wires up your AI editors and can add the ok command to your terminal. If you skip it, re-open it later from File → Set up OpenKnowledge integrations….
• You'll then land on the starter-pack picker ("What do you want to build?"). To follow this guide, choose Blank project under "Have something else in mind?" — or pick a starter pack (for example Knowledge base) to scaffold ready-made folders and templates up front and skip the Initialize step below.
• Type a name for your project (for example, Team Wiki).
• Optionally click Browse to change where the project is saved, then click Create.

Initialize a knowledge base

From your newly created project, select Knowledge base from the landing page, leave Project root selected, and click Initialize.

Open the knowledge base in your AI agent

With no documents open, you will see a screen with an input box and a Create with Claude button. Type what you want to learn about in this input box and click Create with Claude — use the chevron beside the button to pick a different agent (Codex, Cursor, or a CLI). This hands your project to the agent with your prompt as the starter. Your agent harness may take a few seconds to load the project.

Not sure what to write? Paste this into the input box (or use a topic of your choice):

Watch your agent work

If you are working with Cursor, Codex, or Claude Desktop, your agent will open the OpenKnowledge editor in an embedded window.

You will see your agent's icon in the top right of the editor window. Click on the icon to see the agent's activity across files in the knowledge base.

If the agent icon is greyed out, your agent may not have started writing yet. Wait a few seconds and check again.

Explore the knowledge base

The editor's sidebar shows every doc in your knowledge base. Each doc has:

• A WYSIWYG body and a source-mode toggle
• A frontmatter panel for properties

When viewing a document, check out the right side pane for:

• An outline of the document's structure
• A list of incoming and outgoing links to other docs
• A graph view of the document's links in the knowledge base
• A timeline of recent edits with per-burst diffs and selective rollback

Right-click anywhere in the sidebar (empty space, a folder, or a file) to create, reveal, rename, hide, delete (to Trash), and Open with AI. The full feature tour is under Features.

Install the CLI and open the editor

Install the CLI from npm, initialize a project, and start the editor in your browser:

# Install the CLI globally
npm install -g @inkeep/open-knowledge

# Create (or enter) a project folder, then initialize a knowledge base.
# `ok init` scaffolds .ok/ and wires up Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, Pi, Antigravity, LM Studio, and Hermes.
mkdir my-knowledge-base && cd my-knowledge-base
ok init

# Serve the editor and open it in your browser.
ok start --open

Open the knowledge base in your AI agent

ok init already registered OpenKnowledge with the AI editors it could configure, so your agent can use the OpenKnowledge tools right away. Open your project in your agent — or, from the editor, right-click the project in the sidebar, choose Open with AI ▸, and pick one. (With a document open, the bottom Ask AI field hands a prompt to your agent too.) If a tool's MCP entry didn't appear, see registration outcomes.

In the agent's chat window, add the following to get started or use a topic of your choice:

Watch your agent work

You will see your agent's icon in the top right of the editor window. Click on the icon to see the agent's activity across files in the knowledge base.

If the agent icon is greyed out, your agent may not have started writing yet. Wait a few seconds and check again.

Explore the knowledge base

The editor's sidebar shows every doc in your knowledge base. Each doc has:

• A WYSIWYG body and a source-mode toggle
• A frontmatter panel for properties

When viewing a document, check out the right side pane for:

• An outline of the document's structure
• A list of incoming and outgoing links to other docs
• A graph view of the document's links in the knowledge base
• A timeline of recent edits with per-burst diffs and selective rollback

Right-click anywhere in the sidebar (empty space, a folder, or a file) to create, reveal, rename, hide, delete, and Open with AI. The full feature tour is under Features.