Kindex

The memory layer AI coding agents don't have.

Kindex does one thing. It knows what you know.

It's a persistent knowledge graph for AI-assisted workflows. It indexes your conversations, projects, and intellectual work so that Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Google Antigravity, OpenCode, Cursor, and other MCP-capable agents never start a session blind. Available as a free MCP plugin or standalone CLI.

Memory plugins capture what happened. Kindex captures what it means and how it connects. Most memory tools are session archives with search. Kindex is a weighted knowledge graph that grows intelligence over time — understanding relationships, surfacing constraints, and managing exactly how much context to inject based on your available token budget.

Install

Pick whichever installer you already use. They all install the same kin and kin-mcp binaries.

# pip
pip install 'kindex[mcp]'

# uv (single binary, no virtualenv)
uv tool install 'kindex[mcp]'

# uvx (no install — runs from cache, useful for one-off MCP invocation)
uvx --from 'kindex[mcp]' kin-mcp --help

# from source
git clone https://github.com/jmcentire/kindex && cd kindex && make install

Then initialize the graph:

kin init

Extras — combine in one install ('kindex[mcp,llm,reminders]') or use 'kindex[all]':

Extra	Adds
mcp	kin-mcp MCP server (for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity, OpenCode, Cursor, etc.)
llm	Anthropic-powered extraction (kin learn, kin ask)
vectors	sqlite-vec for semantic similarity search
reminders	Natural-language time parsing for kin remind
all	Everything above

Homebrew and apt packages aren't published yet. Use pip, uv tool, uvx, or source until they are.

Install as Agent MCP Plugin

Each agent reads MCP servers from a different config file. The kin setup-*-mcp commands write the right shape into the right path; the manual snippet is shown alongside in case you'd rather edit the file yourself.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user --transport stdio kindex -- kin-mcp
kin init

Or add .mcp.json to any repo for project-scope access:

{ "mcpServers": { "kindex": { "command": "kin-mcp" } } }

The MCP server exposes 50+ native tools to supported clients: search, add, context, show, ask, learn, link, edit, supersede, list_nodes, status, suggest, graph_stats, graph_merge, dream, changelog, ingest, tag_start, tag_update, tag_resume, task_claim, coord_*, lock_acquire, lock_release, remind_*, mode_*, and more.

For coding agents, install both the MCP server and the instruction file. The instruction file tells the model how to use kindex: start a session tag, read tracked .kin/config, check project policy, search before adding, capture durable decisions, and end the tag with a summary.

Codex

kin setup-codex-mcp
kin setup-codex-hooks
kin setup-agents-md --install --global
kin ingest codex-sessions   # optional: backfill saved Codex sessions

setup-codex-hooks installs a SessionStart hook (alongside the prompt/tool attention hooks), so Codex begins each session with the same auto-primed context and "use kindex" / .kin directive as Claude Code.

Or hand-edit ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.kindex]
command = "kin-mcp"

Gemini CLI

kin setup-gemini-mcp
kin setup-gemini-md --install

Or hand-edit ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "kindex": { "command": "kin-mcp", "args": [] } } }

Google Antigravity

kin setup-antigravity-mcp
kin setup-antigravity-hooks
kin setup-antigravity-md --install

setup-antigravity-mcp writes the standalone MCP config shape used by Antigravity's editor/shared config and CLI config. setup-antigravity-hooks installs PreInvocation priming/prompt checks, PreToolUse advisory attention and permission gating for Kindex config writes, and Stop-time reinforcement enqueue.

Or hand-edit ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json and ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/mcp_config.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "kindex": { "command": "kin-mcp", "args": [] } } }

OpenCode

kin setup-opencode-mcp

Or hand-edit ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "kindex": { "type": "local", "command": ["kin-mcp"], "enabled": true }
  }
}

OpenCode reads AGENTS.md natively, so kin setup-agents-md --install works for OpenCode too. OpenCode also supports plugins, but Kindex currently uses MCP + instructions there rather than prompt-time attention injection.

Cursor

kin setup-cursor-mcp
kin setup-cursor-rules --install   # writes ~/.cursor/rules/kindex.mdc

Or hand-edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "kindex": { "type": "stdio", "command": "kin-mcp" } } }

Cursor integration is MCP + always-applied rules. Cursor rules provide prompt-level guidance, but Kindex does not currently install a Cursor prompt-submit hook because Cursor does not expose the same hook surface as Claude Code or Codex CLI.

Why Kindex

Context-aware by design

Five context tiers auto-select based on available tokens. When other plugins dump everything into context, Kindex gives you 200 tokens of executive summary or 4000 tokens of deep context — whatever fits. Your plugin doesn't eat the context window.

Tier	Budget	Use Case
full	~4000 tokens	Session start, deep work
abridged	~1500 tokens	Mid-session reference
summarized	~750 tokens	Quick orientation
executive	~200 tokens	Post-compaction re-injection
index	~100 tokens	Existence check only

Knowledge graph, not log file

Nodes have types, weights, domains, and audiences. Edges carry provenance and decay over time. The graph understands what matters — not just what was said.

Operational guardrails

Constraints block deploys. Directives encode preferences. Watches flag attention items. Checkpoints run pre-flight. No other memory plugin has this.

Cache-optimized LLM retrieval

Three-tier prompt architecture with Anthropic prompt caching. Stable knowledge (codebook) is cached at 10% cost. Query-relevant context is predicted via graph expansion and cached per-topic. Only the question pays full price. Transparent — kin ask just works better and cheaper.

Team and org ready

.kin inheritance chains let a service repo inherit from a platform context, which inherits from an org voice. Private/team/org/public scoping with PII stripping on export. Enterprise-ready from day one.

In Practice

A 162-file fantasy novel vault — characters, locations, magic systems, plot outlines — ingested in one pass. Cross-referenced by content mentions. Searched in milliseconds.

$ kin status
Nodes:     192
Edges:     11,802
Orphans:   3

$ time kin search "the Baker"
# Kindex: 10 results for "the Baker"

## [document] The Baker - Hessa's Profile and Message Broker System (w=0.70)
  → Thieves Guild, Five Marks, Thieves Guild Operations

## [person] Mia and The Baker (Hessa) -- Relationship (w=0.70)
  → Sebastian and Mia, Mia -- Motivations and Goals

0.142 total

$ kin graph stats
Nodes:      192
Edges:      11,802
Density:    0.3218
Components: 5
Avg degree: 122.94

192 nodes. 11,802 edges. 5 context tiers. Hybrid FTS5 + graph traversal in 142ms.

Getting Agents to Actually Use It

Installing the MCP plugin gives the agent the tools. But agents won't use them proactively unless you tell them to. Kindex ships with recommended instruction blocks that turn passive tools into active habits. For the full agent playbook, see docs/mcp-agent-guide.md.

# Claude Code
kin setup-claude-md --install

# Codex (and OpenCode — both honor AGENTS.md)
kin setup-agents-md --install --global

# Gemini CLI
kin setup-gemini-md --install

# Google Antigravity
kin setup-antigravity-md --install

# Cursor — writes ~/.cursor/rules/kindex.mdc with alwaysApply: true
kin setup-cursor-rules --install

This adds session lifecycle rules (start/orient/during/segment/end), explicit capture triggers (discoveries, decisions, tasks, key files, notable outputs), and search-before-add discipline. The difference between "the agent has a knowledge graph" and "the agent actively maintains a knowledge graph" is this block.

For durable work, agents should use Kindex's persistent task and knowledge surfaces rather than host-session-only task state. Use task_add, task_list, and task_done for work that must survive the current conversation; search before adding knowledge; prefer edit or supersede over duplicate nodes; and treat tracked .kin files as shipped project state, not local cache. If the host also exposes session-local task tools, use those only for temporary planning; durable work belongs in Kindex.

The SessionStart hook (kin setup-hooks) reinforces these directives at the start of every session with a "Session directives" block that reminds Claude to use kindex MCP tools throughout the session.

What gets captured

With the directives active, the agent will:

• Search the graph before starting work and before adding nodes
• Add discoveries, decisions, key files, notable outputs, and new terms as they emerge
• Link related concepts when connections are found
• Learn from long files and outputs via bulk extraction
• Tag sessions to track work context across conversations
• Remind with actions for deferred tasks (shell commands or headless Claude invocations)

Actionable Reminders

Reminders can carry shell commands and/or natural-language instructions. When due, the daemon executes them automatically — simple commands run directly, complex tasks launch headless claude -p. A Stop hook guard can block Claude from exiting when actionable reminders are pending, but it is opt-in because Claude displays visible "Blocked by hook" output when a Stop hook blocks.

Hook-time reminder injection uses a scoped reminder board. When a client supplies a chat/session id (conversation_id, chat_id, session_id, CLAUDE_SESSION_ID, CODEX_SESSION_ID, OPENCODE_SESSION_ID, CURSOR_SESSION_ID, etc.), Kindex injects only reminders scoped to that id plus reminders explicitly marked --scope global. Legacy unscoped reminders still work for manual kin prompt-check, daemon checks, and notifications, but they are not injected into an identified chat by default.

# Kill a cloud instance in 1 hour (but download results first)
kin remind create "Kill vast.ai instance" --at "in 1 hour" \
  --action "vastai destroy instance 12345" \
  --instructions "Download results from /workspace/ before killing"

# Chat-scoped or intentionally global hook-visible reminders
kin remind create "Deploy checklist" --at "tomorrow 9am" \
  --conversation-id "$CLAUDE_SESSION_ID" --attention-trigger deploy
kin remind create "Monthly billing review" --at "next Monday 9am" --scope global

# Manual trigger
kin remind exec --reminder-id <id>

Dream — Knowledge Consolidation

Kindex can run fuzzy deduplication, auto-apply pending suggestions, and strengthen edges between nodes that share domains. Like memory consolidation during sleep — replay, strengthen important paths, prune noise.

# See what would happen (no changes)
kin dream --dry-run

# Run full consolidation
kin dream

# Fast path: dedup + suggestions only
kin dream --lightweight

# Include LLM-powered cluster summarisation
kin dream --deep

# Fork and return immediately; repeated detached starts are throttled
kin dream --detach --lightweight

Default triggers are manual CLI, periodic cron (step 11 of kin cron), and a throttled detached Stop hook. File locking prevents concurrent cycles, and reminders.dream_min_interval prevents hooks or cron from relaunching dream repeatedly after a recent start. Set reminders.dream_on_stop_enabled: false to disable Stop-time detached dream while leaving manual and cron dream available.

Conversation Modes

Modes are reusable conversation-priming artifacts that induce a processing mode in an AI session. Based on research showing that induced understanding outperforms direct instruction by 5.4x, and that 15 tokens of mode-setting capture 98.8% of achievable priming benefit.

Five built-in modes: collaborate, code, create, research, chat. Create custom modes from any session and export them for team sharing (PII-free).

# Seed default modes
kin mode seed

# Activate a mode — outputs the priming artifact
kin mode activate collaborate

# Create a custom mode
kin mode create debug-session \
  --primer "We're hunting a bug. Precision over speed..." \
  --boundary "Show your reasoning chain. Name assumptions." \
  --permissions "Speculate about root causes freely."

# Export for team sharing (PII-stripped)
kin mode export collaborate > collaborate.json

# Import a teammate's mode
kin mode import their-mode.json

Modes are not instructions — they're state inductions. A primer establishes how to think, a boundary defines what quality means, and permissions state what's allowed. The AI shifts processing mode rather than following a checklist.

Quick Start

# Add knowledge (with optional tags)
kin add "Stigmergy is coordination through environmental traces" --tags biology,coordination

# Search with hybrid FTS5 + graph traversal
kin search stigmergy
kin search coordination --tags biology   # filter results by tag

# Ask questions (with automatic classification)
kin ask "How does weight decay work?"

# Get context for AI injection
kin context --topic stigmergy --level full

# List and filter by tags
kin list --tags python,ml              # nodes tagged with both
kin list --type concept --tags ai      # combine type and tag filters

# Track operational rules
kin add "Never break the API contract" --type constraint --trigger pre-deploy --action block

# Check status before deploy
kin status --trigger pre-deploy

# Ingest from all sources
kin ingest all

# Session tags — named work context handles
kin tag start auth-refactor --focus "OAuth2 flow" --remaining "tokens,tests"
kin tag segment --focus "Token storage" --summary "Flow design done"
kin tag resume auth-refactor   # context block for new session
kin tag end --summary "All done"

# Reminders — never forget, never nag
kin remind create "standup" --at "every weekday at 9am" --priority high
kin remind create "reply to Kevin" --at "in 30 minutes" --priority urgent
kin remind list
kin remind snooze --reminder-id <id> --duration 1h
kin remind done --reminder-id <id>

Editing & Superseding

Knowledge changes. Kindex edits are policy-aware: each node type has a mutability class that says how its content may change, so facts stay correctable while history-bearing records stay append-only.

Class	Node types	What's allowed
editable	concept, document, artifact, skill, person, project, question	Full in-place edit: title, content, append, tags, intent, expires
additive	decision, constraint, directive, checkpoint, watch	History matters — append and expires only; use supersede to replace
managed	task, session, coordination	Refused — use the dedicated task/tag/coord commands

# In-place edit (editable types) — accepts node id or exact title
kin edit oauth-flow --title "OAuth2 + OIDC flow" --add-tags auth,oidc

# Additive types only grow: append a dated addendum
kin edit deploy-constraint --append "Clarified: applies to staging too"

# Give any node an expiry — expired nodes stop surfacing and get archived
kin edit conference-notes --expires 2026-09-01

# Replace with history: new node + supersedes edge, old node marked superseded
kin supersede old-decision "We now use OIDC trusted publishing" --reason "tokens deprecated"

Every edit logs per-field value diffs to the activity log, and kin changelog renders them:

## Edited (1 nodes)
  2026-06-11  [concept] OAuth2 + OIDC flow
      title: OAuth2 flow -> OAuth2 + OIDC flow

Edits re-embed the node for vector search, protect reserved operational state (locks, claims, coordination messages), and refuse to modify a node another agent has locked unless you pass --force. The per-type class can be overridden in config with edit_policy: {document: additive} if your team wants stricter history.

Profiles

One machine, multiple sequestered graphs. Profiles map names to separate data directories so work and personal knowledge never mix — different DBs, different embeddings, different everything.

# ~/.config/kindex/kin.yaml
profiles:
  work:
    data_dir: ~/.kindex-work
    roots: [~/Work]
  personal:
    data_dir: ~/.kindex
    roots: [~/Code, ~/Personal]
default_profile: personal

Resolution order (first match wins):

1. --profile <name> flag
2. KIN_PROFILE environment variable
3. profile: key from the project's .kin/config chain
4. Longest-prefix match of the current directory against profile roots
5. default_profile
6. Legacy single graph — no profiles configured means nothing changes

kin profile list                 # configured profiles + file-level stats
kin profile which                # which profile this invocation resolves to
# Two-step adoption: first register your existing graph as the default...
kin profile create personal --data-dir ~/.kindex --roots ~/Code,~/Personal --default
# ...then add the sequestered one
kin profile create work --data-dir ~/.kindex-work --roots ~/Work
kin status                       # shows: Profile: work (via roots)

Register the existing legacy graph (usually ~/.kindex) as the default profile before creating others: once a default profile exists, sessions outside all roots route to it, and an unregistered legacy graph stops receiving cron maintenance (kin profile create warns when this would happen).

Stamp guard. Each profile's database is stamped with its profile name on first open. Opening a stamped database under a different profile raises an error instead of silently mixing graphs — a wrong --data-dir can't cross-contaminate.

MCP note. The MCP server binds its profile once at process start and keeps it for the process lifetime. To switch profiles for an agent, restart its MCP server (or run a second server with KIN_PROFILE set in its environment).

kin cron runs one maintenance pass per profile and routes session ingestion by roots — sessions whose cwd falls under a profile's roots land in that profile's graph; the default profile takes the unmatched remainder. With no default_profile, a final legacy-remainder pass ingests the unmatched sessions into the legacy graph and keeps its maintenance (reminders, decay, dream) running. kin cron --profile X pins a single pass and keeps routing active — it only ingests the sessions X owns; a bare --data-dir with no resolved profile runs a legacy take-everything pass on exactly that directory. Routing also applies to kin ingest sessions|codex-sessions, the MCP ingest tool, and kin watch. An explicit --data-dir that overrides a profile's data_dir never stamps an unstamped database with the active profile.

Collab

Multiple agents working the same graph can coordinate through conversations with members, read cursors, shared resources, advisory locks, and standing inject messages.

# Join a conversation as a member — members get unread tracking
kin coord join payments-refactor

# Attach a shared resource so members see who holds what
kin coord attach payments-refactor invoice-schema

# Advisory locks: signal "I'm working on this" — edits refuse foreign locks
kin lock invoice-schema --ttl 60 --note "migrating columns"
kin unlock invoice-schema

# Targeted message — only alice sees it as unread-for-her
kin coord post payments-refactor "schema branch is yours" --to alice@mbp

# Standing inject message — pushed into members' context until cleared
kin coord inject payments-refactor set "Don't touch the invoice schema until migration lands"
kin coord inject payments-refactor clear

Agent identity resolves as KIN_AGENT_ID env > agent_id in config > user@shorthost. kin whoami shows both the user and the resolved agent id. Locks, claims, cursors, and message targeting all key off this identity.

Members see their collabs in the session-start prime block:

### Active collabs
- **payments-refactor** — 2 unread (focus: Extract billing service)
  COLLAB MSG: Don't touch the invoice schema until migration lands (from alice@mbp)
  Locked: invoice-schema (held by alice@mbp)
  Check the collab: coord_read payments-refactor

New targeted/broadcast messages and standing injects also surface mid-session through the prompt hook (with a cooldown so they don't nag). Display is configurable:

agent_id: jeremy-laptop        # optional; default user@shorthost
collab:
  enabled: true
  display: full                # full | minimal (one line per collab) | quiet (no prime block)
  prompt_cooldown_minutes: 10  # mid-session injection cooldown

Locks are advisory and expire — an expired lock never blocks anyone, and the cron pass sweeps stale locks, conversations, and task claims.

.kin/ Directory & Inheritance

Projects use .kin/ directories that encode their communication style, engineering standards, and values. Teams inherit from orgs. Repos inherit from teams. The knowledge graph carries the voice forward.

~/.kindex/voices/acme.kin             # Org voice (downloadable, public)
    ^
    |  inherits
~/Code/platform/.kin/config           # Platform team context
    ^
    |  inherits
~/Code/payments-service/.kin/config   # Service-specific context

# payments-service/.kin/config
name: payments-service
audience: team
domains: [payments, python]
inherits:
  - ../platform/.kin/config
work_policy:
  require_active_tag: true
  linear:
    enabled: true        # opt-in; personal repos leave this false/absent
    require_issue: true
    team: ENG
  git:
    block_commit_without_tag: true
    block_commit_without_linear: true

The .kin/ directory is the standard location for all kindex project artifacts:

• .kin/config — project metadata (voice, domains, audience, inheritance)
• .kin/index.json — graph snapshot for git tracking
• .kin/code-map.json — repo-relative code map generated by kin export code-map
• .kin/.gitignore — ignores local-only runtime state under .kin/local, .kin/cache, .kin/tmp, and .kin/private

These files are meant to ship with the code. Do not ignore the whole .kin/ directory in project .gitignore; ignore only local/private subdirectories. Kindex resolves project config from --project-path, then KIN_PROJECT, then the git worktree root, then the current directory. User config still lives in ~/.config/kindex/kin.yaml and deep-merges below project config, so user preferences remain local while the repo's work contract travels with the repo. Generated .kin/ snapshots use canonical ordering and source-derived time metadata so repeated exports of unchanged source do not churn Git diffs. Tracked .kin artifacts must be self-contained and machine-portable: code-map paths are repo-relative POSIX paths, and task/report metadata must not point at $HOME, /Users/..., /tmp/..., or another developer-local filesystem location. If a scanner report is needed as evidence for future work, ship a repo-local subset or a durable shared artifact rather than a local pointer.

kin export code-map is different from the normal graph export: it projects current code structure into a small dashboard- and agent-friendly graph of files, classes, functions, layers, and code dependencies. Use it when a tool needs the repo's code shape, not the full Kindex knowledge graph.

Export	Contains	Use case
kin export	Audience-scoped Kindex nodes, edges, provenance, and graph metadata	Backup, exchange, or graph-level tooling
kin export code-map	Current repo code structure, code dependencies, layers, and repo-relative file paths	Dashboards, code navigation, and agent tooling

For code-map output, src/file.py is portable; /Users/alice/repo/src/file.py and C:\repo\src\file.py are not.

Code-map path requirements:

• Output always uses repo-relative POSIX paths, even when the source machine is Windows.
• Absolute provenance is normalized only when it resolves inside the requested repo root.
• Outside-root, malformed, or unresolved paths are omitted with a safe warning rather than leaked into the artifact.
• Archived nodes are excluded by default because the tracked artifact describes current code; API callers can opt into include_archived=True for historical analysis.

The payments service gets Acme's voice principles, the platform's engineering standards, AND its own domain context. Local values override ancestors. Lists merge with dedup. Parent directories auto-walk when no explicit inherits is set.

Old-style .kin files (plain YAML) are auto-upgraded to .kin/config on first access.

See examples/kin-voices/ for ready-to-use voice templates.

Architecture

SQLite + FTS5          <- primary store and full-text search
  nodes: id, title, content, type, weight, audience, domains, extra
  edges: from_id, to_id, type, weight, provenance
  fts5:  content synced via triggers

Retrieval pipeline:
  FTS5 BM25 --+
  Graph BFS --+-- RRF merge -- tier formatter -- context block
  (vectors) --+                   |
      |                   full | abridged | summarized | executive | index
      |
  Embedding providers (configurable):
      local (sentence-transformers) | openai | gemini

LLM cache tiers (kin ask):
  Tier 1: codebook (stable node index)     <- cached @ 10% cost
  Tier 2: query-relevant context           <- cached per-topic @ 10% cost
  Tier 3: user question                    <- full price, tiny

Reminders:
  reminders table (SQLite)    <- separate from knowledge graph
  Time parsing:  dateparser (NL) + dateutil.rrule (recurrence) + cronsim (cron)
  Channels:      system (macOS) | slack | email | claude (hook) | terminal
  Daemon:        launchd/cron adaptive interval -> check due -> notify -> auto-snooze
  Scheduling:    adaptive tiers (>7d=daily, >1d=hourly, >1h=10min, <1h=5min, none=disabled)
  Actions:       shell commands run directly | complex tasks launch claude -p
  Stop guard:    blocks session exit when actionable reminders pending

Dream (kin dream):
  Modes:         lightweight (<5s) | full (non-LLM) | deep (claude -p clusters)
  Triggers:      CLI | cron step 11 | throttled Stop-time detach
  Dedup:         difflib.SequenceMatcher, 4-char title bucketing, 0.95 merge / 0.85 suggest
  Consolidation: suggestion auto-apply, domain edge strengthening, cluster summarisation
  Safety:        fcntl.flock exclusion, protected types skip, provenance tracking

Three integration paths:
  MCP plugin --> Claude calls tools natively (search, add, learn, remind, ...)
  CLI hooks  --> SessionStart / PreCompact / Stop lifecycle events
  Adapters   --> Entry-point discovery for custom ingestion sources
  Code       --> ctags + cscope + tree-sitter structural analysis

Node Types

Knowledge: concept, document, session, person, project, decision, question, artifact, skill

Code Intelligence

Ingest repository structure with kin ingest code --directory .:

• Module nodes (artifact) — one per source file with structural summary: classes, public functions, signatures, imports
• Symbol nodes (concept) — one per class/interface/type with method signatures
• Edges — imports (depends_on), inheritance (implements), containment (context_of), call graph (relates_to)
• Three extraction tiers — ctags (100+ languages), cscope (C/C++ cross-refs), tree-sitter (AST call graphs)
• Resilient fallback — unsupported or untagged files still become module nodes; available tree-sitter parsers can still enrich those modules, with fallback provenance retained in metadata
• Incremental — file hashing skips unchanged files on re-ingest

Code structure lives in the same graph as your decisions, watches, and constraints. Search finds both what calls a function and what broke last time someone changed it.

Operational: constraint (invariants), directive (soft rules), checkpoint (pre-flight), watch (attention flags)

CLI Reference (70+ commands)

Core

Command	Description
kin search <query>	Hybrid FTS5 + graph search with RRF merging (--tags, --mine)
kin context	Formatted context block for AI injection (--level, --tokens)
kin add <text>	Quick capture with auto-extraction and linking (--tags, --type)
kin show <id>	Full node details with edges, provenance, and state
kin list	List nodes (--type, --status, --tags, --audience, --mine, --limit)
kin ask <question>	Question classification + LLM or context answer

Knowledge Management

Command	Description
kin learn	Extract knowledge from sessions and inbox
kin link <a> <b>	Create weighted edge between nodes
kin edit <id>	Policy-aware in-place edit (--title, --content, --append, --add-tags, --expires)
kin supersede <id> <text>	Replace a node with a new one, preserving history (--reason)
kin alias <id> [add|remove|list]	Manage AKA/synonyms for a node
kin register <id> <path>	Associate a file path with a node
kin orphans	Nodes with no connections
kin trail <id>	Temporal history and provenance chain
kin decay	Apply weight decay to stale nodes/edges
kin recent	Recently active nodes
kin tag [action]	Session tags: start, update, segment, pause, end, resume, list, show
kin remind [action]	Reminders: create, list, show, snooze, done, cancel, check, exec
kin mode [action]	Conversation modes: activate, list, show, create, export, import, seed

Graph Analytics

Command	Description
kin graph [mode]	Dashboard: stats, centrality, communities, bridges, trailheads
kin suggest	Bridge opportunity suggestions (--accept, --reject)
kin skills [person]	Skill profile and expertise for a person
kin embed	Index all nodes for vector similarity search

Operational

Command	Description
kin status	Graph health + operational summary (--trigger, --owner, --mine)
kin set-audience <id> <scope>	Set privacy scope (private/team/org/public)
kin set-state <id> <key> <value>	Set mutable state on directives/watches
kin export	Audience-aware graph export with PII stripping
kin export code-map	Repo-relative code map for dashboards, code navigation, and agent tooling
kin import <file>	Import nodes/edges from JSON/JSONL (--mode merge/replace)
kin sync-links	Update node content with connection references

Collab & Multi-Agent

Command	Description
kin coord [action]	Agent coordination: start, post, read, list, end, join, attach, inject
kin lock <id>	Acquire an advisory lock on a node (--ttl, --note, --force)
kin unlock <id>	Release an advisory lock (--force for foreign locks)
kin profile [action]	Named graph profiles: list, which, create

Ingestion & External Sources

Command	Description
kin ingest <source>	Ingest from: projects, sessions, codex-sessions, files, commits, github, linear, code, all
kin cron	One-shot maintenance cycle (for crontab/launchd)
kin dream	Knowledge consolidation: dedup, suggestions, edge strengthening (--deep, --detach)
kin watch	Watch for new sessions and ingest them (--interval)
kin analytics	Archive session analytics and activity heatmap
kin index	Write .kin/index.json for git tracking

Infrastructure

Command	Description
kin init	Initialize data directory
kin config [show|get|set]	View or edit configuration
kin agent-config [show|set]	View or tune per-client/per-instance agent behavior overrides
kin policy [show|check]	Show or enforce project work policy from .kin/config
kin setup-hooks	Install lifecycle hooks into Claude Code
kin setup-codex-hooks	Install prompt-time attention hook into Codex
kin setup-codex-mcp	Install kindex MCP server into Codex
kin setup-gemini-mcp	Install kindex MCP server into Gemini CLI
kin setup-antigravity-mcp	Install kindex MCP server into Google Antigravity
kin setup-antigravity-hooks	Install lifecycle hooks into Google Antigravity
kin setup-opencode-mcp	Install kindex MCP server into OpenCode
kin setup-cursor-mcp	Install kindex MCP server into Cursor
kin setup-cron	Install periodic maintenance (launchd/crontab)
kin setup-claude-md	Output/install recommended CLAUDE.md kindex directives
kin setup-agents-md	Output/install recommended AGENTS.md kindex directives (Codex, OpenCode)
kin setup-gemini-md	Output/install recommended GEMINI.md kindex directives
kin setup-antigravity-md	Output/install Antigravity/GEMINI.md kindex directives
kin setup-cursor-rules	Output/install recommended Cursor rule (.mdc) for kindex
kin stop-guard	Stop hook guard for actionable reminders
kin doctor	Health check with graph enforcement (--fix)
kin migrate	Import markdown topics into SQLite
kin budget	LLM spend tracking
kin attention	Toggle/check/estimate conversation-attention reminder injection
kin attention-hook	Advisory attention hook for prompt/tool events
kin whoami	Show current user identity
kin changelog	What changed (--since, --days, --actor)
kin log	Recent activity log
kin git-hook [install|uninstall]	Manage git hooks in a repository
kin prime	Generate context for SessionStart hook (--codebook)
kin compact-hook	Pre-compact knowledge capture

Configuration

Config is layered like git — global defaults, then global config, then local config. Each layer deep-merges over the previous, so you only set what you want to override.

Layer	Path	Purpose
Global	~/.config/kindex/kin.yaml	User-wide defaults
Local	.kin/config or kin.yaml at project root	Project-specific overrides shipped with code

Use kin config set --global llm.enabled true for global settings, or kin config set llm.model claude-sonnet-4-6 for project-local. Use --project-path /path/to/repo or KIN_PROJECT=/path/to/repo when running from outside the repo.

Agent-facing behavior can be tuned at three levels:

# Global/project default for every client
kin config set attention.tick_interval 3

# Client default, e.g. every Claude session
kin agent-config set attention.tick_interval 2 --client claude

# One instance/conversation
kin agent-config set hooks.prime_tokens 1200 --client claude --scope instance --instance session-a

agent-config writes only approved behavior keys such as attention.*, sim.*, collab.prompt_cooldown_minutes, and hooks.prime_tokens; it cannot change storage paths or arbitrary config. Agents should propose these changes through their normal tool/command permission flow. Antigravity hooks force a user permission prompt before kin config set or kin agent-config set runs.

agents:
  clients:
    claude:
      attention:
        tick_interval: 2
        display: quiet
  instances:
    claude:session-a:
      client: claude
      attention:
        tick_interval: 1
      hooks:
        prime_tokens: 1200

data_dir: ~/.kindex

llm:
  enabled: false
  provider: anthropic             # anthropic or openai
  model: claude-haiku-4-5-20251001
  api_key_env: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY   # comma-separated fallback allowed
  cache_control: true              # Prompt caching (90% savings on repeated prefixes)
  codebook_min_weight: 0.5         # Min node weight for codebook inclusion
  tier2_max_tokens: 4000           # Token budget for query-relevant context

embedding:
  provider: voyage                 # voyage, openai, gemini, or local
  # model: ""                      # empty = provider default
  # api_key_env: ""                # empty = provider default (VOYAGE_API_KEY / OPENAI_API_KEY / GEMINI_API_KEY)
  # dimensions: 0                  # 0 = provider default (1024 / 1536 / 3072 / 384)

budget:
  daily: 0.50
  weekly: 2.00
  monthly: 5.00

attention:
  enabled: false                  # default; runtime override with `kin attention on/off`
  tick_interval: 3                # run every N prompt-check ticks
  max_candidates: 6               # deterministic prefilter size before LLM judge
  max_check_cost: 0.01            # estimated per-check cap
  max_conversation_cost: 0.25     # best-effort cap when the client provides a stable session id
  cooldown_seconds: 1800          # suppress repeat injections

project_dirs:
  - ~/Code
  - ~/Personal

defaults:
  hops: 2
  min_weight: 0.1
  mode: bfs

reminders:
  enabled: true
  check_interval: 300            # 5 min base interval
  adaptive_scheduling: true      # adjust interval based on nearest reminder
  min_interval: 300              # floor for adaptive scheduling
  default_channels: [system]     # system, slack, email, claude, terminal
  snooze_duration: 900           # 15 min default snooze
  auto_snooze_timeout: 300       # auto-snooze after 5 min inaction
  idle_suppress_after: 600       # suppress if idle > 10 min
  stop_guard_enabled: false      # opt-in; blocking Stop hooks are noisy in Claude
  dream_on_stop_enabled: true    # launch throttled detached dream from Claude Stop hook
  dream_min_interval: 3600       # seconds between scheduled/hook dream starts
  channels:
    slack:
      enabled: false
      webhook_url: ""
    email:
      enabled: false
      smtp_host: ""
      to_addr: ""

Use kin attention estimate --messages 1000 to estimate cost over a fixed prompt window. Conversation accounting is retained when a client provides a stable session id. Hook-driven attention does not fall back to cwd as a fake conversation id, because that would cross-pollute two chats open in the same repo.

Development

make dev          # install with dev + LLM dependencies
make test         # run 1502 tests
make check        # lint + test combined
make clean        # remove build artifacts

License

MIT