Quickstart

Install the desktop app

Download the latest version of the Open Knowledge desktop app for macOS.

Create a new project

• Open the Open Knowledge app and click Create new project.
• 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

Click the Open with AI button in the top right and select your preferred agent from the list. This dispatches the current project to your chosen agent with a starter prompt. Your agent harness may take a few seconds to load the project.

In the agent's chat window, add the following to the starter prompt to get started 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 Open Knowledge editor in an embedded window. Otherwise, your agent will open the Open Knowledge editor in your system browser.

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 (puts `ok` on your PATH)
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, Cursor, and Codex.
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 Open Knowledge with the AI editors it detected, so your agent can use the Open Knowledge tools right away. Open your project in your agent — or, from the editor, click Open with AI and pick one.

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.