Getting Started

Knowlery is a knowledge base built for agents — one workspace format served by three shells: an MCP server and CLI for any agent, and an Obsidian plugin that adds the richest human interface on top. Obsidian maximizes Knowlery; it doesn't bound it.

That means there are two ways to start, and both end at the same place — a plain-markdown knowledge base that every surface can serve.

Path A: Start with your agent

~5 minutes. No Obsidian required. Best if you live in Codex, Claude, Cursor, or Antigravity.

1. Connect — install the plugin (one action on Claude Code / Codex: /plugin marketplace add JayJiangCT/knowlery → /plugin install knowlery), or add one MCP config block to any client (per-client guide):

{ "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "knowlery@^1", "mcp"] }

2. Create or register a KB — in conversation:

"Set up a knowledge base called main at ~/kb/main." — or, if you already have notes: "Register ~/vaults/my-notes as main." (A folder of existing notes needs one CLI command first: npx -y knowlery@^1 init --dir ~/vaults/my-notes --platform claude-code --name "My KB" — it scaffolds around your notes without touching them.)

3. Use it — also in conversation: "remember this", "what do I know about…", "give my KB a checkup". See Talk to Your Knowledge Base for the full set of natural-language workflows, and CLI Workflows if you prefer the terminal.

Any KB you create this way opens in Obsidian later with zero migration — install the plugin whenever you want the review dashboard.

Path B: Start in Obsidian

Best if you already have a vault, or want the visual review surface from day one.

Install the plugin from Community plugins, run the setup wizard, and get the action-first dashboard, Knowledge health, Freshness Review, and the bundle sharing UI — the full walkthrough is at Start in Obsidian.

A vault set up this way is automatically available to your agents too: the plugin registers it in the KB registry, so the MCP tools and CLI address it by name from anywhere.

Prefer the bare knowlery command in your terminal? Per-OS install tutorials (macOS one-liner, Windows npm/winget, WSL): Install the CLI.

Either way, read next

• Core Concepts — the two-layer model (your notes vs compiled knowledge), retrieval, and skills.
• Best Practices — the capture → cook → ask rhythm that keeps a KB healthy over months.