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guides/installation
Created: Jan 6, 2026
Updated: Apr 15, 2026
installation setup getting-started

Installation Guide

Memex installs with keyword search enabled by default (Whoosh). Semantic search (ChromaDB + sentence-transformers) is optional via the search extra.

Install (Recommended)

# With uv (recommended)
uv tool install memex-kb

# With pip
pip install memex-kb

# Verify installation
mx --version

This includes:

  • Keyword search (Whoosh)
  • KB health checks and graph tooling
  • Static site publishing (mx publish)

Choose Your First KB

If you are starting a new repo, the fastest path is:

mx onboard --init --yes

If you want to avoid walking up parent directories while testing in a sandbox:

mx onboard --cwd-only --init --yes

For personal or custom KBs:

mx init --user --sample
mx init --path docs/kb --no-sample
mx init --force --sample

mx init --user creates a KB in ~/.memex/kb/. --sample creates a starter entry; --no-sample leaves the KB empty.

If you cloned an existing KB or copied docs from another system, run:

mx doctor --timestamps
mx doctor --timestamps --fix

That repairs missing, invalid, or stale frontmatter timestamps before publishing or browsing.

Semantic Search (Optional)

If you want semantic search, install the search extra (larger footprint; may download models on first use):

uv tool install 'memex-kb[search]'
# or
pip install 'memex-kb[search]'

From Source

For development or customization:

git clone https://github.com/chriskd/memex-kb.git
cd memex

# Runtime dependencies
uv sync

# Dev dependencies
uv sync --dev

GPU Support (Optional)

If you have an NVIDIA GPU and want CUDA acceleration:

uv sync --index pytorch-gpu=https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124

Platform Notes

  • ARM64 (Apple Silicon): ChromaDB capped at <1.0.0 for onnxruntime compatibility
  • CPU-only default: PyTorch configured for CPU to minimize install size
  • Python requirement: 3.11 or higher
  • MEMEX_CONTEXT_NO_PARENT=1 disables parent .kbconfig discovery for the current shell
  • MEMEX_USER_KB_ROOT overrides the user KB location
  • MEMEX_INDEX_ROOT moves search indices out of the KB directory
  • MEMEX_QUIET=1 suppresses non-fatal warnings

Next Steps

After installation:

  1. Quick Start Guide - Create your first KB
  2. AI Integration - Configure AI assistants
  3. Reference Index - Command and format details