setup

PAI Knowledge OS - Setup

Gets PAI fully running from a fresh clone — or verifies an existing install is healthy.

Each step checks the current state first. If already done, it reports what was found and skips. If partially done, it completes only the missing parts. Running this on a fully installed system is safe and informative.

Quick path: For most users, pai setup handles everything automatically — storage, CLAUDE.md, PAI skill, hooks, settings.json wiring, statusline, daemon, and MCP registration. The steps below document what pai setup does internally and how to troubleshoot each part.

What PAI Is

PAI has three components:

Component	Binary	Role
CLI	dist/cli/index.mjs	The pai command — indexing, search, management
Daemon	dist/daemon/index.mjs	Background service, launchd-managed as com.pai.pai-daemon
MCP shim	dist/daemon-mcp/index.mjs	Thin proxy from Claude Code to daemon over Unix socket

The daemon does the heavy lifting (indexing, embeddings). The MCP shim gives Claude Code access to PAI's memory tools. The CLI lets you inspect and manage everything.

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Step 1 — Check Prerequisites

Check first:

bun --version
docker --version 2>/dev/null || echo "Docker not installed"

If already done:

Bun [version] is installed. Docker [version / not installed]. Continuing.

If Bun is missing:

curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

Then open a new shell so bun is on $PATH. Docker is optional — only needed for PostgreSQL mode.

---

Step 2 — Install Dependencies and Build

Check first:

# Check if the build is current: dist must exist AND be newer than src
REPO="$PWD"   # set this to wherever PAI was cloned

if [ -f "$REPO/dist/cli/index.mjs" ] && \
   [ -f "$REPO/dist/daemon/index.mjs" ] && \
   [ -f "$REPO/dist/daemon-mcp/index.mjs" ]; then
  # Check if any source file is newer than the build output
  NEWEST_SRC=$(find "$REPO/src" -name "*.ts" -newer "$REPO/dist/cli/index.mjs" 2>/dev/null | head -1)
  if [ -z "$NEWEST_SRC" ]; then
    echo "BUILD_CURRENT"
  else
    echo "BUILD_STALE: $NEWEST_SRC is newer than dist"
  fi
else
  echo "BUILD_MISSING"
fi