Quick Start

This guide walks you through setting up Lien with your editor in under 2 minutes.

Step 1: Configure Your Editor

Claude Code (recommended path)

Install the plugin once and you're done — no per-project setup:

/plugin marketplace add getlien/lien
/plugin install lien

Lien's MCP tools and the Explore agent become available in every Claude Code session, in every repo.

TIP

If you previously used lien init --editor claude-code per project, you can leave those .mcp.json files in place or remove them — the plugin's MCP server replaces them. lien init --editor claude-code --legacy is still available if you need the old per-project flow for any reason.

Other editors (Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, Kilo Code, Antigravity)

These editors don't have a plugin marketplace yet. Run lien init per project and select your editor:

lien init

Or specify it directly:

lien init --editor cursor
lien init --editor windsurf
lien init --editor opencode
lien init --editor kilo-code
lien init --editor antigravity

This writes the correct MCP config for your editor.

What does lien init create?

Editor	Config File	Scope
Cursor	.cursor/mcp.json	Per-project
Claude Code (--legacy only)	.mcp.json	Per-project
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json	Global (with --root)
OpenCode	opencode.json	Per-project
Kilo Code	.kilocode/mcp.json	Per-project
Antigravity	Prints snippet to copy	Manual

Per-project configs automatically detect the project root. Windsurf uses a global config, so lien init includes the absolute project path via --root.

Step 2: Restart Your Editor

Restart your editor completely (quit and reopen, not just reload window).

After restarting, your AI assistant will automatically:

• Start the Lien MCP server
• Index your codebase (first time only)
• Make Lien tools available

First-Time Indexing

On first run, Lien indexes your codebase. There's no model to download — indexing starts immediately and runs offline. This may take a few minutes depending on project size.

Step 3: Test It Out!

In your AI assistant's chat, try queries like:

Search for authentication logic

Find error handling patterns

Show me database connection code

List all API endpoints

Monorepo Support

Lien automatically detects and indexes multiple frameworks:

# Example monorepo structure
my-app/
  ├── src/                  # Node.js/TypeScript (auto-detected)
  ├── backend/              # Laravel (auto-detected)
  └── .cursor/mcp.json      # Created by `lien init`

Lien scans your project structure and applies appropriate patterns for each detected framework—no configuration needed.

Troubleshooting

AI assistant doesn't show Lien tools

1. Run lien init to verify the config file was created for your editor
2. Restart your editor completely (quit, not just reload)
3. Check your editor's developer console or logs for errors
4. For Windsurf: ensure the --root path in ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json is correct

Manual Server Start

You don't need to manually run lien serve—it starts automatically. You can run it manually for debugging:

# Test server manually
lien serve --root /path/to/your/project

Slow indexing

• Lien automatically excludes node_modules, dist, and build artifacts
• Close other resource-intensive applications during first index
• Large codebases (50k+ files) may take 30-60 minutes initially

Results not relevant

• Try rebuilding the index: lien index --force
• Search is keyword-based (not meaning-based): query with terms that appear in the code, e.g. "authenticate token session" rather than "how does login work?"
• For an exact symbol name, ask for list_functions instead of search

Next Steps

• Learn about configuration options
• Explore MCP tools
• Read about CLI commands