Quick Start

This guide walks you through setting up Lien with Cursor or Claude Code in under 2 minutes.

Step 1: Configure Your Editor

Run lien init and select your editor:

lien init

Or specify it directly:

lien init --editor cursor
lien init --editor claude-code
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. That's it—Lien works with zero configuration.

What does lien init create?

Editor	Config File	Scope
Cursor	.cursor/mcp.json	Per-project
Claude Code	.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 downloads an embedding model (~100MB) and indexes your codebase. This may take 5-20 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

"Model download failed"

Ensure you have:

• Internet connection (first run only)
• ~100MB free disk space
• Node.js 22+ installed

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
• Be more specific in your queries
• Use natural language: "how does authentication work?" vs "auth"

Next Steps

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