Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22.21.0 or higher (check with node --version)
• At least 200MB free disk space (for ML model)
• 8GB+ RAM recommended for large codebases

Claude Code Plugin (Recommended)

For Claude Code users, the simplest path is the one-time plugin install — no npm install, no per-project lien init. Lien's MCP tools and the Explore agent become available in every Claude Code session, in every repo.

/plugin marketplace add getlien/lien
/plugin install lien

The plugin spawns Lien on demand via npx -y @liendev/lien, so it always pulls the latest release. To upgrade, restart Claude Code — the next spawn fetches the newest version automatically.

Working on Lien itself?

Contributors should NOT install the plugin in their dev environment — that points the MCP server at the npm-published binary, bypassing your local changes. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the dogfooding setup that points at your local build instead.

Global Installation (for Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, Kilo Code, Antigravity)

These editors don't have a plugin marketplace yet, so install Lien globally and wire it up per-project with lien init:

npm install -g @liendev/lien

Verify installation:

lien --version

Then in each project:

lien init

lien init writes the correct MCP config for your editor — .cursor/mcp.json for Cursor, opencode.json for OpenCode, and so on. See the Quick Start guide for the full per-editor flow.

Using npx (no global install)

You can run Lien without installing it globally:

npx @liendev/lien init
npx @liendev/lien index
npx @liendev/lien serve

TIP

For frequent use, global installation gives better cold-start performance.

Upgrading

Plugin users (Claude Code): restart Claude Code. The plugin's npx -y @liendev/lien invocation re-resolves to the latest npm version on every cold start, so a restart is all you need.

Global install users: bump the package and restart your editor.

npm update -g @liendev/lien

WARNING

Code changes (new features and bug fixes) require restarting your editor. The auto-reconnect feature only handles data changes (reindexing).

Uninstalling

Plugin users:

/plugin uninstall lien
/plugin marketplace remove getlien/lien

Global install:

# Remove global package
npm uninstall -g @liendev/lien

# Remove cached indices (optional)
rm -rf ~/.lien

Verifying Installation

Check that Lien is properly installed:

# Check version
lien --version

# Show help
lien --help

# Check available commands
lien

Next Steps

Now that Lien is installed, proceed to the Quick Start guide to initialize your first project.