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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.backant.io/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Quick install

From inside the repo you want Kairos to work on: 
cd /path/to/your/repo
npx backant-kairos
The first run walks you through four steps automatically: login, project setup, memory initialization, and daemon start.
Kairos works at the workspace level. Each repo gets its own .backant.toml policy file and its own daemon. Memory itself lives at the user level (under ~/.claude/kairos/) and is shared across all workspaces.

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Requirements

RequirementWhy
macOS or LinuxTested platforms. Windows via WSL is best-effort.
Claude Code installed and signed inKairos uses your Claude Code installation for reasoning calls.
GitHub CLI (gh) authenticatedFor PR operations and CI introspection.
Docker runningHosts the local embedding service.
Active BackAnt subscriptionValidated on daemon start.

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The first-run wizard

npx backant-kairos runs these steps in order. Each step is also runnable individually as a subcommand.
1

Login

Opens a browser auth flow against backant.io to issue credentials. Credentials persist across reboots under ~/.claude/kairos/.
backant login
2

Project setup

Scans the workspace, detects language/framework/CI conventions, and generates .backant.toml (the per-project policy file). Also installs recommended skills and plugins, and adds .backant.toml to CODEOWNERS so policy changes route to you.
backant setup
Idempotent — existing .backant.toml is preserved.
3

Memory init

One-time installation of the local embedding stack. Pulls the Docker image plus a Qwen3-Embedding model sized to your hardware, and writes ~/.claude/kairos/config.json.
backant memory init
Takes 3–5 minutes depending on the tier and your network. See the memory page for tier sizing.
4

Start Kairos

Attaches Kairos to the current workspace and begins working.
backant start

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Subsequent installs

Once the wizard has run once per workspace, you only need backant start to resume. Running backant alone detects whether to resume or run setup. 
cd /path/to/your/repo
backant

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Re-running setup

If you change .backant.toml, add a new repo, or want to refresh installed skills: 
backant setup
Existing config is preserved; new conventions are merged where safe.

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Switching embedding models

After the initial install, you can re-run memory init to pick a different Qwen3 tier. If you do, run memory reindex afterwards to re-embed everything against the new model — otherwise recall will produce dimension mismatches. 
backant memory init       # pick new tier
backant memory reindex    # re-embed all entries

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Uninstall

To stop the daemon and remove all Kairos state from your machine: 
backant stop
rm -rf ~/.claude/kairos/
The npm package itself can be removed with npm uninstall -g backant-kairos if installed globally, or just deleted if you used npx.