Installation

Three ways to run basemind, easiest first. All three share the same local index and are safe to run side by side.

1. As a plugin (recommended)

The plugin sets up everything for you — the server, the helper skills, the agent-comms features, and the slash commands. Pick your coding tool.

In the session (not your shell), run in order:

/plugin marketplace add Goldziher/basemind
/plugin install basemind@basemind

Restart, then run /bm-statusline once to turn on the live statusline (a one-time step — see Statusline).

codex plugin marketplace add Goldziher/basemind
codex plugin add basemind@basemind

In the app: open the Plugins sidebar and add basemind. The CLI and IDE share one config file.

In Agent chat: /add-plugin basemind (once listed), or go to Dashboard → Settings → Plugins → Team Marketplaces → Import from Repo and point it at https://github.com/Goldziher/basemind.

gemini extensions install https://github.com/Goldziher/basemind

Update later with gemini extensions update basemind.

droid plugin marketplace add https://github.com/Goldziher/basemind
droid plugin install basemind@basemind

copilot plugin marketplace add Goldziher/basemind
copilot plugin install basemind@basemind

Add to opencode.json (project) or ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json (global):

{ "plugin": ["basemind-opencode@latest"] }

/plugins install https://github.com/Goldziher/basemind

Kimi doesn’t support the comms auto-notifications, but the chat tools still work.

Antigravity uses a shared MCP config — install the program, then add the generic MCP block. If you already use the Gemini extension, agy plugin import gemini brings it across.

pi: pi install git:github.com/Goldziher/basemind. pi has no MCP support, so basemind runs through its CLI here.

2. As an MCP server

If your tool speaks MCP but you’re not using the plugin, install the program, then register it:

{
"mcpServers": {
  "basemind": { "command": "basemind", "args": ["serve"] }
}
}

Each tool says whether it only reads or can change things, so your client can auto-approve the safe ones and ask before the rest. If basemind isn’t found, use the full path from which basemind.

Per-tool specifics

claude mcp add basemind -- basemind serve

Add --scope user for all projects; the -- is required. Or commit a .mcp.json at the repo root with the block above.

Put the block above in .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global).

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json (or Cascade → MCP servers → manage), then Refresh.

codex mcp add basemind -- basemind serve

Shared by the CLI and IDE.

gemini mcp add basemind basemind serve

Or the block above in ~/.gemini/settings.json.

/mcp add in-session, or ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json with "type": "local" and "tools": ["*"].

droid mcp add basemind "basemind serve"

Or ~/.factory/mcp.json.

.continue/mcpServers/basemind.yaml with command: basemind, args: [serve].

opencode.json under key mcp, with command as an array ["basemind", "serve"].

Point it at the command basemind with the argument serve.

3. As a CLI

The standalone program, for scripts, headless runs, and CI. Install it, then:

basemind scan                          # index the project once
basemind query symbol "parseQuery"     # find a symbol by name
basemind query references "processFile" # find everywhere it's called
basemind git blame-file src/main.rs    # who last changed each line
basemind watch                         # keep the index fresh as files change

Full command list in the CLI reference.

Install the program

The MCP and CLI paths need basemind available on your system. (The plugin does this for you.)

Channel	Command	Includes
Homebrew	`brew install Goldziher/tap/basemind`	everything
npm	`npm install -g basemind`	everything
pip	`pip install basemind`	everything
cargo	`cargo install basemind --locked`	code + git only
cargo (full)	`cargo install basemind --features full --locked`	everything
GitHub releases	Download a binary	everything

The Homebrew / npm / pip / GitHub downloads include the full feature set — documents, OCR, search, web crawl, shared memory, agent comms, and agent shells — so the first run downloads the models it needs. The plain cargo install builds the code-map and git tools only.

Statusline (Claude Code)

Run /bm-statusline once. This is a one-time step because Claude Code doesn’t let plugins set the main statusline themselves — so basemind asks the assistant to make the one-line settings change on your behalf, and it sticks from then on.

It shows two lines:

Opus · basemind · ⎇ main · 12% ctx
◆ basemind  ●  1,247 files · 23m ago  │  312 calls · 180 srch · 44 git · 12 docs  │  1.4M saved  │  ✉ 3 @reviewer

The dot is green when basemind is live and fresh, amber when idle, red when stale. The middle shows activity by type, then tokens saved, then unread messages. Adjust with BASEMIND_STATUSLINE=full|compact|minimal, or hide the top line with BASEMIND_STATUSLINE_CONTEXT=0.