setup-localbrain

When to invoke this skill

One pass from zero to "localbrain works on this machine": install the CLI, create the store, prove a write/search round trip. Use when asked to "setup localbrain", "install localbrain", or when another skill reported the brain is missing. Re-running is safe — every step detects existing state and repairs only what is missing.

What localbrain is (say this once, in one line)

A local memory store at ~/.localbrain (or $LOCALBRAIN_DIR): markdown files as the source of truth, a derived SQLite search index, no accounts, no cloud. The pipeline uses it to remember leads already contacted or exported, cut reasons and retro learnings across runs. Source: https://github.com/localoy-ai/localbrain

Procedure

1. Detect. command -v localbrain && localbrain version. Already on PATH → skip to step 3.

2. Install. In order of preference, stopping at the first that works:

• Go toolchain present (command -v go): go install github.com/localoy-ai/localbrain/cmd/localbrain@latest, then confirm it landed: command -v localbrain — if not, the Go bin dir (go env GOPATH/bin) is not on PATH; say exactly that and give the one-line PATH fix for the user's shell rather than working around it.
• No Go: say so plainly and ask (structured question where the runtime supports one) whether to install Go first or skip localbrain. Every pipeline skill degrades gracefully without it — skipping loses cross-run memory, nothing else. Never fake an install.

3. Init + smoke test. Prove the round trip, then clean up:

localbrain init
echo "setup smoke test $(date +%s)" | localbrain put setup-smoke-test --type note
localbrain search "smoke" | grep -q setup-smoke-test && echo ROUNDTRIP_OK
localbrain delete setup-smoke-test
localbrain doctor

ROUNDTRIP_OK missing or doctor unhealthy → surface the full output and stop. Do not paper over a broken store; the fix is usually localbrain reindex (the index is derived — rebuilding loses nothing).

4. Report. One short block, every row OK/FIX:

localbrain: GREEN
  CLI ........ OK  <version>
  Store ...... OK  <dir> (<N> records)
  Round trip . OK  put -> search -> delete

Then one line on what changes: "/lead-search now dedupes against the brain; /lead-reach records who was contacted and /lead-export what was handed over. The localoy app shows the same records on its Brain screen."

Quality bar

• Never claim installed without command -v localbrain succeeding after.
• The smoke record is always deleted — setup leaves no litter in the store.
• A machine that ends without localbrain ends with an honest one-liner about what the pipeline loses (cross-run memory), not a failure.