Quick start

Six steps from free trial to an AI that remembers.

1. Get your 7-day free license

orkai requires a license even for the trial. Start here — no subscription, one device, $0 checkout.

  1. Open Pricing and click Start 7-day free trial.
  2. Complete checkout on Polar (merchant of record).
  3. Your license key arrives by email shortly after checkout — continue with step 2 once it lands.

Prefer to buy outright? Choose Single device ($49.99) or Three devices ($99) on the same page — the steps below are identical, only the key type differs.

Start 7-day free trial

2. Check your email — license key

Polar sends a receipt email within a few minutes with your ORKAI_ license key (in the License Keys section). The email does not include a download — binaries are always public.

You can install orkai anytime from Install (step 3). Wait for the key before running orkai activate.

Didn't receive it? Check spam, then email [email protected].

3. Install orkai and activate on this machine

Download is public — use the install guide (one-liner script or manual binaries from OrkaiOS/installer). Then activate with the key from step 2. Device cap depends on your plan (1 or 3 machines). A license is required for serve, index, and other write/compute commands.

Full options on Install. Binaries are published on OrkaiOS/installer. Installing does not grant a license — activate after checkout.

macOS and Linux

Run the install script (downloads from OrkaiOS/installer on GitHub):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OrkaiOS/installer/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell)

Run the install script:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OrkaiOS/installer/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Manual download

Or pick your platform binary from the installer repo on GitHub, make it executable, and move it onto your PATH.

orkai version

Activate your license

After install, activate with the key from your email:

orkai activate ORKAI_YOUR_KEY_HERE
  • Installing orkai does not include a license. Get a key at getorkai.com/pricing (trial or paid).
  • Polar emails your license key only — not a download. Install from getorkai.com/docs/install.
  • Your license key arrives by email from Polar after checkout. Keys normally start with ORKAI_.
  • Device cap depends on plan: trial and single-device = 1 machine; three-device = 3.
  • Upgrade from trial: run orkai activate with your paid key; it replaces the trial in ~/.orkai/license.json.

Verify with orkai license status — it should show your plan tier, device cap, and expiry/grace state.

4. Set up and start the daemon

The first time you run orkai, an interactive setup walks you through local configuration — embedding provider (OpenAI, Ollama, or bring-your-own vectors), storage paths, and credentials. This writes ~/.orkai/config.yaml and your local data directory.

First run only — interactive setup

orkai serve
# runs in the foreground — logs stream in this terminal
# completes the first-run wizard, then keeps running until you Ctrl-C

Requires an interactive terminal. Without activation from step 3, orkai refuses to start.

Every day after — keep the daemon running

orkai start    # background daemon — stays up on macOS/Linux
orkai stop     # stop when you need to
orkai status   # confirm it is running

Prefer start over serve for normal use. serve ties up a terminal with live logs; start keeps orkai running in the background while you work. Use orkai logs -f when you want to tail output without blocking a shell.

  • Live ports are written to ~/.orkai/runtime.json when auto-fallback occurs.
  • Open the local UI with orkai open while the daemon is running.

5. Connect your AI — orkai mcp-config

With the daemon running (orkai start — or orkai serve while debugging), print config for your client: 

orkai mcp-config                  # every client (default)
orkai mcp-config --client cursor # Cursor-only JSON

Each AI client needs a different config shape — Cursor uses native SSE; Claude Desktop needs an mcp-remote bridge; Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode each have their own file format. See MCP — connect your AI for step-by-step instructions per client.

6. You're ready

Open your AI assistant and start a session. A well-configured agent calls overview() first — recent sessions, standards, skills, and tools scoped to your project.

Your agent can now save documents, preferences, and session summaries on your machine — memory that persists across chats.

Optional — index a folder

Point orkai at any local directory — a code repo, research folder, analyst workspace with CSVs and PDFs, or notes on your Desktop. See Projects & indexing. 

cd /path/to/your/folder
orkai init
orkai index .              # code + documents + analytics (default)
orkai index document .     # documents only
orkai index analytics .    # spreadsheets only

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