Create the project

Get orkai on your computer, connect your AI, and make Stall a project the AI can come back to. No shop code yet.

The idea

You would not ask someone to remember a whole shop with nothing to write on. They need a notebook. Setup is that notebook. We are not coding Stall yet.

What a project is

A project is one piece of work on your computer: one folder, one shop, one memory. For this tutorial that folder is Stall.

orkai does not guess which work you mean. You tell it “this folder is a project.” After that, requirements, plans, and session notes for Stall live with Stall, not mixed into some other job, and not stuck inside one chat.

If you have used GitHub, think of a repo. If you have not: it is just a named folder for this shop, plus a small file so orkai (and your AI) know which shop you mean next time.

Words on this page

These words show up in the steps. Here they are without the jargon.

• Trial. Seven days to use the full product on one computer, for free. After that you need a paid key. The trial is the window for this tutorial.
• Install. Putting the orkai program on your computer so you can run it. Download is free. Install is not the same as the trial key. You need both: the program, and permission to use it.
• Daemon. orkai running in the background on your machine while you work. Like leaving the shop open. It is not a website in the cloud. If it is not running, the AI has nowhere to remember Stall.
• PIN. A 4-digit lock for the orkai window on this computer, so only you open it.
• Embedding. How orkai understands meaning, not only exact words. Your AI asks in human sentences (“where is the sold-out rule?”). Embedding lets orkai find the matching notes. That is the open line between the AI and orkai. Finding the right file by meaning matters more here than drawing a map of how files link to each other.
• MCP. The plug between OpenCode and orkai. Without it, the chat cannot see Stall’s notes. You connect once, then OpenCode can ask orkai what this project already knows.

Do this in OpenCode

1. Start the 7-day trial

This unlocks orkai on one computer for seven days. After you pay $0, Polar (the store) emails a receipt. The key is not in the email text. Open Access Purchase and copy a key that starts with ORKAI_ or ORKAITRIAL_. That key is your permission slip. More detail: License.

Start 7-day free trial

2. Install

Now put orkai on your computer. Follow Install for Mac, Windows, or Linux. Do not copy install commands from this page: they live there so they stay current.

You can install without a key. You cannot do the useful work until you activate with the key from step 1.

3. Activate and start the daemon

Activate tells orkai your key. Start leaves it running in the background on this computer:

orkai activate ORKAI_YOUR_KEY_HERE
orkai start

Replace the placeholder with your real key. The first time, a browser window should open. If it does not, run orkai open. A short checklist: Quick start. If something fails: Daemon and MCP.

4. PIN and embeddings (minimum setup)

First run asks for a 4-digit PIN. Pick one you will remember. It stays on this computer. Then you land on the Setup page.

The only required block on that page is Embeddings. Skip Review and Work for now. Without embeddings, orkai cannot match a human question to Stall’s notes, so later lessons feel like the AI is guessing.

For this tutorial we recommend Voyage. It has a large free allowance, which is enough to learn. You still create an account and add a credit card: Voyage requires a card on file before it will issue an API key, even when you stay on the free tier. OpenAI also works (paid). Ollama also works if you want everything local and you already run Ollama.

Choose Voyage, paste the API key, then Save and restart. Keys: Voyage API keys. Extra detail: Configuration.

5. Connect OpenCode

This tutorial uses OpenCode: it is open source, it can use many model subscriptions, and later orkai Work needs it. Install OpenCode if you do not have it yet: opencode.ai/docs.

OpenCode still does not know orkai exists. Write the connection with this command, then restart OpenCode:

orkai mcp-config --apply --client opencode

That updates ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json. Do not paste MCP JSON by hand. Other coding tools: MCP.

There is no Stall project yet, so do not call overview(). First check the plug works. In OpenCode, paste this:

List the MCP tools you have. If there is no orkai tool, stop and say so. Do not call overview(). Do not create anything.

If OpenCode has no orkai tools, stop and fix MCP. Do not continue with a disconnected chat.

6. Create the Stall project

This is the desk. A new folder on your computer named stall. git init starts version history (a log of file changes). orkai init tells orkai: this folder is the Stall project. It writes .orkai.yaml.

mkdir stall && cd stall && git init && orkai init

When init asks Install starter pack? [y/N], type y and press Enter. Do not press Enter alone (that skips it). Do not use orkai init -i.

The starter pack is four ready-made ways of working: Product Owner, Architect, Feature Planner, and Fullstack Developer. Later lessons use those roles. If you skip them, the AI has no process to follow and will improvise.

7. Confirm the project, still no shop code

Open OpenCode in the Stall folder. Paste this. OpenCode will use orkai to write AGENTS.md and finish project setup. You do not want a shop page yet.

We are starting Stall, a local shop: catalog + orders, no payments.

Help me set up this project using the project_setup tool from orkai.

Recap

orkai is on your computer and running. PIN is set. Embeddings are on. OpenCode is connected. Stall is a project: starter pack accepted, AGENTS.md written, empty shop folder with a place for memory. There is still no catalog and no page. Next we write what Stall is: the goal, this project's technical decisions, and the rules that must stay true.