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Signet Docs

Install

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • macOS or Linux
  • Embeddings (choose one):
    • Built-in (recommended, no extra setup)
    • Ollama (local)
    • OpenAI API key
  • Node.js 18+ or Bun 1.0+ only if you choose the npm or Bun wrapper instead of the direct native binary installer

Install

Section titled “Install”

Quickstart is for installing and using Signet. If you want to work on Signet itself from source, use the contributor workflow in Contributing instead of the install paths below.

Terminal window
# direct native binary
curl -fsSL https://signetai.sh/install.sh | bash


# npm wrapper for the same compiled Signet binary
npm install -g signetai


# Bun wrapper for the same compiled Signet binary
bun add -g signetai

Running signet setup launches an interactive wizard that walks you through the full setup. You don’t need to read anything else first.

All three install paths install the same compiled Signet binary. The npm and Bun paths install the signetai wrapper plus a platform native package tarball from the same GitHub release. Install scripts only link the native binary into place; if scripts are disabled, the wrapper resolves the native package directly. They do not install Bun, rebuild Signet, or install daemon dependencies.

Choose one installation method per machine. signet update install uses a direct native install when it coexists with a package-manager wrapper, and signet doctor warns about the inactive wrapper. If a daemon is still running from another install, the native CLI rebinds it before starting or updating. Doctor’s cleanup command removes only the duplicate launcher, not the package that may also provide signet-mcp.

Published native binaries currently cover Linux x64, Linux arm64, macOS x64, macOS arm64, and Windows x64. Windows direct installs should use npm install -g signetai; the old PowerShell install.ps1 path has been removed until a native Windows direct installer ships.

For agent-driven onboarding, use non-interactive mode:

Terminal window
signet setup --non-interactive \
  --name "My Agent" \
  --harness claude-code \
  --deployment-type vps \
  --embedding-provider native

--deployment-type supports local, vps, or server and adjusts inferred defaults when provider flags are omitted. Explicit provider flags always override inferred defaults.

Agents can also run install and setup in one command, but only with explicit setup choices:

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://signetai.sh/install.sh | bash -s -- --help


curl -fsSL https://signetai.sh/install.sh | bash -s -- -- \
  --name "My Agent" \
  --harness claude-code \
  --deployment-type local \
  --embedding-provider native \
  --extraction-provider claude-code

If an agent does not have those choices yet, install first and run signet setup after asking the user.

Signet Secrets is a bundled core plugin and is enabled by default for existing workspaces. New interactive installs include a Core plugins step that explains what it does before asking whether to enable it. For automation, pass --disable-signet-secrets if you want the plugin installed but disabled.

GraphIQ is an optional verified managed plugin for fast local code retrieval. It is not installed by default. Interactive setup asks whether to install it; automation can pass --with-graphiq to install via script from GitHub releases, fallback, or --disable-graphiq to keep it disabled.

If OpenClaw is configured to use the same workspace path, setup now enforces backup posture before finishing. In automation, either configure a git origin remote ahead of time, or pass --create-local-backup (or --allow-unprotected-workspace if you intentionally accept the risk). Snapshot-backed protection is considered fresh for 7 days; after that, run setup with --create-local-backup again or configure origin.

Extraction safety note:

  • intended usage is Claude Code on Haiku, Codex CLI on gpt-5.4-mini with a Pro/Max subscription, or local Ollama with at least qwen3:4b
  • with --deployment-type vps, setup prefers non-local extraction defaults from selected harnesses when those tools are available locally, then other detected tooling, and avoids defaulting to local Ollama extraction
  • on a VPS, set extraction to none if you do not want background LLM calls
  • remote API extraction can rack up extreme fees fast