Quickstart

From zero to a working Brain in under 5 minutes. Make sure you've installed Cerebrumma first.

1. Create your global Brain #

The global Brain lives at ~/.cerebrum/ and travels with you across every project. Create it once:

bash

$ cerebrum init
Brain initialized!→ .cerebrum/ (local) with 5 memory layers→ cerebrum add "your first rule"→ cerebrum hook install (auto-capture git commits)

This creates the full memory hierarchy: episodic/, semantic/, procedural/skills/, personal/, and more.

2. Add your first memory #

Tell your Brain something about how you work:

bash

$ cerebrum add --global "I always use TypeScript strict mode"

bash

$ cerebrum add --global "Never use gendered language in UI copy"

Each entry is written as a Markdown file with YAML frontmatter to ~/.cerebrum/memory/episodic/. Claude Code can read these immediately via MCP.

3. Check your Brain #

bash

$ cerebrum status
Brain ~/.cerebrum/ (global)   Working                → 0   Episodic               → 5   Semantic               → 0   Skills                 → 0   Protocols              → 0   Personal / Equity      → 0
Brain .cerebrum/ (local)   Working                → 0   Episodic               → 5   Semantic               → 0   Skills                 → 0   Protocols              → 0   Personal / Equity      → 0
   Use cerebrum add "..." to grow it.

You'll see entry counts for both your global Brain and any local Brain in the current directory.

4. Add a local Brain to a project #

Navigate to any project and create a local Brain:

bash

$ cd ~/my-project && cerebrum init

The .cerebrum/ folder is created in your project. Add it to .gitignoreif you don't want to track it, or commit it to share Brain context with your team.

5. Install the git hook #

bash

$ cerebrum hook install
• Git hook installed→ Commits will now auto-capture branch + hash + diff stats

From now on, every git commit automatically records an episodic memory entry with the branch name, commit hash, and diff stats. Your Brain grows without you thinking about it.

bash

$ git commit -m "redesign"
• Added episodic memory → my-project/.cerebrum/memory/episodic/2026-05-12T16_06_29.md[main ff51354] redesign 79 files changed, 9769 insertions(+), 1674 deletions(-)

6. (Optional) Watch for file saves #

bash

$ cerebrum watch

Runs a background watcher that captures file saves to episodic memory with a 2-second debounce. Useful for tracking what you're actively working on.

Next steps

Set up MCP integration so Claude Code reads your Brain automatically
Run a dream cycle to distill episodes into lasting knowledge

←Install MCP Integration→