name: obelisk-installer description: Install the official Obelisk CLI and then install the Obelisk agent skill. Use only for initial setup or repair when the obelisk command is missing. allowed-tools:

• Bash

Install Obelisk

This is a one-time bootstrap guide. It installs the local Obelisk runtime, then uses that runtime to install the official agent skill from github.com/tommy0103/obelisk-skill.

1. Check for the CLI

command -v obelisk >/dev/null 2>&1 && obelisk --version

If this succeeds, skip to step 3. Do not reinstall a working CLI unless the user asked to upgrade or repair it.

2. Install the CLI

Installing a global command changes the user's machine. Show the command and get the user's approval before running one of these official installation methods.

With npm:

npm install --global @obelisk-apps/cli

On macOS, Linux, or WSL, the official installer performs the same CLI-only installation and never installs an agent skill:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tommy0103/obelisk/main/install.sh | sh

Never use sudo, install a daemon, or download Obelisk from another source.

Verify the result:

obelisk --version

3. Choose the skill installation scope

The standard skills installer defaults to the current project. Before running it, tell the user about that default and ask whether /obelisk should be installed:

• For the current project only — available only in the project where the installer runs.
• Globally — available across the user's projects.

Do not silently choose the current-project default. If the user already stated the scope explicitly, use that choice without asking again.

Run the command that matches the user's answer:

Current project:

obelisk install

Global:

obelisk install --global

Pass through any additional target options the user requested. The command uses the standard skills installer, so follow its prompts instead of copying skill files by hand.

After installation, tell the user to reload their agent if the new /obelisk skill is not discovered immediately. This bootstrap document is not the query skill and must not answer session-history questions itself.

Past Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, DeepSeek Harness, Hermes Agent, Kiro, Kimi Code, OMP, OpenCode, Pi, and ZCode sessions -- queryable by your agent, browsable by you.

English · 中文

Obelisk indexes your local coding-agent history into one SQLite database and serves it to two audiences:

• Agents — the obelisk CLI plus an agent skill that teaches coding agents to search their own session history. The agent writes JS queries, runs them locally, and answers in plain language.
• Humans — an Electron desktop app to browse sessions, manage memories, view usage stats, and see weekly recap cards.

Both read the same ~/.obelisk/obelisk.sqlite, kept fresh by watching every configured provider directory.

20K lines of scattered JSONL → something your agent can search() and sql() against in milliseconds.

Use it from your agent

/obelisk 上次 auth bug 最后到底改了哪些文件，为什么这么改
/obelisk 这个文件最近在哪些 sessions 里被反复修改
/obelisk 找出最近失败的 tool calls，它们分别发生在哪些任务里
/obelisk 那个 review workflow 的 subagents 各自结论是什么
/obelisk recap this week

Install

Install with your agent (recommended)

The shortest path is to give the bootstrap guide directly to a coding agent with shell access. Paste this as a prompt into Claude Code, Codex, or another agent — not into your terminal:

Install Obelisk by fetching and following this guide:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tommy0103/obelisk/main/SKILL.md

The agent will ask before changing your machine, install and verify the CLI, then ask whether the formal /obelisk skill should be installed for the current project or globally. The bootstrap guide is only for one-time setup; it is not the query skill itself.

Install manually

Obelisk requires Node.js 22.13 or newer. Install the platform-neutral CLI (zero runtime npm dependencies — it uses Node's built-in SQLite):

npm install --global @obelisk-apps/cli
obelisk --version

On macOS, Linux, or WSL, the CLI-only installer is equivalent:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tommy0103/obelisk/main/install.sh | sh

Then install the agent skill:

obelisk install

obelisk install delegates to the standard skills installer for tommy0103/obelisk-skill. Then in any agent session: /obelisk <your question>. First run builds the index (~5 seconds for 100 sessions); after that it rebuilds incrementally.

How it works

You ask a question
  ↓
Agent writes a JS query against the SQLite index
  ↓
Runs it via obelisk --query <script>
  ↓
Reads the JSON result, answers in natural language

Default query surface (CLI 0.3.0+): overview(), sessions(), search(), messages(), memories(), summaries(), and sql(). Specialized helpers and legacy script globals remain available. Signatures, options, and query patterns live in the API reference.

Memory layer

When a retrieval produces a conclusion worth keeping, the agent proposes a markdown memory file. After your approval, it registers the file with obelisk --attune <script>. Memories are recalled via memories() in future sessions — a synthesis cache, not a replacement for raw evidence.

Recap

The optional /obelisk recap flow turns a period of sessions into shareable weekly/monthly recap cards. It loads its references only for explicit recap intent, starting at skill-doc/references/recap/overview.md and proceeding card by card.

Browse it in the app

• Sessions — browse all sessions with search, project filtering, readable tool calls (diffs, terminal output, file viewers)
• Memory — list and detail views for registered memory files
• Activity — GitHub-style heatmap, weekly/cumulative token charts
• Recap — shareable weekly/monthly recap cards with archetype theming
• Settings — data source configuration, auto-refresh, rebuild index

Prebuilt releases are available for macOS and Linux amd64 from Releases, with in-app updates (Sparkle on macOS, DebUpdater on Debian installations). On macOS, Windows, and Linux you can also run the app from source — Node.js 22.13+ for the build tools; the app itself runs on Electron's embedded Node:

git clone https://github.com/tommy0103/obelisk.git
cd obelisk/app
npm ci
npm run dev

Debugging, packaging, and the release workflow are maintainer docs; they live in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Note: while the desktop app is running it owns index writes, so CLI invocations stay read-only.

What gets indexed

Every provider projects into the same shared layers; a few layers exist only where the source tool has the concept:

Full-text search via FTS5 covers all layers. Per-provider source locations are listed under Provider coverage.

Provider coverage

Every provider indexes into the same schema; rows carry a source value and non-Claude IDs are provider-prefixed so they cannot collide.

Where a provider attests superseded history, Obelisk preserves it as inactive rows that normal queries omit; supported query helpers can opt in with includeInactive: true.

Non-default locations — a Pi --session-dir, an OMP custom root, an OpenCode data root (an explicit configured root overrides $OPENCODE_DB), the VS Code Insiders User directory — can be selected in the app's Settings.

Adapter internals (identity hashing, supersession replay, per-provider root discovery) are documented in retrieval semantics and the ADRs.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a PR — it is short, and it is written from what actually blocked past PRs rather than from generic style rules. The parts worth knowing up front:

• Run every claim in your PR description end to end. The most common reason a PR stalls here is a capability that is advertised but unreachable — including inputs shown in screenshots.
• Assert the requirement, not the implementation. Copy the sentence from the issue into your test name.
• Transcript content is attacker-controlled. Obelisk indexes third-party agent logs; anything reaching shell.*, fs.*, innerHTML, or DDL is deny-by-default.
• Re-run verification after merging main. A merge voids every result above it, including your own noted limitations.

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