Files
mempalace/mempalace/instructions/init.md
T
Igor Lins e Silva c08ec00f4d fix: address Copilot review on PATH visibility (PR #1414)
- mempalace/instructions/init.md: only skip Step 4 when `mempalace
  --version` succeeds. `pip show` / `uv tool list` reporting an install
  is not enough -- if the package lives in an unactivated venv, Step 5
  (`mempalace init ...`) fails with command-not-found. Treat that case
  as not-installed and re-install via Step 3 into a PATH-visible
  location.
- .codex-plugin/README.md: switch the git-install recipe from `uv sync`
  to `uv tool install --editable .` so the bundled `plugin.json`
  (which invokes `mempalace-mcp` by bare name) can launch the MCP
  server. Plain `uv sync` only puts the script in `.venv/bin/`, which
  Codex won't find unless the venv is activated first.
2026-05-08 02:01:36 -03:00

3.1 KiB

MemPalace Init

Guide the user through a complete MemPalace setup. Follow each step in order, stopping to report errors and attempt remediation before proceeding.

Step 1: Check Python version

Run python3 --version (or python --version on Windows) and confirm the version is 3.9 or higher. If Python is not found or the version is too old, tell the user they need Python 3.9+ installed and stop.

Step 2: Check if mempalace is already installed

Run mempalace --version. If it succeeds, the CLI is on PATH — report the installed version and skip to Step 4.

If mempalace --version fails, do not skip to Step 4 just because pip show mempalace or uv tool list reports the package as installed: the package may live inside a venv that isn't activated, in which case Step 5 (mempalace init ...) will fail with command not found. Treat that case as not-installed and continue to Step 3, which will (re)install into a PATH-visible location via uv tool install or pip.

Step 3: Install mempalace

Prefer uv — it isolates the CLI from system Python and avoids most environment-related failures:

  1. If uv is on PATH (uv --version), run uv tool install mempalace.
  2. Otherwise run pip install mempalace.

Error handling -- install failures

If the install command fails, try these fallbacks in order:

  1. If uv tool install failed, try pip install mempalace (or vice versa).
  2. Try pip3 install mempalace.
  3. Try python -m pip install mempalace (or python3 -m pip install mempalace).
  4. If the error mentions missing build tools or compilation failures (commonly from chromadb or its native dependencies):
  5. If all attempts fail, report the error clearly and stop.

Step 4: Ask for project directory

Ask the user which project directory they want to initialize with MemPalace. Offer the current working directory as the default. Wait for their response before continuing.

Step 5: Initialize the palace

Run mempalace init --yes <dir> where <dir> is the directory from Step 4.

If this fails, report the error and stop.

Step 6: Configure MCP server

Run the following command to register the MemPalace MCP server with Claude:

claude mcp add mempalace -- mempalace-mcp

If this fails, report the error but continue to the next step (MCP configuration can be done manually later).

Step 7: Verify installation

Run mempalace status and confirm the output shows a healthy palace.

If the command fails or reports errors, walk the user through troubleshooting based on the output.

Step 8: Show next steps

Tell the user setup is complete and suggest these next actions:

  • Use /mempalace:mine to start adding data to their palace
  • Use /mempalace:search to query their palace and retrieve stored knowledge