Install · bb 0.1.0

Install once. Answer locally.

One npm package puts the CLI, the index and the MCP server on your machine. There is no account, no cloud index and no API key to start: your source stays on disk, and every answer reads from it.

npm package @backbencher/brain · Node.js >= 18 · macOS · Linux · Windows

Three ways in.

npm is the primary path and the version-exact artifact every release publishes. The installers prefer npm too; they fall back to a checksum-verified release binary only when npm is unavailable.

Primary · npm

npm

Best when you already use Node.js. Version-exact, and the package the CLI upgrades from.

npm install -g @backbencher/brain

bb lands in your npm global prefix — npm prefix -g — so make sure its bin directory is on PATH.

Shell installer

macOS & Linux

Downloads the installer, which installs the same npm package and verifies what it runs.

curl -fsSL https://backbencher.cc/install.sh | bash

Falls back to a release binary only when npm is unavailable.

PowerShell installer

Windows

PowerShell installer for x64 and ARM64; it installs the npm package first, too.

irm https://backbencher.cc/install.ps1 | iex

A release fallback lands in %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin.

Verify it works.

Four commands, in order. The first confirms the install; the last confirms the index answers.

01
Check the version
Should print the release you installed.
```
bb --version
```
02
Check the machine
Reports Node, bindings, index paths and anything missing, with a fix for each.
```
bb doctor
```
03
Index a project
Run it from the repository you want to ask about. The index is a local SQLite file.
```
cd your-project
bb index
```
04
Ask it something
Search returns symbols with their exact bounds; the MCP tools return the graph facts.
```
bb search "resolveEmbeddingConfig"
bb stats
```

What gets installed.

The package

@backbencher/brain@0.1.0

The published npm package. The shell and PowerShell installers resolve to the same package when npm is available; a release binary is only a fallback and is accepted after its checksum verifies.

The binary

bb

The CLI, the language server and the MCP server in one executable. No daemon, no background service, nothing listening on a port.

The index

A local SQLite file

Symbols, imports and relationship edges for the projects you index. It lives in your user data directory; it is never uploaded.

Node.js >= 18 is required for npm installs. The installers do not modify shell profiles silently: they print the line to add, and each failure names the exact URL or command that was tried.

Pin or upgrade.

npm installs an exact version when you ask for one; re-run the install to move to a newer release. Upgrading keeps your data: the schema migrates in place and the index is never wiped.

npm

# latest
npm install -g @backbencher/brain@latest

# pin this release
npm install -g @backbencher/brain@0.1.0

Shell / PowerShell

# pin this release
VERSION=0.1.0 \
  curl -fsSL https://backbencher.cc/install.sh | bash

# Windows
$env:VERSION="0.1.0"
irm https://backbencher.cc/install.ps1 | iex

Next.

The install is the smallest step. These are the four pages that make the index useful.

Index your first project →What bb reads, what it skips, and what the first index proves.Connect an MCP client →Point Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code or another host at the local server.Turn on semantic search →Optional embeddings with a provider you configure, or the local word vectors.Use it in your editor →Hover with evidence tiers, definition, references and impact in bb_lsp.