---
slug: quickstart
title: "Five-minute quickstart"
description: "Connect, save once, search once. Three steps is enough to see AiAkiv working."
lang: en
---


# Five-minute quickstart

Connect, save once, search once. Three steps is enough to see AiAkiv working.

> Client-by-client setup (Claude, Codex, Cursor, and the rest) is covered as
> recipes in the **[playbook](https://www.aiakiv.com/playbook)**. This page only
> covers the shape that's the same on every client.

## 0. Account and project

1. Sign in at `app.aiakiv.com` with your email.
2. Create a **team** (who owns the memory) and one **project** inside it (the
   coordinates writes go to). Where saving currently points is called the
   **active target**. Details in [Teams and
   projects](teams-and-projects).

If you're just trying it out alone, the default project is enough.

## 1. Connect AiAkiv (MCP) to your AI client

AiAkiv attaches to AI clients over **MCP** (Model Context Protocol). Once it's
attached, AiAkiv's tools show up inside the client. The main ones, by what they
do:

| Tool (role) | What it does |
|-----------|---------|
| Save | Writes a memory |
| Search | Reads memories back |
| Check target | Shows where saving currently goes |
| Fetch full text | Pulls the original text of an event found by search |

How you connect differs per client → see the **playbook**. (The actual tool call
names are listed in [For AI agents](for-ai-agents).)

### Letting your AI attach it (MCP registry)

AiAkiv is listed in the official MCP registry
(`registry.modelcontextprotocol.io`) as **`com.aiakiv/memory`**. If your client
can search the registry, look up `aiakiv` or `memory` and let it register the
connection itself, meaning you don't have to copy the address by hand. You
still approve one sign-in afterwards.

> **This doesn't work in ChatGPT.** The ChatGPT app can't search the registry,
> can't write MCP settings itself, and, decisively, **can't open our sign-in
> window** (it receives the "authentication required" response and then tells
> you to put a token in an environment variable). In ChatGPT you add the address
> under Settings → Connectors, and if there's no sign-in option you paste a
> project API key issued from the console. Full steps in the playbook.
>
> What the two methods differ in, when to use which, and how to handle a key:
> [Authentication](auth).

## 2. First save: you command it with `ak`

AiAkiv **does not save just anything.** It saves **only when you explicitly
command it with `ak`**. Simply saying "remember this" won't do it: that's the
guard that keeps stray chatter out of your graph.

```
ak save this: we're switching the combat system from real-time to turn-based.
Reason: web input latency and a mismatch with roguelike grammar. Commit a1b2c3d.
```

The conventions that make a memory worth having (record a decision as four
parts, always call the same thing by the same name) are in [Saving](saving).

## 3. First search: just ask

```
ak how did the combat system design change?
```

AiAkiv finds related events by meaning (hybrid), and gives each result **why it
matched (reason)** and **how things connect (the link map)**. It finds things
even when no keyword overlaps.

Getting real use out of search. Narrowing by author with `@`, asking causal and
time-based questions. Is in [Searching](searching).

## Checklist

- [ ] Signed in at `app.aiakiv.com`, team and project created
- [ ] MCP connected in your client (playbook)
- [ ] Checked the active target
- [ ] Saved one memory with `ak ...`
- [ ] Found it again by searching

Once that all works, go for the mechanics → [Core concepts](core-concepts).