# Istok

> Istok is a local CLI, MCP server and web UI that keeps coding-agent work with your project instead of inside a conversation: tasks, runs, validations, context and knowledge live in a local SQLite database, so work survives across sessions and between agents.

Install with `curl -fsSL https://get.istok.sh | sh`, run `istok init` in a repository, connect an agent to `istok mcp` and open `istok ui` to watch the work.

## Getting started

- [What is Istok](https://istok.sh/docs/en/getting-started/introduction): Istok keeps your coding agent's tasks, attempts and proof with the project, so work survives the end of a session.
- [Quick start](https://istok.sh/docs/en/getting-started/quick-start): Install Istok, connect your coding agent, and watch it record its first task in about five minutes.
- [Installation](https://istok.sh/docs/en/getting-started/installation): Install, verify, update and remove the istok binary, or build it from source.

## Using Istok

- [Working with your agent](https://istok.sh/docs/en/guides/working-with-agents): What to say to your coding agent in everyday situations, and what Istok records each time.
- [Web UI](https://istok.sh/docs/en/guides/web-ui): Open Istok in the browser to see projects, tasks, runs, validations, and the context an agent received.
- [Project rules and knowledge](https://istok.sh/docs/en/guides/rules-and-knowledge): Save the rules and documentation your agents should know, control when they receive them, and check what an agent actually saw.
- [Several agents, one project](https://istok.sh/docs/en/guides/multiple-agents): Give each agent its own identity, hand work between them, and deal with runs an agent left behind.
- [Updates and the UI service](https://istok.sh/docs/en/guides/updates-and-service): Update Istok safely, keep the web UI running in the background on Linux and macOS, and know what restarts when.
- [Moving projects to another device](https://istok.sh/docs/en/guides/another-device): Export projects from one machine and import them on another, then bind the repository folder there.

## How Istok works

- [Projects](https://istok.sh/docs/en/how-istok-works/projects): How Istok ties tasks, runs, and project memory to a repository, and where that data lives.
- [Tasks and runs](https://istok.sh/docs/en/how-istok-works/tasks-and-runs): How Istok separates the work to be done from each attempt to do it, and what happens when an agent session ends mid-task.
- [Validation](https://istok.sh/docs/en/how-istok-works/validation): How Istok turns "tests pass" from a sentence in the chat into recorded evidence attached to the work.
- [Context and knowledge](https://istok.sh/docs/en/how-istok-works/context-and-knowledge): What an agent receives when it starts a task, how Istok keeps that bounded, and how longer project knowledge is reviewed and pulled on demand.

## Reference

- [CLI overview](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/cli-overview): The istok commands, how they find the current project, and options shared by most of them.
- [istok project](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/project): Show, list, rename, rebind, delete, and restore Istok projects. Also covers istok init.
- [istok task](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/task): Create, list, show, comment on, claim, and complete tasks, and manage their dependencies.
- [istok run](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/run): List and inspect runs, execute and validate commands inside a run, and finish, recover, or abandon an attempt.
- [istok context](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/context): Add, list, show, search, update, enable, disable, and archive saved context, and preview or diagnose what runs receive.
- [istok knowledge](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/knowledge): Create, distill, search, read, review, promote, supersede, and export project knowledge.
- [istok index, search and graph](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/index-search-graph): Inspect and rebuild the local code index, search repository content, and explore symbols and their relationships.
- [istok ui](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/ui): Serve the local web UI and run it as a background service on Linux and macOS.
- [MCP tools](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/mcp): The istok mcp server, its flags, actor identity, project scope, profiles, and the tools it exposes to coding agents.
- [Configuration](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/configuration): Environment variables, data locations, file permissions, the web UI port, and backups.
- [JSON output](https://istok.sh/docs/en/reference/json-output): Versioned JSON results for scripts and integrations, with schema versions, identities, revisions, and errors.

## Help

- [Troubleshooting](https://istok.sh/docs/en/help/troubleshooting): Find your symptom, see why it happens, and fix it.
- [FAQ](https://istok.sh/docs/en/help/faq): Short answers to common questions about Istok.

## Optional

- [Full documentation in one file](https://istok.sh/llms-full.txt)