#me init
Configure Memory Engine's machine-local harness policy.
#Usage
me init
me init <directory> [surface options]
me init --defaults [surface options]
me init --verbose
me init writes only your local Memory Engine configuration. It never writes a
repository file. If login is needed, it stores its OAuth session using the
normal me login credential handling. A directory profile applies to that
directory and its descendants; --defaults applies when no directory profile
matches.
#Quick setup
Run me init in an interactive terminal for the common setup. It is equivalent
to me init .: it configures the current directory, helps you sign in when
needed, selects your only space automatically (or defaults the picker to your
active space), and enables MCP plus harness-shell CLI routing for every detected
coding-agent harness. It uses https://api.memory.build unless ME_SERVER or
--server supplies a different server.
Quick setup asks whether session capture should be available. Capture is off by
default. If enabled, its tree defaults to /share/projects/<repository>; enter
~/projects/<repository> instead to keep captured sessions private. It also
offers to install missing detected harness integrations. Declining leaves the
profile ready for a later me install <harness>.
On success, me init prints the machine-local config path it updated and points
to me init --verbose for advanced setup.
See Harness Integrations for installation, uninstallation, configuration storage, and runtime policy details.
#Verbose setup
Use me init --verbose to configure a profile step by step. The verbose wizard
asks whether to configure the current directory or fallback defaults, helps you
sign in when needed, offers to install detected harness integrations, and then
configures MCP, capture, and harness-shell CLI routing independently. If you
have no spaces, it can create a personal space; ordinary space pickers list
existing spaces only. me init --defaults also uses this full wizard.
The interactive wizard asks before replacing an existing profile. Flag-based
invocations are deterministic and replace the selected profile directly. The
resulting profile always contains explicit disabled surfaces, so a directory
profile never inherits an omitted surface from defaults.
Enable a surface by supplying its server and one or more selected harnesses:
me init . \
--mcp-server https://api.memory.build \
--mcp-harness claude \
--capture-server https://api.memory.build \
--capture-space abc123def456 \
--capture-tree /share/projects/demo \
--capture-harness claude
On a TTY, supplying surface flags without a scope prompts only for the scope; the flags remain the complete, deterministic profile input. In a non-interactive shell, supply explicit surface flags; quick setup requires an interactive terminal.
Available surfaces:
- MCP:
--mcp-server,--mcp-spaceor--mcp-multi-space, and repeatable--mcp-harness. - Capture:
--capture-server,--capture-space, directory--capture-treeor defaults--capture-tree-root, and repeatable--capture-harness. A defaults capture profile uses a per-project slug beneathtree_root. - Harness-shell CLI targeting:
--cli-server, optional--cli-space, and repeatable--cli-harness. This affects onlymecommands started by the selected harnesses, never commands you run in your own shell.
Use me doctor to inspect the profile that applies to a
directory.