Install - DuckBrain

Requirements

bun >= 1.3, duckdb >= 1.5.4, rg
macOS (Apple Silicon tested) — crawlers install from openclaw/tap via Homebrew
Linux — core works (ingest, embed, search, sync, systemd scheduling); macOS-native sources (iMessage, Apple Photos) need a Mac to crawl. On x86-64, the Lance vector leg needs a CPU with AVX2+FMA (any non-ancient VM has it).

One-line install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/autonoco/duckbrain/main/install.sh | sh

Installs bun/duckdb/ripgrep if missing (Homebrew on macOS; official bun/duckdb installers on Linux), clones the source to ~/.duckbrain/src, and links duckbrain onto your PATH. Re-run any time to update. Then:

duckbrain init && duckbrain doctor

Manual install (from your own checkout)

git clone https://github.com/autonoco/duckbrain && cd duckbrain
bun install
cd apps/duckbrain && bun link      # symlinks `duckbrain` onto your PATH
duckbrain init && duckbrain doctor

Bun executes the TypeScript directly — no build step; every git pull updates the installed CLI. Uninstall with bun unlink; data in ~/.duckbrain/ is untouched.

Data layout

~/.duckbrain/<instance>/
├── catalog.sqlite     # DuckLake catalog (WAL) — includes inlined small writes: back this up
├── lake/              # Parquet data files (system of record)
├── search.duckdb      # FTS sidecar — disposable, rebuilt by every sync
├── search.lance       # vector sidecar — disposable, rebuilt by every sync
└── state.sql          # agent surface: duckdb -init ~/.duckbrain/<instance>/state.sql