init | MACHINE-MEMORY by JFA

Prerequisites

This tool uses Bun Secrets to safely store items in your keychain and requires the userspace to have access to it.

While this is guaranteed on Windows and macOS machines, Linux users must have a compatible libsecret keychain available on the shell session.

Usage

machine-memory init (--local|--remote|--mcp)

This command creates AGENTS.md when it does not exist, or replaces the content between the machine-memory:start and machine-memory:end markers when it already exists. Everything outside those markers is preserved.

The generated block tells future agents how to scan memory, which backend to use, and how to maintain durable project context. The selected backend is written into the block so its examples stay consistent with the command you ran.

Backend selection

Exactly one flag is required:

machine-memory init --local

machine-memory init --remote

machine-memory init --mcp

Flag	Agents should use	Notes
`--local`	CLI with `--local`	SQLite at `machine-memory.db`
`--remote`	CLI with `--remote`	Shared Worker; see remote
`--mcp`	MCP tools only	No CLI required; see MCP init

For MCP-only repos without the CLI installed, use the public script instead:

curl -fsSL https://machine-memory.jfa.dev/init-mcp | bash

On Windows:

irm https://machine-memory.jfa.dev/init-mcp.ps1 | iex

Details: MCP → Init.

When to run it

Run this after changing the project’s memory workflow or backend policy. It is safe to run again: the managed block is updated in place rather than appended repeatedly.