Quick Start Guide

Get OpenDocuments running in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ (download)
• Ollama (optional, for local LLM) — download

Install

npm install -g opendocuments

Initialize

opendocuments init

The wizard will:

1. Detect your hardware and recommend an LLM
2. Auto-detect Ollama and offer to pull missing models
3. Generate opendocuments.config.ts and .env

Start the Server

opendocuments start

Open http://localhost:3000 — you'll see a chat UI, document manager, and admin dashboard.

Index Documents

# Index a local directory
opendocuments index ./docs

# Watch mode (auto-reindex on changes)
opendocuments index ./docs --watch

Or drag-and-drop files in the Web UI.

Ask Questions

# Single question
opendocuments ask "How does authentication work?"

# Interactive REPL
opendocuments ask

# With specific profile
opendocuments ask "Compare v2 vs v3 features" --profile precise

Next Steps

• Configuration — customize models, connectors, and security
• Architecture — understand the system design
• Plugin Development — create custom parsers and connectors
• Deployment — Docker and production setup
• TypeScript SDK — programmatic access