Installation

Install the 9p CLI from npm and sign in.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or newer (node --version)
• macOS or Linux: Windows is best-effort until after launch
• A 9th Protocol account, or an OpenRouter key for BYOK

Install

npm

npm install -g @9thprotocol/cli

This puts the 9p binary on your PATH:

9p --help

During private beta the package is not yet on the public npm registry. Beta users get an install line with their invite.

Sign in

9p login

This prints a short code and opens your browser. Approve the code and the CLI saves credentials to ~/.9p/auth.json with 0600 permissions.

Sign in to 9th Protocol

  code:  B4HR-R7S6
  open:  https://app.9thprotocol.com/device

Approve the code in your browser. Waiting…

✓ signed in as [e-mail] (plan: core)

On a headless machine with no browser, use 9p login --paste and supply an access token from the dashboard instead.

See Authentication for BYOK, environment variables, and how tokens refresh.

Run it

cd ~/code/your-project
9p

In a TTY this starts the full terminal UI. Add --plain for a bare REPL, which is what you want in CI or over a pipe.

Optional setup

Project memory

9p init writes a 9P.md for standing instructions, or scaffolds an Obsidian-style vault. See Memory.

Codebase map

9p map writes wiki-style notes about your codebase into the vault so later sessions navigate a map instead of re-reading files. See Vault.

MCP servers

Drop a .9p/mcp.json in the project to add any MCP server’s tools. See MCP.

Upgrading

npm install -g @9thprotocol/cli@latest

Uninstall

9p logout            # revokes the token server-side
npm uninstall -g @9thprotocol/cli
rm -rf ~/.9p         # removes memory, skills, MCP config and credentials