Install

The first useful outcome is files in your app folder. The protocol is .forgetrail/FORGETRAIL_LITE.md. Project state belongs in appledger/. See Continuity before you pick an installer.

Requires Node.js 20+ for the CLI and MCP. The Try path does not require Node. Copy Lite by hand if you want zero install.

CLI

pnpm dlx forgetrail install --lite --with-genesis-stub

npx forgetrail install --lite --with-genesis-stub works on macOS and Linux. On Windows, npm 12 npx forgetrail may fail to spawn the bin, so use pnpm dlx.

Global:

pnpm add -g forgetrail
forgetrail install --lite

That writes into the current app folder: .forgetrail/FORGETRAIL_LITE.md, hook scripts in .forgetrail/hooks/, and .cursor/hooks.json. Existing files are skipped unless you pass --force. Preview with --dry-run. Use a new empty project. Do not run it inside a clone of this methodology repo.

Then create the ledger. The agent can run these:

pnpm dlx appledger init --name "Your app name"
pnpm dlx appledger check

init writes appledger/ (manifest, profile, application record, session record) and does not overwrite existing files. Global: pnpm add -g appledger. The appledger CLI is on npm. Source: appledger repository.

MCP

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "forgetrail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "forgetrail-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

forgetrail-mcp 0.4.2 and later installs forgetrail as a dependency and reads the methodology from it, so FORGETRAIL_ROOT is optional. Set it only to use a clone or another copy. The folder must contain WORKFLOW.md and content/. forgetrail mcp cursor-config prints this block. Call ping to confirm: it reports content missing when the server cannot find the methodology, and the other tools then return an error instead of an answer. Details: MCP.

From a checkout

pnpm --dir mcp-server install
pnpm run mcp:build

Site (FilePress + this docs mount): pnpm site:dev. Redeploy: pnpm ship.

Site and docs

This documentation is forgetrail.dev/docs. Product pages live on FilePress; these docs are a path mount at /docs.