Installation

Requirements

• Python 3.10 or higher
• ~500MB disk space for embeddings model

Package Installation

pipuvpipx (isolated)From source

pip install contextfs

uv pip install contextfs

pipx install contextfs

git clone https://github.com/MagnetonIO/contextfs.git
cd contextfs
pip install -e .

Upgrading

pipuvuvxpipx

pip install --upgrade contextfs

uv pip install --upgrade contextfs

# uvx auto-upgrades, or force upgrade:
uvx --upgrade contextfs --help

pipx upgrade contextfs

Optional Dependencies

# Web UI support
pip install contextfs[web]

# PostgreSQL backend (enterprise)
pip install contextfs[postgres]

# Everything
pip install contextfs[all]

Verify Installation

# Check version
contextfs status

# Or use the short alias
ctx status

Claude Desktop Integration

Install ContextFS as an MCP server for Claude Desktop:

contextfs install-claude-desktop

This automatically configures Claude Desktop to use ContextFS. Restart Claude Desktop to activate.

First-Time Setup

ContextFS works out of the box with sensible defaults:

• Data stored in ~/.contextfs/
• Automatic repo detection via git
• Local embeddings (no API keys needed)

To initialize a project-specific configuration:

cd your-project
contextfs init