# Installation
The fastest path is the prebuilt-binary installer — no Rust toolchain, no
`protoc`, no compile. Build from source with cargo only if your platform has no
prebuilt, or you want a development checkout.
## Prebuilt binary (recommended)
Downloads a prebuilt `hallouminate` for your platform and adds it to your PATH:
```sh
Verify it:
```sh
hallouminate --version
```
Prebuilt binaries are published for each release:
| macOS, Apple Silicon | `aarch64-apple-darwin` |
| Linux, arm64 | `aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu` (glibc ≥ 2.39) |
| Linux, x86-64 | `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu` (glibc ≥ 2.39) |
Re-run the one-liner any time to upgrade to the latest release. On Intel Mac,
Windows, or an older glibc, build from source with cargo below.
## From crates.io
Builds from source, so it works on any platform with a Rust toolchain — at the
cost of compiling native dependencies (a few minutes).
### Prerequisites
- A Rust toolchain (`cargo`) — see <https://rustup.rs>.
- `protoc` (the Protocol Buffers compiler) — the `lancedb` build needs it.
- macOS: `brew install protobuf`
- Debian/Ubuntu: `apt install protobuf-compiler`
```sh
cargo install hallouminate --locked
```
The binary installs to `~/.cargo/bin/hallouminate` (make sure that's on your
PATH).
## From source
Same prerequisites as crates.io. Clone and build:
```sh
git clone https://github.com/paulnsorensen/hallouminate.git
cd hallouminate
cargo build --release
```
The binary lands in `target/release/hallouminate`.
## Register the MCP server
Point your agent at `hallouminate serve` — the stdio MCP server that exposes
the wiki tools. With Claude Code:
```sh
claude mcp add hallouminate -- hallouminate serve
```
`hallouminate serve` auto-spawns the daemon if none is running, so there's no
separate process to manage.
## Bootstrap a config
```sh
hallouminate config init # scaffold the XDG baseline config
hallouminate config validate # confirm it parses
```
See [Configuration](./config.md) for what goes in the config and how the
XDG baseline merges with a repo-layer `.hallouminate/config.toml`.
## Claude Code skill pack
A Claude Code plugin ships in this repo under
[`plugins/hallouminate`](https://github.com/paulnsorensen/hallouminate/tree/main/plugins/hallouminate).
It installs hallouminate and bootstraps your first wiki interactively:
```text
/plugin marketplace add paulnsorensen/hallouminate
/plugin install hallouminate@hallouminate
/hallouminate:install
```
`/install` installs the binary, registers the MCP server, then asks where and
how your first wiki should live (Socratic style) before scaffolding, indexing,
and committing it with git.