Quickstart
Four steps take you from nothing to your first answer. You need a computer and a folder you want to work in.
Sign in
Open vinculum.run and go to the sign-in page. Choose continue with passkey, email me a code instead, continue with google or continue with github. A first-time visitor gets an account in the same step.
The first screen after that is Choose a username. It becomes your dashboard's address. The box starts with one taken from your GitHub login or your email, and you can change it: lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores.
Vinculum runs on your own computer, so the next screen asks you to put the app on it. It shows a download button for your system.
No download button? There isn't a desktop build for every system yet. The same screen shows a one-line install for Linux and macOS that works without the app, over SSH too. Run it in a terminal on that computer. It prints a short code. Approve it from any browser (a phone works) and the page moves on.
No computer to put it on right now? Press Skip for now. The next screen gives you a link to add to an AI client you already use, such as Claude.ai, and the one after it lets you try it. The rest of this page needs the app, so come back to them when you have a computer.
Install the app and sign in on your computer
Install the app and open it. The first window explains the small background helper the app installs on your computer, and asks you to press Got it.
Press Sign in. Your browser opens, and you approve this computer there. Claude Code installs itself once you are signed in. The web page you left open notices the computer on its own.
Next is Sign in to Claude. Your browser opens again. If it shows a code, paste it into the app. It skips this when Claude is already signed in on the computer.
No screen on the computer?
On a Linux or Mac machine you reach over ssh, run the install line the sign-in page shows. It prints a short code. Approve the code from any browser and the page moves on.
Pick a folder
Pick the folder you want to work in. In the app, press Choose a folder… and select it in the dialog. Vinculum offers a new project named after the folder, or one of your existing projects with that name.
The web page asks the same question as Pick the folder you want to work in. There you paste the folder's full path: it starts with / on a Mac or Linux, and with a drive letter like C:\ on Windows. Press Use this folder.
Ask in the Kitchen
When the folder is set, you land in the Kitchen. Type what you want into the box. An empty box suggests a sentence like a site for my dad's poems and his darkroom prints. Press Enter to send it.
Use your own AI tool
Already work in Claude Code, Cursor or another AI tool? You can connect it to Vinculum directly. See the connection guides.