Installation

Get skope running and connected to Claude in under two minutes.

skope is local-first and key-less by default. Your profile and the article ledger live in a single SQLite file at ~/.skope/skope.db. Nothing leaves your machine unless Claude searches the web for you.

Install

npm install -g @evan-moon/skope

This installs the skope CLI (the safety net) and the bundled skope-mcp server (where the analysis lives).

Connect to Claude

skope mcp install

This registers skope with both Claude Desktop and Claude Code by writing the MCP server entry into their config files. Restart Claude Desktop to activate; Claude Code picks it up on the next session.

Connect to Claude Desktop manually

If you'd rather edit the config yourself, add skope to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skope": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["<path to the bundled skope-mcp.js>"]
    }
  }
}

skope mcp install resolves that path for you, so the command above is the recommended route.

Create a profile

skope needs an interest profile before it can score anything. The fastest path is to let Claude build it — just ask, and Claude calls update_profile for you, optionally federating from firma (assets) or memex (memory).

For a no-LLM cold start, the CLI seeds one from your location:

skope init --location "Seoul, Korea" --languages ko,en

See the CLI Reference for the full command set.

What gets created

~/.skope/
  skope.db        — profile, article ledger, read log (SQLite)
  config.json     — optional Tavily key for scan_news

Optional: a Tavily key

skope's primary collection path (ingest_news) needs no key — Claude searches the web itself. You only need a Tavily key for the scan_news fallback, used by clients without their own web search:

skope config set tavily-key tvly-xxxxxxxx

Next steps