syke

name	syke
description	Local-first cross-harness memory for agents. Syke observes activity across supported harnesses, keeps a current memex in context, and gives agents `syke ask`, `syke memex`, and `syke record` for continuity across sessions.
version	0.5.10
author	saxenauts
license	AGPL-3.0-only
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["Memory","Context","Identity","Cross-Platform","Agentic-Memory"],"related_skills":[],"requires_toolsets":["terminal"]},"requires":{"bins":["syke"]},"install":[{"id":"pipx","kind":"pipx","package":"syke","bins":["syke"],"label":"Install Syke (pipx)"}]}

Syke

Read the user's memex before doing anything else. It is the current map of what is active, what changed, and where deeper evidence lives.

Canonical memex path: ~/.syke/MEMEX.md

When to Use

• syke ask: deeper timeline and evidence-backed queries
• syke memex: fastest read of the current memex
• syke record: write observations back into memory
• syke status: quick operational snapshot
• syke doctor: deeper diagnostic when setup or runtime looks wrong

Quick Reference

Command	Use	Exit 0	Exit 1
syke ask "question"	Deep memory query	Answer on stdout	Error on stderr, stdout empty
syke memex	Current memex	Memex on stdout	Error message
syke record "text"	Write observation	Confirmation	Error message
syke status	Runtime snapshot	Status on stdout	Error message
syke doctor	Health check	All OK	Issues found

Procedure

1. Read the memex already in context or call syke memex. If you need the file directly, start with ~/.syke/MEMEX.md.
2. Use syke ask when the memex is not enough.
3. Use syke record after useful work so the next session inherits it.
4. Use syke status for a quick state check.
5. Use syke doctor when setup or runtime looks wrong.

Pitfalls

• If syke ask fails, do not treat stderr as the answer. Fall back to syke memex.
• If syke ask is killed by a caller timeout, fall back to syke memex.
• Some sandboxes can read the memex but cannot open the live store. In those cases, use syke memex or the injected memex there, and run syke ask from a trusted host shell if needed.
• If the memex is empty, Syke may not be set up yet or synthesis may not have produced a useful memex.
• The background loop can lag behind the newest event. syke ask can still search the underlying timeline.

Verification

• After syke ask, check the exit code. Exit 0 means answer on stdout. Exit 1 means failure on stderr.
• After syke record, exit 0 means the observation was written.
• After setup, syke doctor confirms health.

Setup & Onboarding

If Syke is not installed or configured, guide setup first.

For humans at a terminal:

1. Install: pipx install syke (or uv tool install syke)
2. Run: syke setup
3. Follow the interactive provider, source, and daemon prompts.
4. Confirm with syke doctor.

For unattended agents, installers, and CI:

1. Run syke setup --agent.
2. Parse the JSON status, next_steps, and exit_code fields.
3. If status is "needs_runtime", install Node.js 20+ (22 LTS recommended) and rerun syke setup --agent.
4. If status is "needs_provider", configure provider auth with syke auth set <provider> --api-key <API_KEY> --use or syke auth login <provider> --use, then rerun syke setup --agent.
5. If status is "complete", stop setup work and follow the returned next_steps. Do not loop on setup.
6. If status is "failed", read the error field and fix that issue.

Common providers: anthropic, openai, azure-openai-responses, kimi-coding, openrouter. For Azure, also pass --base-url https://<resource>.openai.azure.com/openai/v1 and --model <model>.

Provider Commands

Command	What It Does
syke auth status	Show selected provider, auth source, model, and endpoint
syke auth use <name>	Switch active provider
syke auth set <name> --api-key <KEY> --use	Store credentials and make this the active provider
syke config show	Show effective config

Provider resolution: CLI --provider flag > SYKE_PROVIDER env > Pi defaultProvider in ~/.syke/pi-agent/settings.json.