This quickstart guide will walk you through setting up Cipher, ByteRover’s memory-powered AI agent framework with MCP integration. Follow these steps to install Cipher, configure your agent, set up environment variables, and start using Cipher in both CLI and MCP modes.

Installation

Choose one of the following installation methods:
# Install globally
npm install -g @byterover/cipher

# Or install locally in your project
npm install @byterover/cipher

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/campfirein/cipher.git
cd cipher

# Install dependencies and build
pnpm i && pnpm run build && npm link

Docker (Alternative)

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/campfirein/cipher.git
cd cipher

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your API keys

# Start with Docker
docker-compose up --build -d

# Test
curl http://localhost:3000/health

1. Configure cipher.yml

First, you’ll need to configure your agent settings in the memAgent/cipher.yml file. This file controls your LLM provider, MCP servers, and system prompts.

Basic Configuration

Create or modify memAgent/cipher.yml with your preferred settings:
# MCP Servers (optional)
mcpServers: 
  filesystem:
    type: stdio
    command: npx
    args:
      - -y
      - '@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem'
      - .
# If you don't wanna add any mcp server, leave this like this:
# mcpServers: {}

# Choose ONLY ONE of the following LLM providers
llm:
  provider: openai
  model: gpt-4o-mini
  apiKey: $OPENAI_API_KEY
  maxIterations: 50

# System Prompt - User customizable
systemPrompt:
  enabled: true
  content: |
    You are an AI programming assistant focused on coding and reasoning tasks.

LLM Provider Options

Embedding Configuration (Optional)

If not specified, Cipher uses automatic fallback based on your LLM provider:

2. Environment Variables

Required API Keys

Based on your providers, provide an appropriate API key:

Vector Store Configuration

Choose between Qdrant, Milvus, ChromaDB, or In-Memory:

Memory Settings

💡 Heads up! All the config variables below come with sensible defaults. You only need to add them to your .env file if you want to override something—otherwise, you’re good to go!

3. Running CLI Mode and Basic Slash Commands

4. Running MCP Mode

Cipher can run as an MCP server for integration with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and other MCP-compatible clients. Aggregator mode to expose all tools (including MCP server tools from cipher.yml):

Alternative Transports

You can also run Cipher MCP server using HTTP-based transports.

5. Wrap‑Up 🎉

StepStatus
1. Installation
2. cipher.yml configuration
3. Environment variables and vector store setup
4. MCP mode setup
All set! Your Cipher agent is ready with persistent memory in CLI and MCP modes.