Installing

Two routes, and they end up in the same place. Pick either.

A. One command, from a terminal

npm install -g eklavya && eklavya install

That one line gives you both halves: the eklavya command on your PATH, and the install it then runs. If you would rather not install anything globally, npx eklavya install does the same setup — but leaves no eklavya command behind, so eklavya doctor and eklavya dashboard will not exist afterwards.

That does the whole job, in this order:

1. Checks your Node version

   Stops with upgrade instructions if it is older than 22, rather than half-installing and failing later. If you need to upgrade first:

   macOS

   brew install node

   Windows

   winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS

   Linux (nvm)

   nvm install 22 && nvm use 22

2. Installs the runtime

   The server, the hooks and the SQLite driver go into ~/.eklavya/runtime. This is the step that downloads the ready-compiled database binary for your platform. It then loads it once to prove it actually works, instead of trusting that npm exiting cleanly meant a working binary.

3. Installs and enables the plugin

   Copies the plugin into Claude Code’s plugin directory and registers it, which is the same end state /plugin install produces. If you first added Eklavya with /plugin marketplace add, that directory is a git clone rather than a copy — so this fast-forwards it with a pull instead of overwriting it, and says which it did. A clone with uncommitted changes in it is left exactly as it is.

4. Installs the chat skill

   A single file at ~/.claude/skills/eklavya/SKILL.md. It is what lets you change Eklavya by asking in plain English instead of remembering a slash command — see below. It is installed for your user account, not for the plugin, so it keeps working in projects where the plugin is not enabled. If a skill of your own is already at that path, this step says so and leaves it alone.

5. Creates the database

   ~/.eklavya/knowledge.db, migrated and seeded, so eklavya doctor works before you have opened Claude Code even once.

Then restart Claude Code and run /eklavya:setup to choose a mode. Running eklavya install again is how you upgrade — every step is safe to repeat, and it will not disturb your other plugins or your learning history.

B. In Claude Code, through the plugin marketplace

If you would rather not touch a terminal:

1. Add the marketplace

   /plugin marketplace add ProjectAJ14/eklavya

   A marketplace is a list of plugins Claude Code is allowed to install from. This one points at the Eklavya GitHub repository. You should see a confirmation naming the marketplace eklavya.

2. Install the plugin

   /plugin install eklavya@eklavya

   The part before the @ is the plugin, the part after is the marketplace it comes from — they happen to share a name. Claude Code downloads the plugin and registers its MCP server, its six hooks and its eight slash commands.

3. Restart Claude Code

   Hooks and MCP servers are wired up when a session starts, so the session you installed from will not have them. Quit and reopen.

4. Run first-time setup

   /eklavya:setup

   This checks your prerequisites, creates the database, and asks you two short questions. The next section walks through it.

Note

What route B does differently. A slash command cannot run npm or write outside the plugin, so this route installs the plugin files but not the runtime and not the chat skill. Your first session starts that download in the background and carries on as normal; the questions begin from the session after it finishes, and the slash commands work throughout. Route A does both up front instead. If you would rather not wait — or you want to change Eklavya by asking rather than by command — run npx eklavya install at any point. It finishes the job and is safe to run over an existing install: the plugin files here are a git clone, and it pulls that clone rather than overwriting it.

Check that it worked

Run /plugin and confirm eklavya is listed with no errors. The first thing a healthy session prints is a one-line learner profile, like this:

Session start

[Eklavya] No learning history yet. Mode: ambient. Focus: concept. Cadence: interleaved. Level: easy (0/100 on this project).

If you see that line, you are done. If you see nothing at all, jump to Troubleshooting.

C. From a checkout (contributors)

Use this when you are changing Eklavya itself and want your edits to take effect immediately.

git clone https://github.com/ProjectAJ14/eklavya.git
cd eklavya/mcp
npm install        # approve the better-sqlite3 build script if npm asks
npm run build
cd ..
claude --plugin-dir "$(pwd)"

--plugin-dir tells Claude Code to load the plugin from a folder instead of a marketplace, and sets CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT so the MCP server can find itself. Use it rather than relying on the repository’s .mcp.json as project config, which has no plugin root to expand. The launcher prefers your local mcp/dist/ build when one exists, so a rebuild is all it takes to see a change.

Uninstalling

npx eklavya uninstall           # removes the plugin and skill, keeps your history
npx eklavya uninstall --purge   # removes ~/.eklavya as well

Without --purge your knowledge graph stays at ~/.eklavya/knowledge.db, so reinstalling picks up exactly where you left off. That is deliberate: months of spaced repetition should not disappear because you removed a plugin.

The eklavya command

Some things — checking your setup, serving the dashboard, editing config from a terminal — are done with a small CLI rather than a slash command. Route A above installs it. If you took route B, or used npx, add it whenever you want it:

npm install -g eklavya     # then: eklavya doctor

Full list of subcommands: The eklavya CLI.