Getting Started

Installation

Install the intentdocs CLI globally or run it with npx, then authenticate with intent login.

Install the CLI

The intent command ships as the npm package intentdocs.

npm install -g intentdocs

This installs the intent command globally. Alternatively, run it without installing anything:

npx intentdocs init

Every example on this site uses the installed intent form — substitute npx intentdocs if you'd rather not install globally.

Requirements

• Node.js 20 or later.
• An intentdocs.com account (free to create).

Log in

intent login

This opens your browser to authenticate and is a one-time step per machine. It creates a pending authorization request, waits for you to approve it in the browser, and stores a token locally once approved. intent login exits with an error if you're already logged in — run intent logout first to switch accounts.

intent logout

Logs out and removes the stored token.

Bring your own Anthropic key (optional)

Several commands — intent complexity, intent research, intent import, and intent implement --stub — call Claude to do their analysis. These are gated to the Builder plan by default, but you can unlock them on any plan by supplying your own Anthropic API key:

intent keys set       # paste your key, or omit it to be prompted
intent keys status    # check whether a key is configured (masked)
intent keys remove    # remove it — AI features fall back to your plan's limits

Your key is encrypted at rest.

Next

Continue to Creating a project to start a new idea from scratch, or jump to Connecting a repo if you already have a project and story map on intentdocs.com.