Install Polaris

Get semantic search for your coding agent in under a minute. One command installs the binary, one command wires up your project.

1. Install the binary

The one-line installer downloads the latest release for your platform (macOS, Linux, or Windows) and places the polaris binary on your PATH.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/girard-g/polaris/main/install.sh | bash

Already installed? Run polaris update to upgrade in place. The first run downloads the embedding model (~137 MB) to a shared cache.

Installing Polaris Pro

Pro is a different binary, and the installer above does not install it. It installs free, over Pro, under the same name. If you have a license, use this instead:

curl -fsSL https://polarismcp.com/pro-install.sh | bash -s <your-license-key>

Your key is on the activation page you land on right after checkout, which shows this command with the key already filled in. Lost it? Recover your key with the POLARIS_RECOVERY key from your customer portal. The script verifies the download, installs it, and activates your license in one go.

2. Set up your project

Run polaris setup in your project root. It auto-configures everything your agent needs:

  • .mcp.json: points your agent at the Polaris MCP server
  • .gitignore: excludes the database file
  • CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / GEMINI.md: adds a nudge telling agents to prefer polaris.search over grep
  • .claude/settings.json: installs a PostToolUse hook that reindexes docs automatically on every edit (learn more)
polaris setup            # wire into current project
polaris index ./docs     # index your markdown
polaris serve            # MCP server for Claude Code / Cursor / Codex

3. The MCP config

polaris setup writes this to .mcp.json. Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex all discover the MCP server through this file automatically.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "polaris": {
      "command": "/path/to/polaris",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Supported agents

Polaris works with any MCP-compatible coding agent. Tested and documented for:

  • Claude Code: auto-setup with auto-index and optional auto-search hooks
  • Cursor: discovered via .mcp.json, zero config
  • Codex: stdio MCP, AGENTS.md nudge written automatically

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