Quickstart

Goal: Me Write Code installed, authenticated, first prompt answered. Target time: 30 seconds.

1. Install

npm install -g @zhachory1/mewrite-code

Requires Node.js 20+. Other options (Homebrew, Docker, manual binary) are documented in Install.

Verify:

mewrite --version

2. Authenticate

Pick one of these. Me Write Code detects which keys you already have in your environment.

Anthropic API key

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

OpenAI API key

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Claude Pro / ChatGPT Plus / Copilot / Gemini

mewrite
# inside the TUI:
/login

The OAuth flow opens a browser and stores credentials in ~/.mewrite/agent/auth.json with user-only file permissions.

See the full Auth & Providers page for the 20+ supported backends.

3. First prompt

mewrite "explain this codebase"

Or open the interactive TUI:

mewrite

Type a prompt and the agent responds. Type /help for the full slash-command list.

What just happened

1. npm installed the @zhachory1/mewrite-code package globally, registering mewrite, mewritecode, and mewrite-code commands.
2. On first launch, the wizard ran and persisted your choices to ~/.mewrite/agent/settings.json.
3. Caveman Mode compression is on by default. Tool output (bash, grep, file reads) is summarized before re-entering context.

Common next steps

Task	Command / link
Continue your last session	mewrite -c
Browse and resume past sessions	mewrite -r
Pipe stdin to the agent	cat README.md | mewrite -p "review"
Switch model mid-session	/model claude-sonnet-4
Fork session to try a different path	/fork
Run in plan-only mode	/plan (slash command in TUI)
Migrate from Claude Code	Migration guide

Troubleshooting

• mewrite: command not found after install — restart your shell, or check that the npm global bin dir is on your PATH (npm config get prefix).
• Wizard didn't appear — delete ~/.mewrite/agent/settings.json and run mewrite again.
• Auth fails on Linux — install libsecret (apt install libsecret-1-0 on Debian/Ubuntu) or use API keys via env.

More: Troubleshooting.