Install Waterbrother

Recommended user path is npm install. Source install stays available for contributors working from the private repo.

Public package: @tritard/waterbrother. Users install from npm; maintainers still have the private source repo.

User install

Install from npm

  • Node.js 18+
  • account for your chosen provider, or a local runtime such as Ollama
  • rg (ripgrep) if you want fastest local search tools
npm install -g @tritard/waterbrother

Public install is live on npm. Contributor/source installs remain available for local development and debugging.

Contributor source install

git clone https://github.com/PhillipHolland/waterbrother.git
cd waterbrother
npm install
npm link

First launch onboarding

waterbrother --approval on-request

On first launch the CLI asks for provider, API key when required, model, and profile. BYOM works across hosted providers and local OpenAI-compatible endpoints.

Update later

waterbrother update

npm installs update through npm automatically. Source clones still use git pull + npm install + npm run check.

Optional MCP setup

waterbrother config set-json mcpServers '{"filesystem":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem","."]}}' --scope project
waterbrother mcp list

Manual key setup (optional)

waterbrother config set provider openai
waterbrother config set apiKey YOUR_PROVIDER_API_KEY