Archcore

System Context Platform — keeps humans and AI in sync with your system.

AI coding agents start every session with amnesia. Your architectural decisions, coding standards, past incidents, and project context are scattered across wikis, Slack threads, and tribal knowledge. Each new session means re-explaining the same things.

Archcore fixes this. It creates a .archcore/ directory in your repository — a structured, version-controlled knowledge base that AI agents read automatically:

• 10 document types — ADRs, RFCs, Rules, Guides, Plans, and more — each with purpose-built templates
• Integrates with 8 AI coding agents — Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Codex CLI, OpenCode, Roo Code, and Cline
• MCP server for real-time context injection into any LLM-powered tool
• Local-first and Git-friendly — lives in your repo, versioned with your code, shared with your team
• Cloud sync for cross-project knowledge discovery (coming soon)

Table of Contents

• Quick Start
• Installation
• How It Works
• Try It
• Commands
• AI Agent Integration
• Configuration
• Development
• Links & License

Quick Start

# Install
curl -fsSL https://archcore.ai/install.sh | bash

# Initialize in your project
cd your-project
archcore init

# Check your setup
archcore doctor

Installation

Install Script (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://archcore.ai/install.sh | bash

Go Install

go install github.com/archcore-ai/cli@latest

From Source

git clone https://github.com/archcore-ai/cli.git
cd cli
go build -o archcore .

Supported platforms: macOS, Linux, Windows — amd64 and arm64.

How It Works

1. Initialize — archcore init creates a .archcore/ directory and auto-installs MCP server config for your AI coding agent.
2. Build context — add documents through your AI agent (via MCP tools) or by hand — both work equally well.
3. Stay in sync — every agent session starts with your full project context loaded automatically.

.archcore/
├── settings.json
├── .sync-state.json
├── auth/
│   ├── jwt-strategy.adr.md
│   └── auth-redesign.prd.md
├── payments/
│   └── stripe.adr.md
└── infrastructure/
    └── migration.plan.md

The directory structure is free-form — organize documents by domain, feature, team, or any structure that fits your project. Categories are virtual, derived from the document type in the filename (slug.type.md).

Archcore CLI is best example for how it works: https://github.com/archcore-ai/cli/tree/main/.archcore

Try It

After archcore init, open your AI agent and start talking. The agent already knows your existing documents and has tools to create new ones.

"We decided to use PostgreSQL instead of MongoDB for our primary database. Record this decision."

Creates infrastructure/use-postgres.adr.md — Context, Decision, Alternatives Considered, and Consequences filled from your conversation.

"We have a team convention: always wrap errors with context using fmt.Errorf and %w. Make this a rule."

Creates backend/error-wrapping.rule.md with imperative statements, rationale, and good/bad code examples.

"Last week we had a connection pool exhaustion incident because idle connections weren't being recycled. Document this so we don't repeat it."

Creates incidents/connection-pool-exhaustion.cpat.md — root cause analysis and prevention steps.

"I need a PRD for the user notifications feature — push, email digests, and in-app alerts."

Creates notifications/user-notifications.prd.md with goals, user stories, requirements, and success metrics.

"Create an implementation plan for the notifications PRD and link them together."

Creates notifications/notifications-implementation.plan.md with phased tasks, then links it to the PRD with an implements relation.

"Quick idea: what if we added a GraphQL API alongside REST?"

Creates api/graphql-support.idea.md — lightweight capture with value assessment and possible implementation.

Document Types

Arcor has 3 fundamental layers of knowledge: Vision, Knowledge, Experience.

Type	Full Name	Category	Description
prd	Product Requirements Document	Vision	Goals, user stories, acceptance criteria, and success metrics
idea	Idea	Vision	Lightweight capture of a product or technical idea for future exploration
plan	Plan	Vision	Phased task list with acceptance criteria and dependencies
adr	Architecture Decision Record	Knowledge	Captures a finalized technical decision with context, alternatives, and consequences
rfc	Request for Comments	Knowledge	Proposes a significant change open for team review and feedback
rule	Rule	Knowledge	Coding or process standard — imperative statements with good/bad examples
guide	Guide	Knowledge	Step-by-step how-to instructions for completing a specific task
doc	Document	Knowledge	Reference documentation — lookup tables, registries, descriptive material
task-type	Task Type	Experience	Recurring workflow pattern — reusable checklist and workflow for a common task
cpat	Code Change Patterns	Experience	Root-cause analysis of a bug or incident with prevention steps

Each document is a Markdown file with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: "Use PostgreSQL for Primary Storage"
status: draft
---

## Context
...

Valid statuses: draft, accepted, rejected for all types of documents.

Document Relations

Documents can be linked with directed relations to other documents:

• related — general association
• implements — source implements what target specifies
• extends — source builds upon target
• depends_on — source requires target to proceed

Relations are stored in .sync-state.json and managed automatically by the AI agent through MCP tools.

Commands

Command	Description
archcore init	Initialize .archcore/ directory interactively
archcore doctor	Run diagnostic checks on your setup
archcore validate	Validate document structure and frontmatter
archcore config	View or modify settings
archcore hooks install	Install hooks for detected AI agents
archcore update	Update archcore to the latest version
archcore mcp	Run the MCP stdio server
archcore mcp install	Install MCP config for detected agents

Update

# Update to the latest version
archcore update

The command checks GitHub Releases for a newer version, downloads it, verifies the SHA-256 checksum, and atomically replaces the current binary.

Examples

# Install integrations for a specific agent
archcore hooks install --agent cursor
archcore mcp install --agent gemini-cli

AI Agent Integration

Archcore integrates with AI coding agents in two ways:

• Hooks inject context at session start, so the agent is aware of your .archcore/ documents from the first message.
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) gives the agent tools to list, read, create, update, and link documents in real time.

Supported Agents

Agent	Hooks	MCP
Claude Code	yes	yes
Cursor	yes	yes
Gemini CLI	yes	yes
GitHub Copilot	yes	yes
OpenCode	—	yes
Codex CLI	—	yes
Roo Code	—	yes
Cline	—	manual

Install Integrations

# Auto-detect agents in your project and install everything
archcore hooks install

# Or target a specific agent
archcore mcp install --agent opencode

Configuration

Settings are stored in .archcore/settings.json and created during archcore init.

Field	Description	Values
sync	Sync mode. Cloud and on-prem coming soon.	none (local only), cloud, on-prem
language	Documents language. Helps the agent understand in which language to generate documentation	String, defaults to en

archcore config                              # show all settings
archcore config get <key>                    # get a specific value
archcore config set <key> <value>            # set a value

Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+

Build & Test

# Build
go build -o archcore .

# Run all tests
go test ./...

# Run a specific package
go test ./cmd/

# Run a single test
go test ./cmd/ -run TestConfigCmd

Project Structure

├── cmd/              # Cobra commands (init, doctor, config, validate, hooks, mcp, ...)
├── internal/
│   ├── agents/       # 8 supported AI agents with hooks/MCP capabilities
│   ├── api/          # HTTP client for archcore server
│   ├── config/       # Settings management and directory init
│   ├── display/      # Terminal output formatting (lipgloss)
│   ├── update/       # Self-update logic (version check, download, verify, replace)
│   ├── mcp/          # MCP stdio server implementation
│   └── sync/         # Sync logic
├── templates/        # 10 document type templates
├── install.sh        # Install script
└── .goreleaser.yaml  # Release configuration

Links & License

• Website: archcore.ai
• Issues: github.com/archcore-ai/cli/issues
• License: Apache 2.0