OpenKnowledge — what it is and how to install it

OpenKnowledge (OK) is a markdown-CRDT collaboration platform. It turns a directory of .md / .mdx files into a live, multi-writer knowledge base: agents and humans edit the same documents in real time, every change is attributed, and a browser preview renders edits as they land.

This skill covers discovery, install, and opening OpenKnowledge files — including single files that are not part of a project (see Opening a file outside a project below). It does not carry the in-project read/write runtime contract (the STOP rules for native file tools, the grounding and linking rules, the MCP routing table) — that ships separately as the project-local skill installed by ok init (see Working inside a project below).

Install OpenKnowledge on a repository

Run ok init from the repository root:

npx @inkeep/open-knowledge init
# or, after a global install:
npm install -g @inkeep/open-knowledge
ok init

ok init is the one setup verb. It:

• scaffolds a .ok/ directory (project config — content.dir defaults to .);
• wires the OpenKnowledge MCP server into detected editors (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) — skip with --no-mcp;
• installs the project-local runtime skill at .claude/skills/open-knowledge/ and .cursor/skills/open-knowledge/ so agents working in this repo get the full read/write contract;
• ensures the project has a .git/.

Re-run ok init any time to refresh wiring and skills to the installed CLI version.

Share an OpenKnowledge project with collaborators

An OK project travels with its repository. To share one:

1. Commit the .ok/ directory and the project-local .claude/skills/open-knowledge/ (and .cursor/skills/open-knowledge/) directories along with your .md content.
2. Collaborators clone the repo and run ok init once — that registers the MCP server on their machine and refreshes the project skill.
3. Start the editor + preview with ok start (or open the project in OK Desktop).

Collaboration is real-time once two writers have the project open against the same content directory.

ok cowork — Claude Chat & Cowork

ok init's editor wiring does not reach Claude Chat or Cowork — those read a separate Skills list inside the Claude Desktop App. Run ok cowork to build openknowledge.skill and open Claude Desktop so the user can upload it (Customize → Skills → + → Create skill → Upload skill).

OK Desktop

OK Desktop is the standalone macOS app (@inkeep/open-knowledge-desktop). It bundles its own CLI, opens a project as an editor + preview window, and keeps the project's MCP wiring and skills current on every launch. Download DMGs from the releases page.

Opening a file outside a project

OpenKnowledge can open a single markdown file that is not part of an OK project — a loose .md / .mdx, or a file that lives inside a regular repo/folder which was never ok init'd. It opens in a throwaway session (a temp project in the OS temp dir — your repo is never touched, no .ok/ is written into it) with the same live preview you get inside a project.

Never run ok init just to view or open a file. ok init turns a repo into a shared OpenKnowledge project; it is not a prerequisite for opening one file. Opening a file needs no project, no .ok/, and no server already running — each path below boots the session itself.

When asked to open or preview such a file, decide by the viewing surface you actually have — check the tool, not the host name. Only open a browser when you genuinely have one; never pop a browser tab on a host that has none.

• You have an in-app / built-in browser (Cursor, Codex, and similar) — this is the default: call the preview_url MCP tool with file set to the absolute path (it finds, or boots on demand, the session and returns a full url), then immediately open that url in your in-app browser. "Open it" means navigate your browser — don't just print the URL and stop. This is also the only way to view it in a browser when the OK Desktop app is installed (ok open prefers the Desktop app). Get the URL from preview_url only — never hunt for it via ok ps / ok status / ok ui / ok start or a guessed port.
• You have a Claude Code Desktop preview pane but no general browser — the pane is project-only: it shows in-project docs via preview_start, but it cannot host a file from outside the project. For such a file run ok open /abs/path/to/file.md (the Desktop app) instead; don't try to force the file into the pane.
• No in-app browser and no pane (a pure-stdio CLI) — run ok open /abs/path/to/file.md: it opens the Desktop app when installed, else a browser, and boots the session itself. Don't force a browser tab the user didn't ask for; ok open is the right default here. If ok isn't on PATH, npx @inkeep/open-knowledge open /abs/path/to/file.md does the same.

If the OK MCP server isn't wired into this host there is no preview_url to call — use the ok open path above. Don't reconstruct what preview_url does by hand (spawning ok mcp yourself, scraping ports from ok ps).

The path must be absolute (a file outside a project has no cwd to anchor a relative path). Re-opening the same file lands on the same session. Never construct or guess the URL — use the one preview_url returns.

Working inside a project — use the project-local skill, not this one

Do not use this skill to perform OpenKnowledge reads or writes. The runtime contract — STOP rules for native file tools on in-scope markdown, the preview-attach handshake, grounding and linking rules, the MCP tool routing table — lives in a separate project-local skill installed at .claude/skills/open-knowledge/SKILL.md whenever ok init runs.

If the user is editing markdown inside a project that has a .ok/ directory and this discovery skill is the only OpenKnowledge skill loaded, the project-local skill is missing (the repo was never ok init'd, or the skill directory was not committed). Advise the user to run ok init to install it.

Learn more

• Repository: https://github.com/inkeep/open-knowledge
• Run ok --help for the full command list.