index1 2.0.1

AI-native project knowledge base

index1

English | 中文

AI-native project knowledge base. BM25 + vector hybrid search, < 200ms response.

index1 tested in real-world Claude grep! Comparison of index1 + Claude grep vs Claude grep only:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b689b0bb-b767-4fc8-9055-cc3ae872559e

Install

One-click (recommended):

# macOS / Linux
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gladego/index1/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gladego/index1/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

The script auto-detects Python, installs via pipx, sets up Ollama, and creates default config.

Manual install:

pipx install index1    # recommended
# or: pip install index1

Note: macOS blocks global pip install by default. Use pipx instead:

• macOS: brew install pipx
• Linux: pip install --user pipx && pipx ensurepath
• Windows: scoop install pipx or pip install --user pipx

Quick Start

ollama pull nomic-embed-text      # optional, for semantic search
index1 index ./docs ./src
index1 search "how to use the liquidation API"

Ollama is optional. Without it, index1 falls back to BM25-only search.

AI Tool Integration

Claude Code

Add .mcp.json to your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "index1": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "index1",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code — five docs_* tools will be available (docs_search, docs_get, docs_status, docs_reindex, docs_config).

Full setup guide: Claude Code integration — MCP config, search strategy, CLAUDE.md setup, context-saving tips

Other AI Tools (OpenClaw, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline...)

MCP-compatible tools: Add the same config above to your tool's MCP settings.

CLI mode (works with any tool):

index1 search "how does authentication work"
index1 get <chunk_id>

Full setup guide: Other AI agents integration — per-tool config, CLI usage, Web UI

Ollama (recommended)

# macOS
brew install ollama && ollama pull nomic-embed-text

# Linux
curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh && ollama pull nomic-embed-text

# Windows — download from https://ollama.ai/download, then:
ollama pull nomic-embed-text

Model	Dim	Disk	RAM	Best for
all-minilm	384	~45 MB	~250 MB	English, low-resource machines
nomic-embed-text (default)	768	~270 MB	~500 MB	English + Chinese, general use
bge-m3	1024	~1.2 GB	~1.2 GB	Chinese-optimized, 100+ languages

Without Ollama, index1 falls back to BM25-only search (no semantic/cross-language support).

CLI Commands

index1 index <paths...>          # Index files/directories
index1 search <query>            # Hybrid search
index1 status                    # View index statistics
index1 config [key] [value]      # View/modify configuration
index1 serve                     # Start MCP Server (stdio)
index1 web                       # Start Web UI (port 6888)

Supported File Types

.md .markdown .py .rs .js .ts .jsx .tsx .txt

Each type uses structure-aware chunking: headings for Markdown, AST for Python, regex patterns for Rust/JS/TS.

Configuration

Config file: ~/.claude-index1/config.yaml

embedding_model: nomic-embed-text   # Ollama model
embedding_dim: 768
ollama_url: http://localhost:11434
top_k: 10                           # Results per query
collection: default                 # Namespace isolation

Project-level override: .index1.yaml in project root.

Architecture

Claude Code ──► MCP Server (stdio)
                    │
CLI ────────────► Query Engine ──► SQLite
                    │               ├── FTS5 (BM25)
Web UI ─────────┘   │               └── sqlite-vec (vector)
                    │
              Ollama Embedding

• Storage: Single SQLite file (~/.claude-index1/knowledge.db)
• Search: BM25 + vector with Reciprocal Rank Fusion (k=60)
• Chunking: Structure-aware splitting by file type

Performance

Mode	Cold	Hot (cached)
Hybrid (BM25 + Vector)	40–180 ms	< 1 ms
BM25-only (no Ollama)	~35 ms*	< 1 ms
Grep/Glob (native)	4 ms	N/A

* After first query. First cold query without Ollama takes ~1s due to connection timeout, then result is cached for 60s.

Without Ollama: 6–8x slower cold start, Chinese semantic search returns 0 results, no cross-language support.

Context savings: index1 returns top-k ranked results (~400–500 tokens) vs Grep returning all matches (~5,000–35,000 tokens for common keywords). Saves 90–99% of LLM context window on broad queries.

Full benchmark and integration guides:

• Benchmark: index1 vs native tools (中文)
• Claude Code integration — MCP config, search strategy, CLAUDE.md setup, context-saving tips
• Other AI agents integration — Windsurf, Cline, CLI, Web UI
• OpenClaw integration | Cursor integration

FAQ

Ollama is not running / not installed? index1 automatically falls back to BM25-only keyword search. However, this comes with significant penalties:

• 6–8x slower cold queries (connection timeout overhead)
• 0 results for Chinese/Japanese/Korean semantic queries
• No cross-language search (Chinese query → English code)

We strongly recommend installing Ollama:

# macOS
brew install ollama
ollama pull nomic-embed-text

# Linux
curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh
ollama pull nomic-embed-text

# Windows
# Download from https://ollama.ai/download, then:
ollama pull nomic-embed-text

Ollama runs locally on port 11434 (configurable). All data stays on your machine.

Resource comparison — with vs without Ollama:

	Without Ollama	With Ollama (nomic-embed-text)
Disk	0	~270 MB (model file)
RAM	0	~500 MB (while running)
Cold query	~1s (timeout) → ~35ms (cached)	40–180 ms
CJK search	0 results	Full semantic search
Cross-language	Not supported	Supported
Search mode	BM25 keyword only	BM25 + vector hybrid

Ollama only uses RAM while running. If you stop ollama serve, RAM is fully released. Disk usage depends on the model — all-minilm is only ~45 MB for machines with limited storage.

How to switch embedding models?

index1 config embedding_model <model-name>
index1 index --force ./docs ./src   # Rebuild index with new model

Can I use multiple projects? Yes. Use --collection to isolate namespaces:

index1 index ./project-a -c proj_a
index1 index ./project-b -c proj_b
index1 search "query" -c proj_a

Where is the database stored? Default: ~/.claude-index1/knowledge.db. Override via index1 config db_path /custom/path.db or set INDEX1_HOME environment variable.

Migrating from older versions?

mv ~/.index1 ~/.claude-index1

How to rebuild the index?

index1 index --force ./docs ./src

How to monitor file changes?

index1 watch ./docs ./src

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/gladego/index1.git
cd index1
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

PRs welcome. Please ensure pytest passes before submitting.

Changelog

v0.1.0

• BM25 + vector hybrid search with RRF fusion
• Structure-aware chunking (Markdown, Python, Rust, JS/TS)
• MCP Server with 5 tools for Claude Code integration
• Web UI with Atom Core animated logo
• L1/L2 query cache (10min TTL)
• File watcher for auto-reindex
• Optional rerank with cosine similarity
• One-click install script

Requirements

• Python >= 3.10
• macOS / Linux / Windows
• Ollama (optional, for semantic search)

License

Apache 2.0