becki

A terminal command that runs before your AI CLI. It reads your local Becki vault from the filesystem, shows a splash (vault entry count, last-ingested entry, your open threads), optionally asks "what are you working on today?", then spawns your configured AI CLI — passing the typed focus as the CLI's first prompt arg.

It never injects context into the CLI and never makes a network call. The CLI already has Becki via its own MCP connection; becki just makes the invisible memory layer visible for ten seconds and launches you in oriented.

Install (local, dogfood)

cd ~/Repos/becki-shell
npm install
npm run build
npm link        # makes `becki` available on your PATH

Then just run:

becki                 # splash → prompt → launch claude
becki --resume        # passthrough args flow to the CLI after the focus

Config

~/.becki/config.json is auto-created with defaults on first run.

| Key | Default | Description | |-----|---------|-------------| | cli | claude | CLI command to hand off to | | vault_path | ~/Documents/Becki | Local Becki vault directory to read | | show_open_threads | true | Show the open-threads list on the splash | | max_open_threads | 5 | How many open threads to list | | skip_prompt | false | Skip the "what are you working on?" prompt | | pass_focus_to_cli | true | Pass a typed focus as the CLI's first prompt arg |

Graceful degradation

becki is a launcher first. A missing/unreadable vault, a malformed config, or a non-TTY environment all degrade to a one-line warning — becki still launches the CLI. The one loud failure is a cli binary that cannot be found: it exits 127 with a clear message rather than launching nothing.

Modules

• src/config.ts — load / create / validate ~/.becki/config.json
• src/vault.ts — local vault read: entry count, last ingest, open threads
• src/splash.tsx — Ink UI: mark, vault stats, open-threads list
• src/prompt.tsx — Ink UI: the focus prompt + the App that ties it together
• src/handoff.ts — spawn the CLI, inherit the TTY, propagate the exit code
• src/cli.ts — orchestrator (config → vault → splash → handoff)
• bin/becki.js — package bin entry (shebang; delegates to dist/cli.js)