Set up your own Cerebro
Chapter 8 of Ctrl Alt Ai argues that an AI assistant is far more useful when it has a memory system. This page is the fastest way to give yours one.
Run one command. Answer two questions. The vault builds itself.
On a Mac or a Linux machine
Open a terminal and paste this:
curl -fsSL https://nathanphinney.com/rag/install.sh | bashOn Windows
Open PowerShell and paste this:
iwr -useb https://nathanphinney.com/rag/install.ps1 | iexWhat happens
The installer puts git, Python, and Node on your machine if they are not already there, installs Claude Code, and opens Claude Code with the setup prompt already loaded. Claude asks where to put the vault (press return for ~/cerebro) and your first name. Answer those and the vault builds itself: folders for people, companies, projects, meetings, and notes; a CLAUDE.md file holding the rules the agent will follow; one script that catches broken links and missing metadata; and a skill that makes future Claude Code sessions, anywhere on your machine, treat any sentence that names a person or a company as something worth capturing.
Your first test
Open a new Claude Code session anywhere on your machine. Say something ordinary about someone you work with: a name, where they work, what they do. Do not ask Claude to save it. Just say it. Then ask what it knows about them. Read what comes back. Correct what is wrong, in the vault, not in your own head. A month later the corrections will have stuck, and the vault will be, quietly, yours.
The files behind this page
If you prefer to read the three installers before you run anything:
install.sh, the installer for Mac and Linuxinstall.ps1, the installer for Windowsprompt.txt, the setup instructions Claude Code follows after it launches