Install and upgrade

For normal use, install the published Python package. It contains the prebuilt browser UI. Source development additionally needs Node.js and pnpm.

Install the application

Python 3.12+ and uv are required for this recipe:

uv tool install anchor-kb
anchor version

anchor is the CLI; anchor-mcp is the local stdio server launched by your agent client. If either command is missing from your shell, run uv tool update-shell and reopen the terminal.

Continue with the Quickstart to create an environment and project before uploading a document. Installing a package or running anchor serve alone does not configure your agent or choose a PDF extraction provider.

Optional FMU runtime

uv tool install --force 'anchor-kb[fmus]'

This adds fmpy for FMU simulation. Without the runtime, FMU tools fail closed unless you explicitly enable ANCHOR_FMU_DEMO=1. Demo results are synthetic and marked accordingly.

Install from source

Use a local checkout when you need unreleased changes. The wheel build hook requires web/dist/index.html and does not run pnpm itself. Build the frontend before installing:

git clone https://github.com/Novia-RDI-Seafaring/anchor
cd anchor
pnpm --dir web install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm --dir web build
uv tool install --force .

Source frontend builds need Node.js 20+ and pnpm 10. If pnpm is not on PATH, use corepack pnpm@10 or npx pnpm@10 in place of pnpm. For example:

npx pnpm@10 --dir web install --frozen-lockfile
npx pnpm@10 --dir web build

Installing directly from a git URL does not perform the required frontend build. Use the published wheel or the local-checkout recipe above.

Develop with a checkout

uv sync --extra dev
pnpm --dir web install --frozen-lockfile

In one terminal, start the backend:

uv run anchor serve

In another, start the development UI:

pnpm --dir web dev

Open http://localhost:5173. The Vite server proxies API requests to the backend on port 8002; stop the other listener if that port is occupied before starting the backend. Select the environment and project explicitly when serving your own corpus.

Reinstall or upgrade

Stop anchor serve with Ctrl+C and close agent clients using anchor-mcp before replacing the installed tool, especially on Windows where an open executable can prevent replacement.

For the published package:

uv tool upgrade anchor-kb
anchor version

For a rebuilt local checkout:

pnpm --dir web install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm --dir web build
uv tool install --force --reinstall .
anchor version

An Access is denied error during a Windows upgrade usually means a process still holds the installed executable. Close its client and retry. Do not delete the tool directory while a process is using it. Project data lives outside the tool installation; back it up separately before changing ingestion behavior.

Local model preparation

anchor models list --env study
anchor models prefetch --env study

Create study first using the Quickstart, or substitute your environment name. Prefetch needs network access and warms the local model cache. Local-only extraction uses cached models; a cache miss needs provisioning before it can succeed offline. A model-assisted gold stage needs either a harness session or an endpoint-backed provider. See Provider setup.

Canvas snapshots

Snapshots require a running canvas server and Playwright Chromium. With the uv tool installation, install the browser once:

uv tool run --from anchor-kb playwright install chromium

For source development, use uv run playwright install chromium instead. Once the correct project server is running:

anchor canvas snapshot pump-selection --out canvas.png

The MCP snapshotter's --base-url must point to the printed server URL when the server uses another port. See Agent setup.