> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://open-index.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# CLI reference

> Every open-index command and what it does.

All commands accept `--brain <dir>` to point at a brain other than the current
directory.

## Building a brain

| Command                          | What it does                                                       |
| -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `open-index init <name> [dir]`   | Scaffold a new brain directory.                                    |
| `open-index add-doc-type <name>` | Add a doc\_type schema stub under `doc_types/`.                    |
| `open-index add-entity <file>`   | Validate + store an entity JSON file.                              |
| `open-index import <file>`       | Bulk-import entities from JSON / JSONL / CSV.                      |
| `open-index index`               | (Re)load `entities/**/*.json` into the search index.               |
| `open-index validate`            | Validate `brain.yaml`, schemas, and every entity file (use in CI). |

<Note>
  `open-index index` accepts `--reembed` to rebuild semantic vectors — run it after
  enabling semantic search on a populated brain, switching embedding models, or
  changing dimensions.
</Note>

## Connectors

| Command                               | What it does                                                     |
| ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `open-index ingest <connector>`       | Run a connector now to pull entities from an MCP server.         |
| `open-index run [--force] [--loop N]` | Run every connector whose `schedule` is due (wire into cron/CI). |
| `open-index list-connectors`          | List discovered connectors and their source URLs.                |

## Searching & exploring

| Command                                   | What it does                                                          |
| ----------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `open-index search <query> [-t doc_type]` | Search from the terminal.                                             |
| `open-index ui`                           | Launch the Streamlit explorer (Explore / **Map** / Analytics / Jobs). |

## Serving over MCP

| Command                                         | What it does                                                                                       |
| ----------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `open-index mcp [--read-only]`                  | Run the MCP context layer over stdio. **Read+write by default**; `--read-only` opts out of writes. |
| `open-index serve [--port --token --read-only]` | Serve the MCP context layer over **HTTP** for remote agents (bearer-token auth).                   |
| `open-index serve --brains <root>`              | Serve **every** brain under a directory from one process, each at `/<name>/mcp`.                   |
| `open-index mcp-config [--url --token]`         | Print the MCP connection block to paste into your agent.                                           |

See [Deployment](/deployment) for the full serving guide, and
[Open Index as a context layer](/agents/mcp) for the MCP tools those commands
expose.