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Quick start

Get your dashboard running in 5 minutes.

1. Install

cargo install --path crates/cerebro

2. Create config

Place config.toml at the XDG default location ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cerebro/config.toml, or ~/.config/cerebro/config.toml if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset — same on every platform):

[settings]
output_dir = "~/Projects/cortex/content"

[[projects]]
name = "my-project"
repo_path = "~/Projects/my-project"
active = true

(Override the path with --config <file> or by setting CORTEX_PATH and putting config.toml in the cortex data dir — see Configuration.)

3. Build

cerebro build

This generates your dashboard in the output_dir you set in config (default: ~/Projects/cortex/content/).

4. Serve

cd ~/Projects/cortex && mdbook serve --port 3456

Open http://localhost:3456 to see your dashboard.

Your first win

After a few days of use, come back to a dormant project. Instead of:

“Wait, what work was in progress? Where did things leave off?”

Your dashboard shows:

  • Last activity: 3 days ago: “feat: add user authentication”
  • OpenCode session: “Debugging JWT token refresh”
  • TODOs left: src/auth.rs:42: “TODO: handle expired tokens”
  • Next action: From your notes: “Test the login flow”

That’s the moment cerebro earns its place in your workflow.

Next steps