Introduction

Lific is a local-first issue tracker: it runs on your machine, stores its data locally in SQLite and the attachments directory, and requires no hosted Lific service. A Lific instance is one authoritative source of truth; separate instances do not synchronize or merge. It runs as a single Rust binary.

The binary provides an embedded Svelte web UI, a command-line interface, a REST API, and an MCP server. The web UI assets are embedded from the frontend build output.

Documentation map

• Installation covers release binaries, Cargo installation, and source builds.
• Quickstart covers initializing an instance and creating a first issue.
• Connect agents covers lific connect, which writes MCP configuration for installed AI tools.
• Windows covers native Windows setup and WSL 2.
• Web UI guide covers dashboard, issue views, pages, plans, accounts, and mobile workflows.
• Upgrading covers backups, version-specific changes through 2.6, authorization, and verification.
• Concepts describes Lific resources and identifiers.
• CLI documents command-line operations.
• Configuration documents lific.toml and command-line overrides.
• Self-hosting documents running a Lific server.
• REST API documents HTTP endpoints.
• MCP documents the MCP server and its tools.