Quickstart

This guide initializes an instance without a background service. It then runs the server in the current terminal.

Initialize the instance

Create the configuration file and SQLite database.

lific init --no-service

On a fresh install, lific init asks how you want to sign in and offers two modes.

• Login-free sets [auth] required = false, sets [server] host = "127.0.0.1" so the server only accepts connections from this machine, turns on browser auto-login, and creates a passwordless first administrator. Before it does any of that, it states the tradeoff: anyone who can reach the server can administer it.
• Passwords keeps [auth] required = true, leaves the bind host unchanged, and creates the first administrator with the password you choose.

In both modes, lific init asks for your name and creates the first administrator directly. It does not create an API key; use lific key create when you need one.

To pick the mode without the menu, pass the flags instead. This is the form for scripts.

lific init --no-service --auth-mode login-free --name "Your Name"
lific init --no-service --auth-mode passwords --name "Your Name" --password "<PASSWORD>"

Without --here or --config, lific init uses operating system configuration and data directories. On Linux, it writes the configuration file to ~/.config/lific/lific.toml and the database to ~/.local/share/lific/lific.db. On Windows, it writes the configuration file to %APPDATA%\lific\lific.toml and the database to %LOCALAPPDATA%\lific\lific.db. Windows has a full walkthrough for that platform.

Use --here to create a directory-local instance with ./lific.toml and ./lific.db.

lific init --here --no-service

Start the server

Start the HTTP server.

lific start

The default port is 3456. The built-in default bind host is 0.0.0.0; login-free mode writes 127.0.0.1 during initialization. Open http://127.0.0.1:3456 in a browser to use the web UI.

Sign in

In login-free mode, the web UI signs you in as the administrator that lific init created. There is no password to enter.

In password mode, sign in as that administrator with the password you chose during initialization.

Later accounts come from the signup screen or from lific user create. Signup creates a regular user account and a session, with one exception: on an instance with no users at all, the first signup becomes the instance administrator, so an instance bootstrapped entirely from the browser still has an operator. Every signup after that is a regular account. To make another account an administrator, promote it from a terminal, replacing <username> with the username you want to promote.

lific user promote --username <username>

Create a project and issue

The project and issue commands operate directly on the configured SQLite database. They do not require the HTTP server.

Create a project. Project identifiers are short identifiers used in issue IDs.

lific project create --name "Example project" --identifier EX

Create an issue in that project.

lific issue create --project EX --title "First issue"

List the project's issues.

lific issue list --project EX

The first issue has an identifier based on the project identifier, such as EX-1.

Next steps

Run lific connect to configure your AI tools to use the server over MCP. Connect agents documents the command, the supported clients, and the configuration it writes.