Steroid CLI — Overview

The Steroid CLI (steroid) is the local control plane for the entire Steroid Kit. It installs in one command, wires up your IDE, and runs in one of two modes. The same single binary powers the interactive TUI, the MCP server your IDE talks to, and automatic background sync that keeps everything fresh.

Local vs Connected — the primary axis

Steroid runs in exactly one of two modes, chosen at onboarding and switchable anytime in Settings. This is the organizing idea for the whole product.

Local mode — no Steroid account or backend required. Conversation history and indexes are stored locally; answering recall uses an installed agent CLI and its configured model provider.
Connected mode — the same memory tools, plus the MCP tool marketplace and workflow automation (Flows). These networked features use your connection string and locally stored credentials.

TIP

Connected is a strict superset of Local — it only adds networked capabilities, never removes recall capabilities. Local indexing is LLM-free, but recall inference is not necessarily offline. See Local vs Connected Mode for the full feature matrix, cohorts, and trust story.

What It Manages

Responsibility	How	Mode
Installation	Public installer scripts distribute the release binary; verify the current installer and release assets before relying on platform-specific guarantees	both
Conversation-memory recall	Indexes Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Cursor CLI and Copilot history locally; answers through an agent CLI with session/turn citations	both
Project tracking	Registers the folders you work in so recall knows about them	both
IDE setup	Configures your IDE to talk to Steroid, and verifies it	both
Background service	Keeps your recall index up to date automatically in the background	both
MCP tool marketplace	200+ servers, surfaced just-in-time — search and run tools on demand	Connected only
Workflow automation (Flows)	Find, run, create, and repair automation workflows	Connected only
Credential vault	Local encrypted-file storage; `cred store` works without a cloud connection. Cloud execution receives required credentials	local storage; used by Connected features
Self-update	`steroid update` fetches and installs the latest release	both

How It Fits Together

Everything ships as a single binary: the interactive CLI, the connection to your IDE, and a background service that keeps existing registered indexes fresh. Each IDE launches its own stdio MCP process; the daemon does not host it. Local registers three recall tools; Connected adds six marketplace and workflow tools, for nine total. Mode is resolved when each MCP process starts.

Everyday commands

steroid                  # Open the interactive CLI (mode picker on first run)
steroid project init     # Track + index the current project for recall
steroid memory ask "…"   # Recall from your past conversations
steroid mode show --json # Inspect effective mode
steroid setup cursor     # Configure a supported IDE
steroid update           # Update to the latest release
steroid cred store       # Manage the local credential vault

Quick Start

Installing does not require an account. Install with the one-line installer, then run steroid.

Install (macOS / Linux)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steroidkit/releases/main/install.sh | sh

Install (Windows / PowerShell)

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steroidkit/releases/main/install.ps1 | iex

Restart your terminal, then run steroid. First run walks you through:

Choosing a mode — Local or Connected.
Selecting your IDE and wiring up its MCP config.
(Connected only) pasting your connection string.
Landing on Home — projects, recall, and (in Connected) the vault + Flows.

Restart the IDE's Steroid MCP connection, then run steroid project init in a repository with supported chat history. Wiring an IDE does not create past conversations. Recall can also auto-index an unindexed project and reports when it does so.

→ Local vs Connected Mode → Command Reference → Agent Skills → Updating & Uninstalling