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The installer supports 13 coding agents on macOS and Linux. Each agent gets one or both of these connections:
  • Hooks: small commands that the agent runs at points in a session, for example when a session starts or when you send a prompt. Hooks let Alike record the session and give the agent context without a request.
  • MCP: an MCP server entry named alike. It lets the agent call Alike’s tools when it needs them. See MCP tools.
An agent with hooks and MCP gets the full experience. An agent with MCP only can use Alike’s tools, but Alike cannot add context automatically.

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Agents and connections

“Early support” means that the settings location is not yet confirmed on all versions of the agent. The installer prints (unverified path — see doctor) for these agents. Run npx @alikeai/setup --doctor to see if the hooks run. See Check your setup.
Windsurf, Zed, and Continue never get context from hooks. They get Alike’s context only when they call an MCP tool. All the other agents also get context automatically, at the points that each agent supports. See What your agent sees.

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How the installer finds each agent

The installer looks for the agent’s settings folder. If the folder does not exist, the agent shows as “not found”. Run the agent once to create its folder, then run the installer again. CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR and CODEX_HOME must be absolute paths. The installer ignores relative paths. It saves the folders that it used, so later runs use the same folders.
Gemini CLI also uses ~/.gemini. On a machine with Gemini CLI, the installer shows Antigravity as found and writes Antigravity’s settings in ~/.gemini/config/.

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Files the installer changes

VS Code’s user folder is ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User on macOS and ~/.config/Code/User on Linux. It is written as <VS Code> below. If you use CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR or CODEX_HOME, the files are in those folders instead.

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How to spot Alike’s entries

  • Hook entries run a command that contains .alike/runtime/hook.mjs.
  • The MCP server entry is named alike. Its URL ends in /mcp.
  • In TOML and YAML files, Alike’s lines are between >>> alike >>> and <<< alike <<< markers. Codex’s config.toml also has a region between >>> alike-root >>> and <<< alike-root <<<.
Hooks run node from the PATH that the agent sees. Desktop apps that you open from the Dock or a launcher can have a shorter PATH than your terminal. This is common when you install Node with a version manager such as nvm. If the doctor says that the hooks never ran, see Hooks never run.

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If you already use the Alike plugin for Claude Code

If the Alike plugin for Claude Code is installed, the installer does not change Claude Code’s files. It prints Alike plugin already installed — skipping file wiring (no double-hooks). This prevents two sets of hooks in one agent. It still adds the 2-line note to CLAUDE.md. To skip the note, add --no-agent-guidance.