> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.prbe.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The wizard

> One command that installs, imports, configures, diagnoses and removes Probe on this device.

```bash theme={null}
npx probe-research
```

That is the whole surface. The wizard knows what is installed on this machine, which credentials resolve, whether the last update worked and what imports are running — so instead of describing what you should do, it does it.

> [!NOTE]
>
> If you already have the CLI, `probe wizard` is the same thing. `npx` exists so the first run needs nothing installed.

## Two doors

| Command | Opens on | Use it when |
| - | - | - |
| `npx probe-research` / `probe wizard` | The main menu | You are managing an install, or you do not yet know what you want |
| `npx probe-research install` / `probe wizard --action configure` | Straight into the guided install | You have already decided |

`install` is the launcher's word for `wizard --action configure` — the same flow, not a second implementation of it.

## Everything the wizard does, and its command

Every screen has a scriptable equivalent. Prefer the wizard at a keyboard — it shows you the state before you change it, and it can tell you when a change did not take. Prefer the command in a script.

| What you want to do | In the wizard | As a command |
| - | - | - |
| Set Probe up on this device | **Install Probe** | `probe wizard --action configure --yes` |
| Update the CLI and plugins | **Update Probe** | `probe wizard --action update` |
| Remove Probe from this device | **Uninstall Probe** | `probe wizard --action uninstall --yes` |
| Import a folder of work | **Import research work** | `probe backfill <dir> --project <slug>` |
| Import saved coding sessions | **Import research work** | `probe backfill --transcripts-only` |
| Check on a running import | **Existing imports** | `probe wizard --action imports` |
| Turn tracking (CLI + MCP) on or off | **Install** / **Uninstall** | `probe wizard --tracking` / `--no-tracking` |
| Turn session capture on or off | **Install** / **Uninstall** | `probe wizard --capture` / `--no-capture` |
| Turn the managed rules block on or off | **Install** / **Uninstall** | `probe wizard --agent-rules` / `--no-agent-rules` |
| Turn automatic updates on or off | **Settings** | `probe wizard --auto-update` / `--no-auto-update` |
| Turn research plan review or pasted-image upload on or off | **Settings** | — |
| Change what new sessions default to | **Defaults → Probe in new sessions** | `probe wizard --action defaults` |
| Change who records (the agent or [the Probe daemon](/agents/daemon.md)) | **Defaults → Who records** | `probe wizard --who-records agent\|daemon --yes` |
| Set up Probe for Capy | **Install Probe** (tick Capy) | `npx probe-research install --agent capy` |
| Print the step for Capy's own settings | — | `probe capy setup` |
| Sign in | Before the main menu opens | `probe wizard --action login` |
| Sign in to a second account | — | `probe wizard --action login --context <name>` |
| Switch to or remove another account on this device | `--action account` | `probe wizard --action account` |
| Sign out | **Sign out** | `probe wizard --action logout` |
| Diagnose a problem | **Diagnose a problem** | `probe doctor` |
| See the commands the wizard would run | — | `probe wizard --action manual` |

> [!NOTE]
>
> Two things have no wizard screen, deliberately. **Minting a token** (`probe token create`) requires a human in a browser and prints a secret you must copy. **Workspace write permissions** (`probe access-group`, `probe workspace writers`) are a team-admin surface, not a device one. The Claude Code status line comes with **Install** and goes with **Uninstall**.

## On this device

Every screen of the menu sits under a live summary of the machine. It is the reason the menu is short: you choose against real state rather than guessing which action you need.

```text theme={null}
On this device:

  Claude Code                  MCP on · capture on
  Codex                        MCP on · capture off
  Kimi Code                    MCP on · capture on
  Capy                         MCP in its settings · capture on · 2 projects · last sync 4 min ago
  CLI                          0.164.0 · up to date
  plugin                       0.66.0 · up to date
  tap                          0.41.0 · behind
  Automatic updates            on
  Account                      you@example.com
  Last update attempt          2 hours ago · ok

  Import progress
  Sessions   ████████░░░░   3,200/3,857 checked
```

Three parts of that are worth calling out:

* **Versions are graded per component.** CLI, SDK, plugin and tap update on their own cadences, and a machine is routinely current on one and months behind on another. The verdict shown here is the same one `probe doctor` prints.
* **Last update attempt** is the only way to notice a detached auto-updater that has been failing silently.
* **Import progress** is live. Background imports keep running while you use the menu, and you can leave the wizard without stopping them.

The **Capy** row reads its capture connection: whether capture is on, how many Capy projects it covers, and when it last synced. Its MCP comes from the Probe plugin in Capy's own settings, which this machine cannot see.

## The main menu

The menu shows every group but the one under the cursor collapsed to its heading.

> **Defaults**
>
> **Who records** — your agents, or [the Probe daemon](/agents/daemon.md). `←` / `→` switches it for every coding agent on this device. While the daemon records, Enter opens the daemon's own settings.
>
> **Probe in new sessions** — on, read or off for new sessions.
>
> These lead the menu because their current values are worth seeing every time it opens. See [Settings](/wizard/settings.md#defaults).

> **Install/update/uninstall**
>
> **Install Probe** — set up tracking, capture and updates.
>
> **Update Probe** — upgrade the CLI and the plugins.
>
> **Uninstall Probe** — remove plugins, stop capture, sign out.
>
> See [Install](/wizard/install.md).

> **Backfill**
>
> **Import research work** — past sessions, a project folder, or both.
>
> **Existing imports** — check, resume or cancel imports.
>
> See [Import research work](/wizard/import.md) and [Existing imports](/wizard/imports.md).

> **Settings**
>
> **Settings** — automatic updates, research plan review, and uploading the images you paste.
>
> See [Settings](/wizard/settings.md).

> **Help**
>
> **Diagnose a problem** — check setup, sign-in and updates.
>
> See [Diagnose and repair](/wizard/diagnose.md).

> **Exit/sign out**
>
> **Exit** — leave the wizard. Imports keep running.
>
> **Sign out** — stop capture and imports, then sign out. It asks first.
>
> Sign-in happens before the menu opens, so it is not a row here. Switching between accounts saved on this device is reachable with `--action account`. See [Accounts](/wizard/account.md).

## Getting around

The wizard is a terminal UI, and the keys are the same on every screen.

| Key | Does |
| - | - |
| `↑` `↓` | Move between rows |
| `Space` | Toggle a checkbox row |
| `Enter` | Choose, or continue |
| `Esc` | Go back — from the top level, back to the main menu |
| `Tab` | Read the full text of a long row |
| `PgUp` / `PgDn` | Scroll a long screen |
| `c` | Copy, where a screen offers a command to copy |

Screens that step forward also carry a `‹ Back` / `Next ›` band at the bottom, so the navigation is visible and not only a keybinding. The folder picker adds `Ctrl+L` to type a path directly, `Ctrl+N` to continue with the current folder and `Ctrl+B` to go back.

## The flags are the contract

Every capability the menu offers is also a flag, and **the menu is a front end over the flags** — not the other way round. That has one consequence worth relying on:

> [!WARNING]
>
> An omitted flag preserves whatever is already configured. `probe wizard --yes` in CI can never silently revoke someone's capture pairing, because it only changes what you named.

```bash theme={null}
probe wizard --action configure --agent claude --tracking --no-capture --yes
```

See [Unattended use](/wizard/flags.md) for the full list.


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