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Episode 2 · Install and create a workspace

Silan Hu8 min
Series document · Episode 2

By the end of this episode you will have a local workspace that opens from both the CLI and the desktop app, and you will know how to keep writing on another computer.


1. Install

Full feature set: install from source (recommended)

The desktop app, Moments, the feedback dashboard, and GEO checks live on the main branch. You need Git and a Rust toolchain, plus Node.js for the desktop app:

bash
git clone https://github.com/Qingbolan/Silan-Context-System.git
cd Silan-Context-System
./engine/install-dev.sh
packaging/release/dev-install-local.sh --desktop-only --user-apps
silan --version
  • install-dev.sh runs the test suite before installing the silan command and records the install in ~/.local/state/silan-viking/install-receipt.
  • The second command installs the desktop app into your Applications folder.

CLI only: one-line install of the release

bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Qingbolan/Silan-Context-System/main/engine/install.sh | sh

This installs the public v1.0 release. It can write, validate, and publish, but it has no desktop app and no Moments.

Either way you get three equivalent commands: silan, svk, and silan-viking. This series uses silan.

2. Create a workspace

bash
mkdir my-research-site
cd my-research-site
silan init
silan index sync
silan guide

silan init lays down:

text
my-research-site/
  silan-viking.toml      workspace settings: identity, database, deploy
  content/               everything you write; the single source of truth and its own Git repository
    resources/           blog, projects, moment, episode, resume
    SCHEMA.md            content rules
  _deploy/portfolio.db   an index generated from content/, safe to rebuild

silan index sync builds the index from content/, and silan guide tells you what to do next based on the current state. If you prefer a guided setup for sign-in, verification, and deployment, run silan onboard.

3. Open the desktop app

From the workspace folder, run:

bash
silan desktop

The app remembers this workspace, so next time you can open it from the app icon. The first launch shows a start screen; click Enter workspace to reach the dashboard. The three buttons at the bottom right are the ones you will use most: Catch moment, New project, and Write blog.

Until you configure deployment, the dashboard shows a notice that visit statistics cannot be synced yet. That is expected and goes away once Episode 4 is done.

4. Keep writing on another computer

content/ is an ordinary Git repository. Push it to a private remote of your own:

bash
cd content
git remote add origin git@github.com:<you>/<private-repo>.git
git push -u origin main

On the other computer, install Silan Viking and open the desktop app; it shows the new-device flow, "Continue from the source, not the server". Enter the address under Git repository and a local folder under Workspace folder, click Verify access to confirm read access, then follow on to Clone or update workspace. An existing checkout is fetched; a missing or empty folder is cloned. From then on, when the other machine has new commits, the dashboard's Needs attention card shows Pull N; one click brings them in.

Sync runs on Git, so commit and push before you leave a machine.

If the private repository is lost too, you can recover the published content from your live site:

bash
silan site recover --from https://your-site --to ./content

Recovery from the live site only includes public content, not private drafts or the full Git history.

Checkpoint

  • silan --version prints a version;
  • silan guide reports an initialised, indexed workspace;
  • the desktop app opens the workspace and shows the dashboard.

The next episode starts capturing and writing.

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