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Getting started

Install Tambo with the release installer, then run this in an empty directory you will keep:

tambo quickstart

This saves a retrieval plan, installs Quipu, Camayoc and Bobbin, and verifies all three without an interview, running server, or issued token. The local single-user store is .caboodle/quipu.db. Keep the plan and .caboodle/. Each <tool>: verified line means an isolated functional round trip passed, with a negative control and a reader-path proof. Recheck with:

tambo verify

Camayoc verification manages its own temporary loopback server. It needs no administrator service. Remote access is an advanced opt-in through QUIPU_SERVER or a plan’s quipu_mcp; that path still requires a valid issued credential. See configuration.

Guided interview

Use tambo init --guided instead of the first two commands to describe your own use interactively. Run tambo doctor before installing to see platform or prerequisite blockers.

promptwhat to type
profileretrieval for a first install. See profiles.
what should this installation help you do?One plain sentence. It is recorded in the plan.
how many themed crew members0 unless you run a named team of agents.
how many ontology questionsPress enter on a first install: Tambo uses a built-in self-test question that checks the store answers a query, and asks nothing else. Or type a number to write your own; each question is a check the finished graph must pass.
the question’s five fieldsOnly if you typed a number. A question in words, its answer shape, the seed fact that answers it, a SPARQL SELECT or ASK query, and a word the answer must contain.

Recovery

  • tambo doctor first. It names the blocker and the fix.
  • <tool> install step ... no checksummed Tambo release for <platform>: build that tool with the cargo install command doctor prints, then rerun tambo install. Tambo adopts an installed tool that passes its checks.
  • <tool> functional verification: the tool installed but its round trip failed. The error includes the tool’s own output. Fix it and rerun tambo install; tools that already passed are not redone.
  • macOS with Bobbin before v0.18.0 (the pin Tambo carried before this release was v0.16.2): bobbin panics with Failed to load ONNX Runtime dylib: bobbin looks for its bundled runtime next to the ~/.cargo/bin/bobbin symlink rather than next to the real binary. For that release, run export ORT_DYLIB_PATH="$HOME/.local/share/caboodle/bobbin/v0.16.2/lib/libonnxruntime.dylib" (add it to your shell profile) and rerun tambo install.
  • A new build still behaves like the old one: another copy earlier on PATH wins. Doctor lists every copy in the order your shell finds them, and tambo verify fails with SHADOWED when the copy PATH runs reports a different version from the one Tambo installed. Remove the stale copy or move ~/.cargo/bin earlier on PATH.
  • no plan at caboodle-plan.toml: you are in a different directory from the one where you ran tambo init --guided.

Do not delete .caboodle/ to recover. It holds your interview answers and the last proven state.

Reproduce the README proof

On Linux x86_64, from a checkout, run scripts/test-readme.sh. It extracts the README’s actual bootstrap, quickstart and verify commands, runs them under env -i with a fresh home and no issued token or server, and requires both functional verifications for all three tools. The Documentation workflow runs this proof on every push and PR.

For local link checks, install mdBook 0.5.4 and lychee 0.24.2, then run just docs-check. pre-commit install enables the same check before commits. The check builds the book under its Pages base path and checks files, anchors and public URLs. The source-build route additionally requires Rust; agent registration additionally requires the selected client and profile.