---
name: obi-setup
description: Use when a user asks whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Claude or Perplexity recommend their business, wants to improve how AI search engines describe it, or asks to install or set up Obi, the AI Search Employee. Installs the obi CLI and registers the full Obi Skill, which then does the work.
compatibility: Node.js 22 or later on macOS, Linux or Windows, in an assistant that runs Skills (Claude Code, Cursor or Codex).
metadata:
  homepage: "https://hireobi.com"
  docs: "https://hireobi.com/docs"
  package: "@hireobi/cli"
---

# Set up Obi

Obi is an AI Search Employee. It learns a business from sourced pages, writes the questions its buyers ask AI engines, measures what ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Claude and Perplexity answer, checks whether AI crawlers can read the website, and ranks what to do next. It runs as the `obi` CLI plus a Skill inside the user's assistant. Accounts, evidence and scans live on Obi's servers at agent.hireobi.com.

This file only sets Obi up. Once installed, the bundled `obi` Skill carries the full workflow.

## Install

1. Check `node --version`. Obi needs Node.js 22 or later.
2. Install the CLI:

   ```bash
   npm install --global @hireobi/cli
   obi --version
   ```

3. Register the bundled Skill:

   ```bash
   obi skill install
   ```

   It links the Skill into `~/.agents/skills/obi` and `~/.claude/skills/obi` and never replaces an existing entry. On `SKILL_INSTALL_FAILED`, tell the user which path is in the way; do not delete it yourself.

4. Skills load when a chat starts. Ask the user to open a new chat and type `/obi` (Claude Code, Cursor) or `$obi` (Codex CLI), or pick Obi in the skills picker (Codex desktop). The `obi` Skill takes over from there: sign-in, business review, buyer questions, scans and priorities.

## Sign-in

- Accounts are invitation-only during the private alpha. To request one, the user writes to support@hireobi.com.
- Run `obi login --expect-email <the user's email>`; add `--storage file` on Windows. The user approves in the browser after checking that the page shows the same code. When you run it outside an interactive terminal it returns `AUTHORIZATION_PENDING`: run the same command again once the user has approved.
- Never ask the user for a token or a credential file. The CLI never prints tokens.

## Rules

- Never run a command that spends money or confirms on the user's behalf without the user's explicit yes to what it will do: `obi questions proceed --confirm-scan`, `obi harness purchase prepare --confirm-checkout`, `obi harness purchase change --confirm-change`, `obi business confirm --confirm-review`.
- Your own answer to a buyer question is a suggestion. Only a scan run by Obi's servers is a measurement.
- Obi recommends and drafts. It never publishes, sends outreach or buys anything on its own.
- Every CLI error carries a code and a `nextAction`; with `--json`, read `error.code` and `error.nextAction` and follow that sentence.

## Reference

- Quickstart: https://hireobi.com/docs/quickstart.md
- Every command and option: https://hireobi.com/docs/cli/commands.md
- Output format, exit codes, credential storage: https://hireobi.com/docs/cli/overview.md
- Errors and fixes: https://hireobi.com/docs/troubleshooting.md
- Plans and prices: https://hireobi.com/docs/plans.md
- The whole documentation in one file: https://hireobi.com/docs/llms-full.txt