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Quickstart (5 minutes)

Go from zero to your first captured "why" in 5 minutes.

1. Initialize Lore

cd your-project
lore init

This creates the .lore/ directory and installs a post-commit git hook.

2. Make a commit

git add .
git commit -m "Add rate limiting to API"

Lore's hook triggers automatically:

[1/3] Type [feature]:
[2/3] What [Add rate limiting to API]:
[3/3] Why? API was getting 10K req/min from one client, causing latency for everyone
✓ Captured: feature-add-rate-limiting-2026-03-16.md

Three questions. Ninety seconds. Done.

lore interactive

What just happened? Lore's post-commit hook detected your commit, asked 3 essential questions (Type, What, Why) plus 2 optional ones (Alternatives, Impact) that auto-skipped because you answered fast, and saved a Markdown file in .lore/docs/. The file contains YAML front matter (type, date, commit hash) and your "why" — permanently linked to that commit.

3. View your document

lore show

---
type: feature
date: 2026-03-16
commit: e4f5a6b
---
# Add rate limiting to API

## Why
API was getting 10K req/min from one client, causing latency for everyone.

4. Check your corpus health

lore status

Documents: 1 | Pending: 0 | Coverage: 100%
Metric Value Meaning
Documents 1 Total .lore/docs/*.md files
Pending 0 Commits without documentation
Coverage 100% Documented commits / total commits

What just happened? Lore scanned your commits and documents. 1 commit, 1 document = 100% coverage. As you keep committing, this dashboard tracks documentation health over time.

5. Add a coverage badge

Show the world your project is documented:

lore status --badge >> README.md

This generates a shields.io badge like:

lore | documented 85%

Colors adapt automatically: gray (< 50%), green (50–79%), gold (80%+).

6. Explore more

# Document a past commit retroactively
lore new --commit abc1234

# List all documents
lore list

# Run diagnostics
lore doctor

# AI-assisted polish (with API key)
lore angela polish decision-database-2026-02-10.md

# Generate API examples from your docs (offline, free)
lore angela polish api-spec.md --synthesize

# Ask a specific expert about your doc
lore angela consult api-designer api-spec.md

What's next?