Connect an assistant

Mindex does not talk to a model directly. It runs an assistant CLI on your machine, as you, under your own subscription. That is why there is no API key to paste and no per-token bill from us.

You need one of these installed and signed in.

Assistant	Install	Sign in
Claude Code	npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code	claude
Codex	npm install -g @openai/codex	codex
Gemini CLI	npm install -g @google/gemini-cli	gemini

First launch

A setup screen checks for all three when you first start Mindex. If none is found it can install one for you. If you would rather do it yourself, run the install command above, sign in once in a terminal, then return to Mindex.

Switching

Change the active assistant in Settings → General → AI. Switching does not touch your notes.

One thing does change with it: the name of the per-folder context file, because each CLI reads a different one natively.

Assistant	Context file
Claude Code	CLAUDE.md
Codex	AGENTS.md
Gemini CLI	GEMINI.md

Mindex renames the existing files when you switch, so the assistant you just picked finds the context that was already there. See Folder context.

What Mindex sends

Nothing, on its own. The app has no server behind it. When you send a message, the CLI you chose receives it, and whatever that CLI sends onward is governed by its vendor's terms and your subscription with them.

If the chat says it cannot find an assistant, see Assistant not found.