FAQ

Installation

Do I need Go installed to use ByteMind?

No. ByteMind ships as a pre-compiled binary for macOS, Linux, and Windows. No Go installation is required.

The bytemind command is not found after installing. What do I do?

The install script puts the binary in ~/bin. Make sure that directory is on your PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"

Add that line to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to make it permanent.

How do I install a specific version?

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/1024XEngineer/bytemind/main/scripts/install.sh \
  | BYTEMIND_VERSION=v0.3.0 bash

Providers

Can I use a local model?

Yes, as long as the local server exposes an OpenAI-compatible API (e.g. Ollama with its /v1/chat/completions endpoint). Set provider.type to openai-compatible and point base_url at http://localhost:11434/v1.

Can I use DeepSeek, Groq, or other third-party providers?

Yes. Any provider that implements the OpenAI chat completions interface works. Configure base_url to point to the provider's endpoint.

Do I need to set provider.type explicitly?

No. Set "auto_detect_type": true and ByteMind will infer the type from base_url.

Privacy and Security

Is my code uploaded or stored anywhere?

No. ByteMind runs entirely on your local machine. It reads your local files and sends only what you explicitly include in prompts to the LLM API you configure. No data is sent to ByteMind servers.

How do I keep my API key secure?

Use api_key_env instead of api_key in your config file. Store the actual key in an environment variable and add .bytemind/ to your .gitignore.

Usage

The agent ran out of iterations before finishing. What do I do?

Raise max_iterations in your config or use the -max-iterations flag:

bytemind chat -max-iterations 64

Can I use ByteMind in CI without manual approvals?

Yes. Set approval_mode to full_access. Approval-required operations are auto-approved without blocking prompts, so CI pipelines can run unattended. Legacy away is blocked by default unless you explicitly set BYTEMIND_ALLOW_AWAY_FULL_ACCESS=true for migration.

How do I resume a previous session?

/sessions
/resume <session-id>

Can I create custom skills for my team?

Yes. Place a skill directory with skill.json and SKILL.md in .bytemind/skills/ inside your repository. Everyone on the team will have access to it. See Skills for details.

See Also

• Troubleshooting — specific error solutions
• Installation — detailed install steps
• Configuration — full config guide