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Quickstart

Install De Lore Is with Cargo:

cargo install deloreis --locked

You can also download a Linux x86-64 or macOS ARM archive from the releases page. Unpack it and put bin/deloreis somewhere on your PATH. Each archive has a SHA-256 checksum alongside it.

You’ll also need an MCP client for this walkthrough; the example below uses Claude Code. If you installed with Cargo, make sure Cargo’s binary directory is on your PATH.

Create a new project and register the server from that directory:

deloreis init my-story
cd my-story
claude mcp add --scope project deloreis -- "$(command -v deloreis)" mcp --project "$PWD"

init also suggests importing a .dli file; that is optional for this walkthrough because the calls below build a blank world. Restart the client or reload its MCP configuration. The project registration writes .mcp.json in this directory. Other MCP clients can use the same command and arguments; point --project at the directory containing deloreis.toml. The server runs locally over stdio. deloreis mcp --project "$PWD" --tools all exposes the extended tool set.

After importing, work with the project’s stored world through MCP. The CLI check and query commands read .dli files, rather than opening the project store. To get text back, start the server with --tools all and call dli.corpus.export with {"document":"world","format":"rendered"}. Save the returned rendered documents as .dli files before checking or querying them with the CLI.

Make the first ruling

Ask your client to make the following tool calls, in order. Substitute the returned workspace ID for WORKSPACE. Read the findings returned by each call. The blocks show tool arguments, not shell commands.

  1. Call author.open with {"scope":"world"}.

  2. Call author.add_entity three times, using WORKSPACE:

    {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","kind":"person","id":"wren","name":"Wren","provenance":{"kind":"proposed","origin":"quickstart"}}

    {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","kind":"place","id":"thornfield","name":"Thornfield","provenance":{"kind":"proposed","origin":"quickstart"}}

    {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","kind":"place","id":"ashby","name":"Ashby","provenance":{"kind":"proposed","origin":"quickstart"}}

  3. Declare the slot single-valued with author.declare_functional:

    {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","pred":"home","provenance":{"kind":"proposed","origin":"quickstart"}}

  4. Call author.record_decision with {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","decision":"d-0001"}.

  5. Call author.add_fact:

    {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","entity":"wren","key":"home","value":"thornfield","provenance":{"kind":"cited","decisions":["d-0001"],"state":"ratified"}}

  6. Call author.materialize with {"workspace":"WORKSPACE"}. This commits the first ruling and the staged declarations.

Catch a contradiction

  1. Call author.record_decision with {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","decision":"d-0002"}.

  2. Call author.add_fact:

    {"workspace":"WORKSPACE","entity":"wren","key":"home","value":"ashby","provenance":{"kind":"cited","decisions":["d-0002"],"state":"ratified"}}

    This call can already report fact.contradiction; leave the conflicting fact staged for the next check.

  3. Call author.check with {"workspace":"WORKSPACE"}. Its findings include continuity.fd-violation, both values, and rulings d-0001 and d-0002. author.materialize refuses this conflicting staged fact. Use author.discard to abandon the staged changes. Decisions are recorded immediately, so discarding a workspace does not undo them.

The Holmes casebook continues with contested accounts, a retcon, a what-if branch, and replay. See the concepts and agent guide for what the terms and other tools mean. To follow the casebook’s branch and rule calls, start the MCP server with --tools all.