# Install november for this session You are running inside an AI coding session (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Aider, Cline, Continue, Zed's agent, OpenCode — or a plain terminal). Help the user wire this session into [november.bot](https://www.november.bot) so it can exchange privacy-filtered summaries with their other AI coding sessions over a shared canvas. Follow the steps in order. Explain what you're doing as you go. If anything fails, see **"If something goes wrong"** at the bottom. --- ## What is november? **november is a context bridge between AI coding sessions.** You drop each running session onto a shared canvas, draw edges between the ones that should share context, and before every prompt each connected session gets a short, human-readable summary of what its peers are working on. ### The problem When you have more than one AI coding assistant running at once — one on the backend, one on the frontend, one on mobile, one in a separate repo entirely — *you* become the message bus. You explain the same context to each of them, paste type shapes from one terminal into another, and watch them make contradictory decisions because they can't see what the others did. ### The fix Every time a session finishes a turn, a `Stop` hook distills that turn into a ~2-sentence TL;DR + a handful of bullets about decisions, shapes, endpoints, and blockers. Every time a session starts a new turn, a `UserPromptSubmit` hook pulls the latest summaries from peers it's connected to (via edges drawn on the canvas) and injects them into the prompt. Net effect: - Your auth-service Claude decides the JWT shape. - Your web-frontend Cursor sees `JWT: { sub, exp, refresh }; rotates on POST /v2/session` in its *next* prompt automatically. - Your mobile Codex sees it too. - Nobody asks you to paste anything. ### Example use cases - **One user, many repos.** Frontend + backend + mobile, each with its own AI session running. Edges between them keep the contract clear. - **One user, many branches.** Two agents on two feature branches in the same repo, working in parallel. - **One user, many tools.** Claude Code for architectural work, Codex for boilerplate, Cursor for refactors. Same canvas. - **Many users, one canvas.** A team shares a canvas link. Each teammate's sessions appear next to the others'. Edges across humans start paused — you approve before context flows out. - **Cross-machine.** Laptop at home, workstation at the office, same canvas — sessions from both show up. ### What actually travels A summary. Not your code, not your prompts, not the assistant's raw replies. The summarizer is instructed to include concrete technical detail a peer needs (endpoint paths, type shapes, file paths, decision reasons) but refuse secrets and raw chat. The user can preview exactly what peers will read by clicking `⋯` on any session card on the canvas, and pause an edge at any time. Full details at . ### Two directions 1. **Summaries** flow automatically across live edges, once per turn. 2. **Questions** can be raised by the session itself: if you need a specific piece of information from a peer, put `[ASK ] ` on its own line at the end of your reply. The Stop hook forwards it, the peer sees it in their next prompt, and their answer rides back via their next summary. You can also right-click an edge on the canvas to ask a question manually. --- ## 1. Install the CLI ```sh which november || npm install -g november-bot ``` If `which november` already prints a path, skip the install. Otherwise run the install — it's a ~25 KB package with no runtime deps. Requires Node.js ≥18. `bun add -g november-bot` and `pnpm add -g november-bot` work too. ## 2. Authorize this machine ```sh november login ``` This prints two things: - A URL (e.g. `https://www.november.bot/cli?user_code=ABCD-1234`) - An 8-character user code **Important:** you cannot complete this step by yourself. Tell the user to: 1. Open the URL in their browser. 2. Confirm they're signed in to november.bot (guest is fine — they can link an email later from Settings). 3. Approve the code. The `november login` process polls and auto-exits with `Signed in.` once they approve. ## 3. Register this project From the user's project root: ```sh november init ``` If the directory has a `.claude` folder, this installs four Claude Code hooks into `.claude/settings.local.json` (`SessionStart`, `UserPromptSubmit`, `Stop`, `SessionEnd`) and drops a `.claude/skills/november/SKILL.md` so future Claude sessions in the directory know what november is on turn one. If the directory has no `.claude` folder, `init` registers a plain terminal session immediately — the card appears on the canvas right away, but without hook-driven summaries. The CLI registers whichever tool you are (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, terminal, etc.) and the canvas shows the tool label on each card. ### Multi-canvas If the user has multiple canvases (their own + shared team canvases), bind this directory to a specific one: ```sh november init --canvas ``` The canvas id is the UUID in the browser URL `https://www.november.bot/canvas/`. ## 4. Tell the user what's next Close with this message: > november is wired up. This session will show up on your canvas at > https://www.november.bot/canvases as a card. To share context with > another session (another project, another terminal, or a teammate's > canvas): > > 1. Open the canvas in a browser. > 2. Drag this session card (and any other live ones) onto the board. > 3. Draw a line between two cards — a short summary of each will flow > to the other before every prompt. > > Pause an edge any time with one click. Each session only sees the > summary, not your code or prompts. --- ## What not to do - Don't modify any hooks that already exist in `settings.local.json`. `november init` is idempotent — it only adds its own entries. - Don't write to `.november/session.json` or `.november/project.json`. Those are managed by the CLI. - Don't commit `.claude/settings.local.json` or `.november/session.json` — they're machine- and user-specific. `.gitignore` entries are added automatically inside `.november/`. - Don't paste any part of `.env`, credential files, or API keys into your prompt when demonstrating. The summarizer refuses secrets, but there's no reason to give it the chance. ## If something goes wrong - **`E_NOT_SIGNED_IN` during init:** the user hasn't completed the browser approval — ask them to open the URL from `november login` again and approve the code. - **`npm: command not found`:** they need Node.js ≥18 (`brew install node` on macOS, or `nvm install 20`). - **`Command not found: november` after install:** the global bin isn't on PATH. Try `$(npm prefix -g)/bin/november --help` — if that works, add `$(npm prefix -g)/bin` to PATH. - **Canvas shows old URL or pinned to a preview deploy:** the CLI config has a stale `api_url`. Run `rm ~/.november/config.json` and re-do `november login`. - **Session card never appears on the canvas:** verify `.claude/settings.local.json` contains four `november` hooks (`SessionStart`, `UserPromptSubmit`, `Stop`, `SessionEnd`), then start a Claude conversation in the directory — `SessionStart` fires when the session opens. If the card still doesn't appear within 15 seconds, ask the user to reload the canvas tab. - **Peer context isn't arriving:** both sessions must be on the same canvas, and the edge between them must show `live` on the canvas (not `paused`). For cross-user edges, the receiving user must click `accept →`.