From 318d2f4204656ff1c489b95281515a65c07e6862 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Michael Panchenko Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2026 20:20:18 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Readme, docs: recommend init command instead of start-mcp-server --- CHANGELOG.md | 2 ++ README.md | 22 ++++++++++++---------- docs/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.md | 14 ++++++-------- 3 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-) diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md index c3db50aa..699c509a 100644 --- a/CHANGELOG.md +++ b/CHANGELOG.md @@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ Status of the `main` branch. Changes prior to the next official version change will appear here. +* General: + - Added `serena init` command * Fixes: - Fix reactivation of the same project restarting language servers #1280 diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index be17cde6..d69520d5 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -178,24 +178,26 @@ https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6eaa9aa1-610d-4723-a2d6-bf1e487ba753 **Prerequisites**. Serena is managed by *uv*. If you don’t already have it, you need to [install uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/) before proceeding. -> [!NOTE] -> When using the language server backend, some additional dependencies to be installed for certain languages; see the [Language Support](https://oraios.github.io/serena/01-about/020_programming-languages.html) page for details. - -**Starting the MCP Server**. The easiest way to start the Serena MCP server is by running the latest version from GitHub using uvx: +**Initialize Serena**. To initialize Serena, simply run: ```bash -uvx -p 3.13 --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server +uvx -p 3.13 --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena init ``` -If this is the first time you are starting Serena, the necessary configuration files will be created, and -you should see the Serena dashboard appear. You can terminate the server by pressing Ctrl+C (multiple times, if necessary). +This will create the global configuration file `~/.serena/config.yaml`. + +The default code intelligence backend for Serena is the free LSP backend. You can add `-b JetBrains` to the `init` command +to set up the JetBrains as the default code intelligence backend instead, see [JetBrains Plugin page](https://oraios.github.io/serena/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.html) for more details. + + +> [!NOTE] +> When using the language server backend, some additional dependencies to be installed for certain languages; +> see the [Language Support](https://oraios.github.io/serena/01-about/020_programming-languages.html) page for details. + **Configuring Your Client**. To connect Serena to your preferred MCP client, you typically need to [configure a launch command in your client](https://oraios.github.io/serena/02-usage/030_clients.html). Follow the link for specific instructions on how to set up Serena for Claude Code, Codex, Claude Desktop, MCP-enabled IDEs and other clients (such as local and web-based GUIs). -**Switching to the JetBrains Backend**. The default code intelligence backend for Serena is the free LSP backend. -For using the more powerful JetBrains backend, follow the instructions on the [JetBrains Plugin page](https://oraios.github.io/serena/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.html). - > [!TIP] > While getting started quickly is easy, Serena is a powerful toolkit with many configuration options. > We highly recommend reading through the [user guide](https://oraios.github.io/serena/02-usage/000_intro.html) to get the most out of Serena. diff --git a/docs/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.md b/docs/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.md index 89007a6a..e7f425a6 100644 --- a/docs/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.md +++ b/docs/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.md @@ -65,24 +65,22 @@ After installing the plugin, you need to configure Serena to use it. **Central Configuration**. -If you ever executed Serena before, you will have the global Serena configuration file located at `~/.serena/serena_config.yml` -(`%USERPROFILE%\.serena\serena_config.yml` on Windows). - -If the configuration file does not exist, run +You can run ```shell -uvx -p 3.13 --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server +uvx -p 3.13 --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena init -b JetBrains ``` -(see [running Serena](020_running.md) for alternative options) to install all dependencies and create configuration files. Terminate the server with `Ctrl+C` after it has started. +to set the default code intelligence backend to JetBrains in the global Serena configuration file. -In your configuration, change the `language_backend` setting as follows: +Alternatively, you can also manually edit the configuration file `~/.serena/serena_config.yml` +(`%USERPROFILE%\.serena\serena_config.yml` on Windows) and set ```yaml language_backend: JetBrains ``` -*Note*: you can also use the button `Edit Global Serena Config` in the Serena MCP dashboard to open the config file in your default editor. +Note that the file might not exist yet if you never executed Serena before. **Per-Instance Configuration**. The configuration setting in the global config file can be overridden on a