Improve instructions for Running Serena,

adding a pointer to the option --language-backend
and improving the description of --project-from-cwd
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Dominik Jain authored and Dominik Jain committed 2025-12-18 19:15:37 +01:00
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@@ -6,18 +6,17 @@ This section describes
* how to run and configure the most important command, i.e. starting the MCP server
* other useful commands.
:::{tip}
By default, Serena will use language servers for code understanding and analysis.
With the [Serena JetBrains Plugin](025_jetbrains_plugin), we recently introduced a powerful alternative,
which has several advantages over the language server-based approach.
:::
## Ways of Running Serena
In the following, we will refer to the command used to run Serena as `<serena>`,
which you should replace with the appropriate command based on your chosen method.
:::{note}
By default, Serena will use language servers for code understanding and analysis.
We provide a powerful alternative to that through the [Serena JetBrains Plugin](025_jetbrains_plugin),
which has several advantages over the language server approach.
Note that you don't have to use a JetBrains IDE as your editor to take advantage of this solution.
:::
### Using uvx
`uvx` is part of `uv`. It can be used to run the latest version of Serena directly from the repository, without an explicit local installation.
@@ -157,7 +156,11 @@ to get a list of all available options.
Some useful options include:
* `--project <path|name>`: specify the project to work on by name or path.
* `--project-from-cwd`: auto-detect project from current working directory (searches up for `.serena/project.yml` or `.git`, falls back to CWD). Intended only for CLI-based agents like Claude Code, Gemini and Codex.
* `--project-from-cwd`: auto-detect the project from current working directory
(looking for a directory containing `.serena/project.yml` or `.git` in parent directories, activating the current directory if none is found);
This option is intended for CLI-based agents like Claude Code, Gemini and Codex, which are typically started from within the project directory
and which do not change directories during their operation.
* `--language-backend JetBrains`: use the Serena JetBrains Plugin as the language backend (overriding the default backend configured in the central configuration)
* `--context <context>`: specify the operation [context](contexts) in which Serena shall operate
* `--mode <mode>`: specify one or more [modes](modes) to enable (can be passed several times)
* `--enable-web-dashboard <true|false>`: enable or disable the web dashboard (enabled by default)