# Introduction

Lore is an open-source app for running a software project: what is planned,
what was decided, what your users ask for and how your apps are doing, in one
place that people and AI agents share.

![A project dashboard in Lore](/screenshots/lore/dashboard-light.png)

You can use the hosted instance at [lore.alepha.dev](https://lore.alepha.dev)
or [run your own](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/start-self-hosting.md) from one Docker image. Lore
does not care what your project is written in: planning, knowledge and feedback
work the same for a Rust service, a mobile app or a hardware product.

## What a project holds

A project is made of four **capabilities**. You pick them when you create the
project and you can switch any of them later, without losing anything.

| Capability    | What you get                                                                                           | Start here                                      |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------- |
| **Work**      | **Quests** (units of work), grouped into **epics** and shipped in **releases**, with a list and board. | [Quests](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/work-quests.md)                |
| **Knowledge** | **Folios**: linked notes in a tree, with files and history. The project's memory.                      | [Folios](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/knowledge-folios.md)           |
| **Support**   | **Feedback**: a request form for your users and an inbox to triage what they send.                     | [Feedback](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/support-feedback.md)         |
| **Apps**      | Your deployed apps: analytics, errors, healthchecks and deploys.                                       | [Apps and instances](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/apps-instances.md) |

Every project also has a [dashboard](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/project-dashboard.md),
[reports](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/project-reports.md), members with
[ranks](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/project-members.md) and
[notifications](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/project-notifications.md), whatever its capabilities.
[Capabilities](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/project-capabilities.md) explains each one and its
options.

## Three ways in

Everything in a project can be reached three ways, with the same permissions
behind each:

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  People[People in the browser] --> Project[Lore project]
  Agents[AI agents over MCP] --> Project
  CLI[The lore command, CI] --> Project
  Project --> Work
  Project --> Knowledge
  Project --> Support
  Project --> Apps
```

- **In the browser.** This is where most of this documentation takes place.
- **From an AI agent.** Lore is an MCP server, so a coding agent can read the
  project's folios before it starts, pick up a quest, tick its objectives and
  write down what it learned. An agent acts as the person who connected it and
  can never do more than that person. See
  [Connecting an agent](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/agents-connecting.md).
- **From a terminal.** The `lore` command does the same from a shell or a CI
  job. See [The lore CLI](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/reference-cli.md).

You do not need an agent to use Lore. A team that never connects one gets a
complete project tool; a team that does gets a place where the agent's work is
planned, visible and reviewable like anyone else's.

## Lore and Alepha

Lore is built with the [Alepha](https://latest.alepha.dev/docs/guides-introduction.md) framework and is
released alongside it, which is why its documentation lives on this site. You
do not need to know Alepha, or use it in your own project, to use Lore.

Two features of the Apps capability are made for apps built with Alepha today:
[telemetry](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/apps-telemetry.md), which an app reports through an Alepha
module, and [app deploys](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/apps-deploying.md), which ship an Alepha
build. [Healthchecks](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/apps-healthchecks.md) watch any address, and
[stacks](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/apps-stacks.md) deploy any Compose file.

## Next

- [Quickstart](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/start-quickstart.md): an account, a project, your team
  and a first quest, in a few minutes.
- [Capabilities](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/project-capabilities.md): what each part of a project
  does, and how to turn it on.
- [Self-hosting](https://latest.alepha.dev/lore/docs/start-self-hosting.md): your own instance, from one
  command.