Strata is built to be driven by agents. The binary describes itself — a version-matched usage guide, machine-readable command and error catalogs, one command to drop onboarding notes into a repo, and an MCP server that exposes the core verbs as tools. Everything an agent needs is generated from the installed binary’s own metadata, so it can never drift from what your binary actually does.

This page orients you; the rest of the section goes deep. In a hurry? The agent quickstart is the one-step version: strata agents skill --write installs the Claude Code skill into your repo.

Target a database explicitly

Every data command needs a database — including mcp serve. Pass a path, set STRATA_DB, or use --cache for an ephemeral one. Strata never opens the current directory implicitly. A bare invocation with no target refuses, and the refusal teaches the fix:

$ strata
error: [invalid_argument.cli.no_database]: no database specified
  hint: pass a path (strata ./mydb kv put …), set STRATA_DB, or use --cache for ephemeral

That is the invalid_argument.cli.no_database code. CLI usage errors like it print a plain error: line and exit with status 2 even under --json, and their cli.* codes are not in the /e/ registry. Errors from data operations are richer: each carries a <class>.<area>.<detail> code, a one-line hint, and a https://stratadb.org/e/<code> reference. Recover by code, never by message text.

The self-describing binary

Three commands emit everything an agent needs, generated from the installed binary:

strata agents guide            # the complete usage guide, as markdown
strata agents commands --json  # the machine-readable command catalog
strata agents errors --json    # the public error-code registry

• The guide is the first thing to hand an agent with a shell — see The agents guide.
• The two catalogs let an agent enumerate every verb and every error rather than guess — see The command index.

Onboard a repository

Drop a short pointer into the current repo so future agent sessions start oriented:

strata agents init

{
  "next": null,
  "pointer": "absent",
  "pointer_target": null,
  "written": [
    ".strata/AGENTS.md"
  ]
}

That writes .strata/AGENTS.md, a pointer block that tells any agent working in the repo how to discover the rest — it points at the live guide and catalogs rather than duplicating them. Add --apply to also append the pointer block to the repo’s AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md, so agents that read those files find Strata without being told.

Speak MCP

The same binary is a Model Context Protocol server over stdio — no separate package to install:

strata ./mydb mcp serve

Point an MCP client at it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "strata": {
      "command": "strata",
      "args": ["./mydb", "mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

The server exposes a curated set of tools plus strata_guide (the guide above) and strata_command (any cataloged command as raw wire JSON). Tools return the same envelopes and the same error codes as the CLI. The full tool list and handshake are in The MCP server.

Verify

strata --cache ping

This prints pong and the installed version. If you see it, the binary runs.

In this section

• The agents guide — strata agents guide, stratadb.agents_guide(), and the strata_guide tool: one version-matched guide, three front doors.
• The command index — the machine-readable command and error catalogs, and how the generated reference derives from them.
• The MCP server — running the stdio server, the handshake, and the exact tools it advertises.
• Machine-readable docs — llms.txt, the .md mirror of every page, and the /e/ error registry.

Related

• Error handling and the error reference — recover by code.
• Your first database — the hands-on basics if you want them.