Pathrule's engine is open source under **Apache-2.0**. The core, the path-scoped memory, rule and skill engine together with the MCP tool surface, runs on your own machine, for free, with no account.

## What the core is

The open core is the same engine that powers Pathrule Cloud, minus the team layer:

- The **path-scoped context engine**: the `get_context` retrieval, the router that decides how much context a task needs, and the ranking that picks the right slice for the current working directory.
- The full **MCP tool surface** for memories, rules and skills. An AI client sees an identical tool contract whether it talks to the local core or to Pathrule Cloud.
- An **embedded local store**. Your content lives in a local SQLite database under `~/.pathrule`, with no server to run and no infrastructure to manage.

## Runs fully local

The core indexes, ranks and serves context offline. There is no account to create and nothing leaves your machine. It is the fastest way to feel the path-scoped model on your own projects.

## Semantic search and routing

Semantic recall and the LLM router are part of the core, gated on **your own API key** (bring your own key). Add a Voyage or OpenAI key and the core recalls by meaning, locally. Without a key, the deterministic router is the default, so the core still works with zero configuration.

## What Pathrule Cloud adds

Pathrule Cloud builds on the same core and adds the team layer:

- **Team sync** and shared, reviewable knowledge with role-based access.
- **Live activity** and overlapping-write detection across teammates.
- **AI curation**: assisted merge, generation and staleness detection.
- The **managed backend**, plus the Pathrule Web and Desktop apps.

Pathrule Cloud is the hosted product and is governed by the [pricing plans](/pricing). Everything the open source core offers stays free, local and account-free.

## Getting started

Install the CLI and create a local workspace. See [Install](/docs/cli/install) and the [Pathrule CLI](/docs/surfaces/cli) surface for the local commands, and [Core concepts](/docs/start/core-concepts) for the memory, rule and skill model the core delivers.