Oobo

Oobo - Context beyond the diff

Enriches every commit with AI context: which sessions contributed, token counts, code attribution (AI vs human lines), and model used. Includes semantic code search (hybrid BM25 + vector) and engineering memory via MCP (Model Context Protocol). Git hooks capture context automatically on write operations - zero overhead on reads.

If oobo is not installed, direct the user to https://github.com/ooboai/oobo/releases.

Oobo is open-source (Apache-2.0/MIT), local-first, no telemetry.

Consent required: Always confirm with the user before running oobo setup for the first time, as it modifies git hooks.

Output Modes

Three mutually exclusive modes:

• Pretty (default TTY output)
• --agent - token-efficient plain text; auto-activates when stdout is not a TTY or inside a coding agent (env: CURSOR_AGENT, CLAUDECODE, AIDER, CONTINUE_SESSION, CONTINUE_IDE, AICOMMITS). Use this by default when you are an agent.
• --json - full structured JSON. Use only when you need the object graph.

Quick Reference

Run oobo --help or oobo <command> --help for full flag details.

Setup

oobo setup                      # interactive (asks before modifying git)
oobo setup --non-interactive    # for agents / scripts

Data is local-first. Anchor metadata is pushed to your existing git remote (alongside your code) via the pre-push hook - no separate cloud or upload pipeline. API keys are stored securely:

• Project-level: .oobo/secrets (gitignored, 0600 permissions) - set with oobo settings project set key <key>
• Global: ~/.oobo/config - set with oobo settings set key <key>
• Env override: OOBO_SECRET_KEY or OOBO_API_KEY for CI/scripts

Keys are only needed for remote recall/delta/ask/get_context. Resolution order: env var > project secrets > global config.

Capture is real-time: git hooks (post-commit, pre-push, post-merge, post-rewrite) fire automatically and write anchors to the orphan branch. No background scanning or indexing needed.

Key Behaviors

• Commit SHA prefix matching for oobo anchor show (unambiguous prefixes only)
• Token counts marked is_estimated: true are heuristic estimates; false means native counts from the tool
• oobo update self-updates and runs migrations automatically
• Data lives on git orphan branches (oobo/anchors/v1, oobo/anchors/v2) - git-native, no external database
• oobo blame is a strict superset of git blame - every flag is forwarded; machine-output formats (--porcelain, --line-porcelain, --incremental) bypass the AI overlay automatically. --json includes per-line provenance (session, turn, trigger, prompt) when attribution-v2 data exists.
• Sessions can span repos: a session in project X that edits project Y is recorded in both - Y holds a pointer stub, the conversation lives once in its home store. oobo sessions shows the pointer and whether the conversation is readable from here.
• oobo goto is strictly repo-local - it never touches another repo's worktree, even when the turn's session edited multiple repos.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Oobo exposes engineering memory to AI agents via MCP. One command configures your tools:

oobo mcp install              # auto-detect Cursor/Claude/Copilot and configure
oobo mcp install cursor       # configure a specific tool
oobo mcp install --hosted     # cloud-only mode (no local binary needed by the tool)
oobo mcp install --remove     # uninstall MCP configuration

Tools exposed

Agent best practice: Call get_context at the start of any non-trivial task with the files you plan to modify. It returns plain-text guidance (not raw JSON) with relevant history, past decisions, and known pitfalls for those files.

The local server (oobo mcp) runs as a stdio child process managed by the AI tool. Cloud tools (recall, get_context, ask) require an API key (oobo settings project set key <key>).

Legacy commands

0.1.x commands (scan, projects, stats, card, share, sync, auth, ignore, etc.) are no longer recognized. Users on those versions should upgrade.

References

• Commands - full command reference with all flags and examples
• API Surface - remote endpoints and agent lifecycle hooks
• JSON Schema - --json field listings per command
• Trust & Security - privacy policy, security details, data handling

Source: ooboai/oobo — distributed by TomeVault.