Setting Up PiecesOS | Get Started

Learn what PiecesOS does, how it fits with the Pieces Desktop App, and where to find the full reference—including manual install and Quick Menu.

What PiecesOS is

PiecesOS is a background service on your machine. It powers on-device intelligence for the Pieces suite—Long-Term Memory (LTM-2.7), context for Conversational Search, and the Timeline in the Pieces Desktop App.

You usually install the Pieces Desktop App first; the installer brings PiecesOS with it. You can also run PiecesOS-focused workflows (for example MCP) without the desktop app in some setups.

Typical setup

  1. Install Pieces using the installation guides for your OS.
  2. Confirm PiecesOS is running (system tray / menu bar on macOS and Windows, or your Linux workflow).
  3. If something fails, use PiecesOS troubleshooting or the doctor/CLI steps your OS guide recommends.
For advanced topics—architecture, LTM internals, MCP without desktop, and more—use the full reference below.

Full PiecesOS documentation

The canonical guide (same content as Core Dependencies → PiecesOS) covers everything in depth:

Understanding PiecesOS (full documentation) →

From there you can jump to: