The release that turns engram from a Claude Code tool into a universal context spine across every major AI coding tool.

What's new

Universal init detector (5 → 8 IDEs)

engram setup now auto-detects Cline, Zed, and OpenAI Codex CLI alongside Claude Code, Cursor, Continue.dev, Aider, and Windsurf. Per-IDE setup hints include the exact MCP config snippet for Cline.

Anthropic Claude Code plugin

/plugin install engram from the official directory once the listing lands. Plugin manifest at plugins/anthropic-marketplace/ with three skills (/engram:cost, /engram:query, /engram:mistakes) plus the MCP server config.

VS Code / Cursor extension

A thin wrapper around the engramx CLI shipped to OpenVSX. Six commands, status-bar entry, two settings. Compiles to a single out/extension.js. Works in VS Code, Cursor, and any VS Code fork.

Cline integration

docs/integrations/cline.md — Cline supports MCP natively, so the integration is one config-snippet away.

engramx-continue

Sister npm package at adapters/continue/. Continue.dev @engram context provider with HTTP and CLI fallback transports. Tarball clean (2.2 KB, 4 files).

Public surface refresh

• README.md callout leads with May 2026 market context (Cursor pricing crisis + Claude Code rate-limit pain)
• IDE matrix expanded from 8 to 11
• "How It Compares" rewritten as the May 2026 8-row competitive matrix
• docs/install.html title, OG, hero pill, IDE matrix all v3.4
• GitHub repo description and topics refreshed

Tests

• 910 passing across Ubuntu + Windows × Node 20 + 22 (was 907 baseline → +3 detector tests)

Why now

Three things broke at the same time in 2026. Cursor went usage-based and people started getting $1,400 surprise bills. Anthropic tightened Claude Code limits, then quietly tested removing the product from the $20 Pro plan. AI coding fragmented into 8 IDEs with no common context layer. v3.4 puts engram into all of them.

Full strategic audit: ~/Desktop/Projects/Engram/00-strategy/2026-05-02-strategic-audit-v34-pivot.md
7-day execution plan: ~/Desktop/Projects/Engram/01-prds/04-universal-spine-7-day-plan.md

Process

This is the first release that walked the new 8-phase release ritual at ~/.claude/skills/engram-release/SKILL.md. Future releases follow the same checklist by default.

Install

npm install -g engramx@latest
cd ~/your-project
engram setup            # auto-detects every supported IDE

For Continue.dev users:

npm install engramx-continue

For Cursor / VS Code users:

code --install-extension engram-vscode    # OpenVSX