> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/juanceresa/sift-kg/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# sift init

> Initialize a new sift-kg project

## Overview

Initialize a new sift-kg project in the current directory. Creates configuration files to get started with document extraction and knowledge graph building.

## Usage

```bash theme={null}
sift init [OPTIONS]
```

## Options

<ParamField path="--domain" type="string">
  Path to custom domain YAML to set in project config. If provided, this domain path will be written to the generated `sift.yaml` file.
</ParamField>

## Behavior

The `init` command creates two configuration files:

1. **`.env.example`** - Template for environment variables including API keys
2. **`sift.yaml`** - Project configuration file for domain, model, and extraction settings

If these files already exist, you will be prompted to confirm overwriting them.

## Output Files

### .env.example

Contains template for:

* `SIFT_OPENAI_API_KEY` - OpenAI API key
* `SIFT_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` - Anthropic API key
* `SIFT_DEFAULT_MODEL` - Default LLM model (e.g., `openai/gpt-4o-mini`)

### sift.yaml

Contains project settings:

* `domain` - Path to domain configuration or bundled domain name
* `model` - Default LLM model
* `output` - Output directory path
* `extraction` - Extraction backend and OCR settings

## Examples

### Basic initialization

```bash theme={null}
sift init
```

Creates default configuration files in the current directory.

### Initialize with custom domain

```bash theme={null}
sift init --domain path/to/custom-domain.yaml
```

Creates configuration files with the specified domain path in `sift.yaml`.

## Next Steps

After running `init`, the command displays next steps:

1. Copy `.env.example` to `.env`: `cp .env.example .env`
2. Add your API key to `.env`
3. (Optional) Edit `sift.yaml` to configure domain and settings
4. Run extraction: `sift extract ./docs/`

## See Also

* [domains](/api/cli/domains) - List available bundled domains
* [extract](/api/cli/extract) - Extract entities from documents