Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

Telem adds web search, page reading and monitors to Devin Local, the local agent in Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf), and to the Devin CLI, which runs the same agent. The tools come from Telem’s hosted MCP server. A Telem hook sends your options with each search, keeps the searches of each chat together in the console, and records why the agent searched.

Before you begin

• Devin Desktop. Telem is tested on Devin Desktop 3.11. On the free plan, Devin Local runs with the SWE-1.6 Slow model. The other models need a paid plan.
• A trusted folder. Devin runs local agents and hooks only in a folder you trust. In Restricted Mode, local agents are off.
• Node.js 20 or later, on the PATH that Devin Desktop runs with. The installer runs on it, and so does the hook. To send the model’s reasoning, the hook needs Node.js 22.13 or later.

Create a Telem API key

1. Open your project
2. API keys
3. Issue API key

tlm_••••••••••••••••Keys start with tlm_.

Open the console

Never paste a key into a chat with Devin. Every path below sets it for you.

Install

Connect Devin Desktop to Telem

Installer

1. Run the installer in your terminal and pick Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf). Paste your key when the installer asks. The field is masked, and the key never appears on screen.

   curl -fsSL https://docs.telem.ai/install.sh | sh

2. Restart Devin Desktop. Devin reads its MCP servers and hooks when it starts.

3. Open a folder, trust it, and pick Local. Telem works in Devin Local, not in the cloud agent.

4. Ask Devin to search the web. Devin asks before each Telem call: click Allow. The search shows in the console.

Install with no prompts, for example in CI

curl -fsSL https://docs.telem.ai/install.sh | sh -s -- --yes --client devin --key-env TELEM_API_KEY

By hand

1. Add the server with your key. Put this in ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json (on Windows, %APPDATA%\devin\mcp_config.json), with your key in place of tlm_your_key. If the file already has mcpServers, add the telem entry to it.

   ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "telem": {
         "url": "https://mcp.telem.ai/mcp",
         "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tlm_your_key" }
       }
     }
   }

2. Restart Devin Desktop. Devin reads its MCP servers when it starts.

3. Open a folder, trust it, and pick Local.

4. Ask Devin to search the web. Devin asks before each Telem call: click Allow. The search shows in the console.

This gives Devin the tools, but not the hook: your .telem/telem.json options and the model’s reasoning are not sent, and the console does not keep a chat’s searches together. The installer adds the hook and the Telem skill.

Tools

Search and read

4 tools

• telem_search Searches the web on several providers in one call.
• telem_fetch Reads the full text of up to 5 pages.
• telem_providers Lists the search providers.
• telem_session_history Lists the earlier searches in a session.

Monitors

4 tools

• create_monitor Runs a search on a schedule and keeps only new results.
• list_monitors Lists your monitors.
• get_new_results Gets the new results of a monitor since the last read.
• delete_monitor Deletes a monitor.

The installer also adds the Telem skill to ~/.config/devin/skills/telem/. It tells the agent to read pages with telem_fetch, and to send a goal and a reason with each search.

Specific to Devin Desktop

• The hook keeps each chat’s searches together. It links every search and page read to your Devin session and the prompt, so the console shows one conversation.
• Why Devin searched. The hook reads the model’s thinking from the session file that Devin keeps (on Linux, ~/.local/share/devin/cli/sessions.db), and sends the thinking that led to each search or page read. It only reads the file. With Node.js older than 22.13, the hook sends no reasoning.
• Options come from the files. The hook reads the .telem/telem.json of the folder open in Devin, then ~/.telem/telem.json, then the TELEM_* variables. It sends your options with every search and page read. providerOverrides is not sent. It is not yet confirmed that Devin gives your shell’s environment to the hook, so set options in a file.
• Devin asks before each Telem call. It shows an approval card for the tool, for example mcp__telem__telem_search, with Allow and Reject.
• The Devin CLI. Devin Local is the Devin CLI’s agent, and both read ~/.config/devin, so the installer sets up the CLI too. Restart it after you install.
• Not Cascade. Cascade, the older agent in Devin Desktop, reads another config, so the installer does not add Telem to it. Use Devin Local.

If something goes wrong

• Every call gets 401: the Authorization header in ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json is missing or has an old key. Run the installer again, or edit the header.
• “Local agents are off”: the folder is in Restricted Mode. Trust the folder, then open a new Local tab.
• The console does not keep a chat’s searches together: the hook did not run. Check that the folder is trusted, that node is on the PATH that Devin Desktop runs with, and that ~/.config/devin/config.json has the Telem PreToolUse hook. Then restart Devin Desktop. The search still runs, without your options.
• The console shows no reasoning: check that node --version is 22.13 or later.

Update and remove

To update, run the installer again. It replaces the hook and the skill, and updates the key in ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json. You can keep the key you already have.

What the installer writes for Devin Desktop

File	What it holds
~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json	The telem server, with your key in its Authorization header. Only you can read the file.
~/.config/devin/config.json	A hooks.PreToolUse group that runs the Telem hook. The rest of the file stays as it was.
~/.config/devin/skills/telem/	The Telem skill.
~/.telem/plugins/devin-telem/	The hook scripts.

On Windows, the first three are in %APPDATA%\devin\.

To remove Telem:

1. In ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json, remove mcpServers.telem.
2. In ~/.config/devin/config.json, remove the hooks.PreToolUse group that runs devin-telem/hooks/lineage.mjs.
3. Delete the ~/.config/devin/skills/telem and ~/.telem/plugins/devin-telem folders.
4. Restart Devin Desktop. Devin then has no Telem server, skill or hook.

What the installer changed outside Devin’s config

File	What it holds	To undo
~/.telem/credentials.json	Your key	Delete it if no other Telem integration uses it.
~/.telem/telem.json	Your Telem options	Delete it if no other Telem integration uses it.

Learn more

Configuration

Set the tier, the providers and auto-routing in one file, for Devin and your other agents.

Parameters

Every option, the values it takes, and which setting wins.

Search parameters

What each search option does, from tiers to date windows.

Fetch parameters

Choose the fetch provider and tier, or read pages live.