You hit the context limit. You built a folder of notes and some glue. This is the finished version.
Plain Markdown you own, with a real index on top. Full-text, semantic, and a knowledge graph. Open source, MCP-native, runs local.
## You've tried this
You dumped chats into a folder. Maybe you wired up a vector DB, or threw together an MCP server, or kept a sprawling CLAUDE.md. It half-worked. Until it got big, or you switched tools, or you couldn't find anything. Basic Memory started exactly there. A side project born from beer and bitching about this exact problem. What is Basic Memory?
## What you actually wanted
Not a black box you can't inspect, and not a folder the agent has to grep. You wanted plain files you own, with real search and a graph on top, that show up in every tool you work in. That's the part that's annoying to build. So we built it.
## That's Basic Memory
Markdown is the source of truth; full-text, semantic, and graph search make it queryable. Read it like a doc, query it like a database.
One memory across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and any MCP client. Your agent reads context before it writes code.
AGPL-3.0, SQLite, local embeddings, no API keys required. Self-host it, or sync a private cloud when you want to.
## Free, open, and yours
Basic Memory is AGPL-3.0. The whole stack lives on GitHub: the MCP server, the CLI, the indexer, the schemas, the integration plugins, the bundled skills. pip install basic-memory or brew install basic-memory and you have the same engine the cloud runs on, on your laptop, with no API keys and no phone-home.
The repo. Python, FastAPI, SQLite, AGPL-3.0. 3K+ stars, active development, weekly releases.
View on GitHubThe full reference. Concepts, CLI, MCP tools, schemas, integrations, and how-to guides.
Read the docsReference plugins for OpenClaw and Hermes, plus ten bundled memory skills. Build your own against the same surface.
Browse integrations## Drop it into your stack
Then follow a playbook: persistent memory for coding or durable memory for your agents.
Free and open source to run locally. Two minutes to connect your first AI tool.
Knowledge tools built to last
© 2026 Basic Memory - Basic Machines