📦 Memory Vault — Persistent Context Layer for Claude (MCP)

Memory Vault is a self-hosted, local-first memory engine for Claude. Your context lives as human-readable Markdown files in an Obsidian-compatible vault on your machine, or you can back it with MongoDB Atlas for cloud persistence. The goal is simple: keep your engineering context portable across accounts, devices, and client surfaces without locking it to a single AI vendor.

Built on Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Features

• Zero account lock-in: keep the same context across personal or corporate Claude accounts.
• Obsidian native: memories are plain Markdown files, so they show up directly in Obsidian.
• MongoDB Atlas integration: optionally sync or back up memory data in the cloud.
• Dual transports: run locally over stdio for Claude Desktop or over HTTP for broader access.
• Privacy first: no tracking telemetry; you own the vault and any cloud keys you configure.

Architecture

flowchart TB
   client[Claude Desktop / Browser Client] -->|MCP Protocol| server[Memory Vault Server (Node)]
   server -->|Local file I/O| vault[Obsidian Vault\n(Plain Markdown Notes)]
   server -->|Cloud sync| atlas[MongoDB Atlas\n(Persistent datastore)]

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/mcp-memory-vault.git
cd mcp-memory-vault
npm install
npm link
memory-vault-setup

The setup wizard detects your operating system, locates the local Claude Desktop configuration, and injects the MCP server entry for you.

Configuration

Copy the template file and edit the values for your environment:

cp .env.example .env

Example configuration:

VAULT_DIR=/path/to/your/Obsidian/Vault/claude-memory
PORT=8080
MCP_SHARED_SECRET=your-secure-random-string
MONGODB_URI=mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@cluster.mongodb.net/memory_vault?retryWrites=true&w=majority

Use VAULT_DIR for the local Markdown vault, PORT for the HTTP server, MCP_SHARED_SECRET for connector access, and MONGODB_URI if you want MongoDB-backed storage.

Tool Surface

The server exposes five MCP tools:

Tool	Parameters	Purpose
save_memory	topic, content, tags	Save a memory or decision into the persistent vault.
get_memory	topic	Retrieve everything stored under a topic.
search_memory	query, topic, limit	Search memories with optional topic scoping.
list_memory_topics	None	List all stored topics and their metadata.
delete_memory_topic	topic	Delete an entire topic from the vault.

Claude Desktop Setup

The included setup script writes the Claude Desktop MCP configuration for you.

memory-vault-setup

If you prefer to configure it manually, the server entry points to src/stdio-server.js and passes VAULT_DIR through the environment.

Hosted HTTP Deployment

To expose the vault over HTTP for Claude web or other remote clients:

1. Push the repository to GitHub.
2. Deploy it as a web service on Render.
3. Use npm install as the build command and npm run start:server as the start command.
4. Set MCP_SHARED_SECRET and MONGODB_URI in the Render environment settings.
5. Add a custom connector in Claude and point it at your deployment URL.

Example connector URL:

https://your-app.onrender.com/mcp?secret=YOUR_MCP_SHARED_SECRET_HERE

License

MIT © 2026 Akshat