Memento
Memento is a local-first, open-source MCP middleware that gives AI agents persistent memory, proactive goal enforcement, and autonomous intelligence using a SQLite temporal graph with Reciprocal Rank Fusion retrieval.
README
<div align="center"> <img src="assets/memento-logo.svg" alt="Memento Logo" width="100%">
<h1>Memento</h1> <p><strong>The Autonomous Nervous System for AI Agents</strong></p>
Memento is a local-first, open-source MCP middleware that gives your AI agents (Cursor, Claude Desktop, Trae, etc.) persistent memory, proactive goal enforcement, and autonomous intelligence — all running on a zero-cost SQLite temporal graph with Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) retrieval.
No cloud databases. No API calls for storage. Everything stays on your machine.
Architecture
Temporal Graph Memory (RRF)
Built on SQLite FTS5 (full-text search) and cosine similarity (vector embeddings). Fuses keyword matches and semantic meaning via Reciprocal Rank Fusion. WAL-mode enabled for concurrency.
Tri-State Goal Enforcer
Keep your AI aligned with project objectives at three escalation levels:
- Level 1 — Context Injection: Automatically injects active goals into every search result. Active by default.
- Level 2 — Strict Mentor: Forces the AI to submit code/plans for goal alignment evaluation via LLM.
- Level 3 — Daemon Push: File-watcher monitors your workspace and proactively flags goal drift.
Active Coercion (Code Immune System)
Deterministic regex/tree-sitter rules that block anti-patterns at commit time and in the IDE. 100% deterministic — zero LLM hallucination risk during enforcement.
Autonomous Agent
Background cognitive loop with four levels:
- off: No background behavior (default).
- passive: Observe health and patterns every 5 min. No modifications.
- active: Consolidate memories, extract KG, warm caches, detect anomalies every 2 min.
- autonomous: All of the above plus dream synthesis, goal drift detection, task generation, health reports every 1 min.
Workspace Isolation
Each project gets its own .memento/ directory with an isolated SQLite database. No context bleeding between projects. Configure via MEMENTO_DIR or per-project .cursor/mcp.json.
Session Continuity
- Auto-checkpoints every 25 tool calls with full L1 working memory snapshot.
- Auto-resume restores goals and context from the previous session.
- LLM-agnostic handoff prompts for session transfer between agents.
Project Memory Graph
Semantic entity-relationship graph on top of the Knowledge Graph. Track files, components, decisions, and their dependencies. Impact analysis shows what breaks when you change something.
Unified Tool API (v0.3.x)
Memento exposes 14 action-based tools via MCP. Each tool uses an action parameter instead of separate tools per operation:
| Tool | Actions | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
memento |
(main router) | Primary proactive memory interface |
memento_project |
set_state, get_state, delete_state, set_goals, list_goals, summary |
Vision, milestones, blockers, goals |
memento_session |
begin, resume, handoff, status, list |
Session lifecycle and handoff |
memento_graph |
add_entity, add_relation, query, impact, summary |
Project Memory Graph |
memento_search |
basic, advanced, explain |
FTS, vNext pipeline, routing trace |
memento_remember |
add, consolidate, share, evaluate, hit |
Memory write operations |
memento_configure |
enforcement, coercion, daemon, autonomy, consolidation_scheduler, kg_scheduler, dependency_tracker, superpowers, access |
All configuration |
memento_cognitive |
dream, align, warnings, tasks |
Cognitive engine operations |
memento_health |
status, health, memory, kg, quality, relevance, cache, explain |
Diagnostics |
memento_coercion |
list_presets, apply_preset, list_rules, add_rule, remove_rule, install_hooks |
Active Coercion management |
memento_kg |
extract, health, cross_workspace_stats |
Knowledge Graph operations |
memento_notifications |
configure, list, dismiss |
Proactive notifications |
memento_audit_dependencies |
(standalone) | Dependency audit |
memento_migrate_workspace_memories |
(standalone) | Workspace memory migration |
Quick Start
Install
pip install memento-mcp
Or run without installing:
uvx memento-mcp
Configure (Cursor / Claude Desktop / Trae)
Add to your global mcp.json (e.g. ~/.cursor/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"memento": {
"command": "memento-mcp",
"env": {
"OPENAI_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
"OPENAI_BASE_URL": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
"MEM0_MODEL": "openai/gpt-4o-mini"
}
}
}
}
For per-project workspace isolation, add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project root:
{
"mcpServers": {
"memento": {
"command": "memento-mcp",
"env": {
"OPENAI_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
"OPENAI_BASE_URL": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
"MEM0_MODEL": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
"MEMENTO_DIR": "${workspaceFolder}"
}
}
}
}
Add .cursor/ to your .gitignore to avoid committing API keys.
Verify
memento-mcp --help
memento --help
<details> <summary>Running without OpenAI (offline / testing)</summary>
Set MEMENTO_EMBEDDING_BACKEND=none to disable embeddings. Memento falls back to FTS5-only search — no API key needed.
MEMENTO_EMBEDDING_BACKEND=none memento-mcp
</details>
Environment Variables
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
OPENAI_API_KEY |
Required for embeddings and cognitive features |
OPENAI_BASE_URL |
Optional OpenAI-compatible endpoint (e.g. OpenRouter) |
MEM0_MODEL |
LLM model for cognitive features |
MEM0_EMBEDDING_MODEL |
Embeddings model for hybrid search |
MEMENTO_EMBEDDING_BACKEND |
Set to none for FTS5-only (no API key) |
MEMENTO_DIR |
Workspace root for .memento/ state |
MEMENTO_UI |
Enable local web UI (1/true) |
MEMENTO_UI_PORT |
Local UI port (default 8089) |
MEMENTO_HANDOFF_AUTO_CHECKPOINT_EVERY_N_EVENTS |
Auto-checkpoint frequency (default 25) |
CLI Usage
Memento works from the terminal too:
# Auto-capture git context as a memory
memento capture --auto
# Save a free-form note
memento capture --text "Resolved auth timeout by increasing JWT expiry"
# Search memories
memento search "how did I fix the promise bug"
# Show workspace status
memento status
How Proactivity Works
Memento operates at two levels:
Always-on (zero configuration)
- Goal awareness: Every tool call is checked against active goals. If work drifts, a warning is appended.
- Auto-resume: L1 working memory (goals, context) restores from the previous session's checkpoint.
- Auto-checkpoint: Every 25 events, a full session snapshot is saved with project state and handoff prompt.
- Session diff: Each checkpoint computes the delta from the previous session (goals changed, files touched).
Activatable (via memento_configure)
- L2 enforcement: Goal alignment checks via LLM on explicit request.
- L3 daemon: File-watcher with proactive goal drift notifications.
- Autonomous agent: Background consolidation, KG extraction, dream synthesis, task generation.
- Active coercion: Deterministic code pattern enforcement.
- Consolidation/KG schedulers: Background deduplication and knowledge extraction.
Example activation sequence:
memento_project(action="set_goals", goals=["Implement auth flow", "Refactor DB layer"])
memento_configure(action="enforcement", level="level2", enabled=true)
memento_configure(action="consolidation_scheduler", enabled=true, interval_minutes=30)
memento_configure(action="autonomy", level="active")
License
Memento is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). If you modify Memento and offer it as a network service, you must release your modified source code under the same license.
See LICENSE for details.
Recommended Servers
playwright-mcp
A Model Context Protocol server that enables LLMs to interact with web pages through structured accessibility snapshots without requiring vision models or screenshots.
Magic Component Platform (MCP)
An AI-powered tool that generates modern UI components from natural language descriptions, integrating with popular IDEs to streamline UI development workflow.
Audiense Insights MCP Server
Enables interaction with Audiense Insights accounts via the Model Context Protocol, facilitating the extraction and analysis of marketing insights and audience data including demographics, behavior, and influencer engagement.
VeyraX MCP
Single MCP tool to connect all your favorite tools: Gmail, Calendar and 40 more.
graphlit-mcp-server
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server enables integration between MCP clients and the Graphlit service. Ingest anything from Slack to Gmail to podcast feeds, in addition to web crawling, into a Graphlit project - and then retrieve relevant contents from the MCP client.
Kagi MCP Server
An MCP server that integrates Kagi search capabilities with Claude AI, enabling Claude to perform real-time web searches when answering questions that require up-to-date information.
Neon Database
MCP server for interacting with Neon Management API and databases
E2B
Using MCP to run code via e2b.
Exa Search
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server lets AI assistants like Claude use the Exa AI Search API for web searches. This setup allows AI models to get real-time web information in a safe and controlled way.
Qdrant Server
This repository is an example of how to create a MCP server for Qdrant, a vector search engine.