threadctx-mcp

Shared memory MCP server for AI coding agents. Works identically with Claude Code and Cursor — same package, same config shape, no per-client integration work.

Modes

• Local (default, free, no signup): memory stored as a plain JSON file at ~/.threadctx/local.json — zero native dependencies, so npx threadctx-mcp installs instantly on any machine with Node 18+ (no compiler, no node-gyp step). No network calls except to whichever LLM provider your agent already uses. Matching is keyword-based, scoped to the current repo (detected via git remote). Run npx threadctx-mcp list any time to see exactly what your agents have stored.
• Cloud (paid Team tier+): memory shared across everyone on the repo, with real semantic search. Requires an API key from threadctx.dev (or your own self-hosted deployment — see ../cloud/README.md).

Quick start

# Local mode — nothing to configure. Also auto-adds the "check team memory"
# instruction to CLAUDE.md / .cursor/rules/threadctx.mdc on first start.
npx threadctx-mcp

# Optional: write a committable .threadctx.json config, or re-apply the
# project-rules block explicitly.
npx threadctx-mcp init

# Cloud mode — prints the exact MCP config block to paste
npx threadctx-mcp init --mode=cloud --api-key=tctx_xxx

# See what your agents have written to this machine
npx threadctx-mcp list            # this repo
npx threadctx-mcp list --all      # every repo

init writes a .threadctx.json file (just { "mode": "cloud" }) to the current directory. It is safe to commit — it never contains your API key. The key is read from the THREADCTX_API_KEY environment variable at runtime (set it in your MCP client's env block, as shown below), so secrets stay out of version control by construction.

threadctx also adds a small, clearly-marked instruction to your project rules — CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, .cursor/rules/threadctx.mdc for Cursor — telling the agent to call memory_query before a task and memory_write after. This happens automatically the first time the server starts in a project — you don't need to run init for it. Running init just triggers it explicitly and prints the result; either way it's idempotent (safe to re-run, never duplicates). Opt out entirely with THREADCTX_NO_AUTO_RULES=1, or per-init-call with --no-rules.

The same instruction is also sent as part of the MCP initialize handshake itself (the protocol's instructions field), so it reaches the model even before any rules file exists, and for clients that don't read project-rules files at all. The file-based rules are belt-and-suspenders on top of that, since not every MCP client is guaranteed to surface instructions prominently.

Claude Code setup

Add to your Claude Code MCP config (claude mcp add or edit ~/.claude/mcp.json directly):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "threadctx": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "threadctx-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "THREADCTX_MODE": "cloud",
        "THREADCTX_API_KEY": "tctx_xxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor setup

Add the same block to .cursor/mcp.json in your project root (or via Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "threadctx": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "threadctx-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "THREADCTX_MODE": "cloud",
        "THREADCTX_API_KEY": "tctx_xxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

That's it — the same package and config work in both clients because MCP is a portable, open protocol.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
THREADCTX_MODE	no	local (default) or cloud
THREADCTX_API_KEY	only in cloud mode	issued via cloud/scripts/create-tenant.ts
THREADCTX_API_URL	no	defaults to https://threadctx.dev/api/v1; override for self-hosting
THREADCTX_REPO	no	overrides repo auto-detection from git remote
THREADCTX_DB_PATH	no	local-mode store path; defaults to ~/.threadctx/local.json
THREADCTX_NO_AUTO_RULES	no	set to 1 to disable auto-injecting CLAUDE.md / .cursor/rules/threadctx.mdc on server start

Local development

npm install
npm run dev     # runs the server via tsx, watches for changes
npm run build   # compiles to dist/ for publishing

How the tools work

• memory_write(content, tags?) — the agent calls this after resolving a non-obvious bug, making an architectural decision, or learning something worth remembering.
• memory_query(task_description, max_results?) — the agent calls this before starting risky or repeated work. Results are returned with a consistent attribution footer (· via threadctx — shared team memory (N hits)) so the same string is recognizable whether you're reading Claude Code's terminal output or Cursor's agent panel.

Tool descriptions are written to bias the model toward calling memory_query proactively, and — as of 0.3.0 — the server reinforces this two more ways with zero setup required: the MCP initialize response carries the same instruction to every connecting client, and CLAUDE.md / .cursor/rules/threadctx.mdc get it auto-injected on first start. MCP tools are still fundamentally pull-based (no mechanism can force a tool call), but these three layers together are the strongest guarantee we can build.

CLI subcommands

Command	What it does
npx threadctx-mcp	Runs the MCP server (this is what Claude Code / Cursor launch). Auto-injects project rules on first start in a project.
npx threadctx-mcp init [--mode=cloud --api-key=…] [--no-rules]	Writes .threadctx.json and explicitly (re-)applies the project-rules block.
npx threadctx-mcp list [--all] [--full] [--json]	Shows what's stored in the local on-disk memory.