agentbrain

Local-first long-term memory for AI agents — a plain Markdown vault + a thin MCP server.
给 AI Agent 用的本地长期记忆：纯 Markdown 知识库 + 薄 MCP server。

三步上手 / Quick start (3 steps)

pip install mnemosyne-lite             # Python >= 3.10（PyPI 包名；命令仍是 agentbrain）
agentbrain init ~/agentbrain  # 建立记忆库（幂等，可重复执行）
agentbrain doctor             # 自检：一切正常会显示 "Everything looks healthy."

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agentbrain": {
      "command": "agentbrain",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "env": { "AGENTBRAIN_VAULT": "D:\\agentbrain" }
    }
  }
}

把上面 JSON（vault 路径换成你的）粘进任意 MCP 客户端（Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / DSH / Open WebUI…），重启客户端，完成。Agent 从此有了跨会话、跨工具的长期记忆。

以后接入新的 agent 不用你教：对它说一句「读 AGENTS.md 照做」即可——文件开头会把新来者引导到 ONBOARDING.md，它自己就能判断接入状态（已接 MCP / 只有 shell / 只能读文件）并完成配置或降级。

Paste that JSON (with your vault path) into any MCP client and restart it — done. Your agents now share one long-term memory.

中文详细说明 · English quickstart

Why agentbrain / 设计理念

• Plain Markdown, no lock-in — your memory is a folder of .md files. Open it in
  Obsidian, grep it, version it with Git. Remove agentbrain and the memory stays.
• Token-efficient by design — index-first retrieval: Index.md is the cheap first
  layer, BM25 (CJK-aware) only ranks candidates, and query output is compact by
  default (mode='index'); full text only on demand.
• Append-only for agents — agents may create lessons, never edit or delete them.
  Consolidation happens through proposals in _consolidations/ that a human approves,
  which keeps multi-agent writes conflict-free.
• Plug-and-play via MCP — one server, every client: Claude Code, Codex CLI,
  OpenCode, Cursor, DSH, Open WebUI, ...
• Secrets never enter the vault — credentials live in env/keyring; lessons reference
  ${ENV:VAR_NAME} placeholders only, resolved at runtime via shell. Since 0.4.1 this
  is enforced, not just a rule: memory_ingest scans for credential-shaped content
  (sk-/ghp_/AKIA/xox-/AIza keys, bearer tokens, private-key blocks, password=
  assignments) and refuses the write, telling the agent to use a placeholder instead.
  Placeholders and teaching examples (sk-xxx, YOUR_KEY) ingest fine. lint also
  scans existing lessons and reports SECRET findings — read-only, never rewrites
  files. Hand-written files are never touched.

Vault layout

agentbrain/                    # vault root (git-friendly, Obsidian-friendly)
├─ AGENTS.md                     # rules every agent reads at session start
├─ ONBOARDING.md                 # one-shot access setup for new agents
├─ Case-Learnings/
│  ├─ Index.md                   # auto-generated lesson index (retrieval layer 1)
│  ├─ log.md                     # append-only audit log
│  ├─ Learnings/                 # one lesson per file, YAML frontmatter
│  │  └─ case-001-lesson-01.md   # 文件名 = {case_id}-lesson-{NN}，自动生成
│  └─ _consolidations/           # merge/promotion proposals (human approval)
└─ Agent-Profile/
   ├─ Immutable/                 # owner preferences & environment (agent read-only)
   ├─ Mutable-Hints/             # soft preferences (agent read-only)
   └─ _suggestions/              # agent-suggested profile changes

中文快速上手

pip install mnemosyne-lite             # Python >= 3.10
agentbrain init ~/agentbrain           # 生成 vault 脚手架（幂等），自动开启 Git 快照
agentbrain doctor                      # 体检：vault/索引/锁/快照/log 一览
agentbrain ingest --case demo --lesson "部署前必须先跑迁移脚本" --tags 部署,运维
agentbrain query "部署 迁移"
agentbrain profile                     # 查看个人偏好（Immutable + Mutable-Hints）
agentbrain suggest --title "回复用中文" --change "偏好简洁的中文回复"    # 提交偏好建议
agentbrain lint                        # 体检：重复/过时/无标签/低置信度 → 生成整合提案
agentbrain apply lint-20260820-172206.md      # 人工审核后执行提案（自动归档）
agentbrain distill                     # 分析 log 中重复出现的模式 → 生成提升提案
agentbrain snapshot -m "手动备份"      # 手动提交快照（如用 Obsidian 手改文件后）
agentbrain rules --agent trae --write  # 把记忆纪律写进客户端规则文件（项目根目录运行）

说明：PyPI 包名为 mnemosyne-lite（agentbrain 在 PyPI 上与已有项目过于相似，无法注册）。
安装后的 CLI 命令与 Python 包名仍是 agentbrain，GitHub 仓库地址不变。

日常你只需要做三件事（频率都很低）：

其余全自动：Agent 会话开始读偏好、任务前查经验、学到东西写入（每次写入自动 git 快照，可回滚）。

在 MCP 客户端里接入（以 Claude Code 为例）：

claude mcp add agentbrain -- agentbrain serve

通用 MCP JSON 配置（Cursor / Open WebUI 等）：

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agentbrain": {
      "command": "agentbrain",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "env": { "AGENTBRAIN_VAULT": "D:\\agentbrain" }
    }
  }
}

Vault 路径解析顺序：--vault 参数 > AGENTBRAIN_VAULT 环境变量 > ~/agentbrain。

注册 MCP 只让 agent 能调记忆工具；要让它每次会话主动查库，再把纪律写进客户端的规则文件（在项目根目录运行，幂等可重复）：

agentbrain rules --agent claude --write   # 支持 claude / codex / trae / cursor

一条命令把「任务开始查库、中途遇到新问题再查、收尾存经验、密钥不入库」写进 CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / .trae/rules/ / .cursor/rules/。

Onboarding a new agent later needs no instructions from you: just tell it
"read AGENTS.md" — the file routes first-timers to ONBOARDING.md, where they
detect their own access mode (MCP tools / shell / file-only) and wire themselves
up or fall back accordingly.

English quickstart

pip install mnemosyne-lite             # Python >= 3.10
agentbrain init ~/agentbrain           # scaffold the vault (idempotent), enables git snapshots
agentbrain doctor                      # health check: vault, index, lock, snapshots, log
agentbrain ingest --case demo --lesson "Always run migrations before deploy" --tags deploy,ops
agentbrain query "deploy migrations"
agentbrain profile                     # print the owner profile
agentbrain suggest --title "Short replies" --change "Keep answers under 3 sentences."
agentbrain lint                        # health check → consolidation proposals
agentbrain apply lint-20260820-172206.md      # execute an approved proposal (archives it)
agentbrain distill                     # recurring-pattern analysis → promotion proposals
agentbrain snapshot -m "manual backup" # commit a snapshot (e.g. after hand-edits)
agentbrain rules --agent claude --write # install memory discipline into the client's rule file
agentbrain serve                       # start the MCP server on stdio

Note: the PyPI distribution name is mnemosyne-lite (agentbrain was rejected
as too similar to an existing PyPI project); the installed CLI command and the
Python import name remain agentbrain.

Codex CLI (~/.codex/config.toml):

[mcp_servers.agentbrain]
command = "agentbrain"
args = ["serve"]

Registering MCP makes the tools available; making the client actually query
at task start takes one more line — write the discipline block into the
project's rule file (run in the project root, idempotent):

agentbrain rules --agent claude --write   # claude / codex / trae / cursor

It installs a short "agentbrain memory discipline" section into CLAUDE.md,
AGENTS.md, .trae/rules/ or .cursor/rules/: query at task start, re-query
on new subtasks/errors, ingest at wrap-up with user confirmation, no secrets
ever.

MCP tools

MCP resources

Agents are expected to follow AGENTS.md in the vault root: read the profile at
session start, query at task start, ingest on learnings, never edit existing
lessons, never write secrets into the vault. Consolidation proposals carry
machine-readable directive blocks (```agentbrain); only the owner
executes them via agentbrain apply.

Design notes

• Retrieval scoring: BM25 over summary (×3), tags (×2), case id and body, with a
  CJK bigram tokenizer so Chinese queries work out of the box; results are boosted by
  verified, use_count and recent last_verified_at, demoted when stale (> 1 year).
• Self-maintenance signals: every query hit increments use_count; log.md
  feeds memory_distill pattern analysis; lint refreshes nothing silently —
  every mutation of history goes through human-approved proposals.
• Single-user, local-first: no daemon, no ports; concurrent writes from several
  agents are serialized by an OS-level byte-range lock (.vault.lock, msvcrt/fcntl —
  released instantly if the holder crashes), and all file writes are atomic
  (temp + rename) so readers never see torn files.
• Point-in-time recovery: every vault is its own git repo (created by init,
  repo-local identity only). Each content write — ingest, apply, lint/distill
  proposal, suggestion, index rebuild — is auto-committed, so any bad edit can be
  rolled back with plain git. Query-driven use_count bumps ride along with the
  next content commit instead of polluting history. Works fully without git; if git
  is missing, snapshots are silently disabled.

Changelog

• 0.4.3 — New agentbrain rules command: registers MCP and the tools become
  available, but clients only call them if a rule tells them to. One command
  now installs the memory discipline (query at task start, re-query on new
  subtasks/errors, ingest at wrap-up with confirmation, secrets never) into the
  client's own rule file — --agent claude|codex|trae|cursor --write writes
  CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / .trae/rules/ / .cursor/rules/ (Cursor gets an
  alwaysApply frontmatter block). Existing rule files are never overwritten —
  the block is appended; re-runs are no-ops via a marker. 95 tests.
• 0.4.2 — Self-service onboarding + hardening: new ONBOARDING.md in every
  vault routes first-time agents to the right access mode (MCP tools / shell /
  file-only) — onboarding a new agent is now just "read AGENTS.md";
  memory_ingest also scans case_id and tags for credentials (previously
  only lesson text and summary — a key smuggled into a filename or tag could
  slip past); hand-edited frontmatter with non-numeric confidence/use_count
  no longer breaks vault reads (per-field fallback to defaults). 87 tests.
• 0.4.1 — Enforced secret redaction: memory_ingest scans content and
  summaries for credential-shaped patterns (OpenAI/Anthropic/GitHub/AWS/Slack/Google
  tokens, Bearer headers, private-key blocks, password=/api_key= assignments) and
  refuses the write with a placeholder hint — the "secrets never enter the vault" rule
  is now a mechanism, not just AGENTS.md discipline. ${ENV:VAR} references and
  teaching examples (sk-xxx) pass through. lint reports SECRET findings for
  pre-existing lessons (read-only). 84 tests.
• 0.4.0 — Maturity pass: git snapshots (every vault is a self-contained git repo;
  every content write is an auto-commit you can roll back — repo-local identity,
  graceful without git), agentbrain doctor one-shot health check (vault, index
  freshness, lock round-trip, snapshot status, log; prints a copy-paste MCP config
  with your vault path), agentbrain snapshot manual commit, fool-proof 3-step
  quickstart, PyPI-ready packaging. 74 tests.
• 0.3.2 — Locking rewrite + edge cases: the vault lock now uses OS-level
  byte-range locks (msvcrt on Windows, fcntl on POSIX) instead of
  create-file-and-reclaim — a crashed holder releases instantly (previously all
  writes failed for up to 60 s) and the stale-reclaim race (two waiters both
  unlinking and both acquiring) is gone. agentbrain lint --scope tag:x no longer
  reports false DANGLING for supersede targets outside the scope; case_ids
  containing glob metacharacters ([, ?, *) no longer collide lesson ids;
  suggestion files use real YAML frontmatter (titles with colons/newlines used to
  corrupt it) and atomic writes. 65 tests.
• 0.3.1 — Data-integrity fixes: concurrent same-case ingests no longer overwrite
  each other (lesson-id allocation moved inside the vault lock); confidence: 0.0
  round-trips correctly (was silently coerced to 0.8); lint/distill proposals are
  written atomically under the lock with collision-free names; merge proposals now
  keep the more-used lesson as the keeper; duplicate detection pre-tokenizes (O(n²)
  without re-tokenizing per pair). Session wrap-up rule added to AGENTS.md. 59 tests.
• 0.3.0 — Concurrency & robustness: cross-process/thread vault write lock
  (.vault.lock, re-entrant, stale-reclaim), atomic writes (temp + rename),
  apply is now a single transaction; query no longer rebuilds the index once per
  hit (one rebuild per query); stray non-lesson .md files in Learnings/ are
  ignored; confidence clamped to [0,1]; unknown mode falls back to index;
  same-second suggestions no longer overwrite each other. 54 tests.
• 0.2.0 — Owner profile layer (memory_profile / memory_suggest + MCP
  resources), lint/distill proposals with machine-readable directive blocks,
  agentbrain apply with cycle/self-supersede/dangling checks.
• 0.1.0 — Initial MVP: vault + frontmatter + CJK-aware BM25 retrieval,
  MCP server (query/ingest/lint/distill) + CLI, scaffold templates.

Roadmap — maintenance mode

The core promise — a local, token-efficient, agent-shared long-term memory that
you own as plain Markdown — is complete and battle-tested in daily use.
The project is now in maintenance mode: bug fixes, compatibility with new MCP
client versions, and small quality-of-life improvements. Big new subsystems are
deliberately out of scope; if a vault ever grows past a few hundred lessons,
these are the parked ideas:

• Hybrid fallback search (SQLite FTS5 + local embedding, RRF fusion)
• Keyring-backed ${ENV:...} resolution helper

Done along the way:

• Enforced secret redaction on ingest + SECRET findings in lint
• Git snapshot on every write
• agentbrain apply <proposal> to execute approved consolidations
• Owner profile layer: memory_profile / memory_suggest + MCP resources
• OS-level cross-process vault lock + atomic writes

Development

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE.