# jcdickinson/simplemem [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🧠 Knowledge & Memory  
**Repository:** https://github.com/jcdickinson/simplemem  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**Views:** 2  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/jcdickinson-simplemem

## Description
A simple memory tool for coding agents using DuckDB and VoyageAI.

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **create_memory**
- **read_memory**
- **update_memory**
- **delete_memory**
- **search_memories**
- **get_backlinks**
- **change_tag**

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Heuristic fallback — verify the package name and runner against the repository README before running it. Uses `npx` (confidence: low):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "simplemem": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","jcdickinson-simplemem"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation & README

# SimpleMem

A vibe-coded memory management system with RAG capabilities for Claude via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

> ⚠️ **Warning**: This project is completely vibe-coded. It works, but don't look too closely at the implementation details. The code was written by an AI having a good time, not by someone following best practices.

## What is SimpleMem?

SimpleMem is an MCP server that provides persistent memory storage and retrieval for Claude and other MCP clients. It combines traditional file-based storage with modern RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) capabilities, including semantic search and automatic relationship discovery.

Think of it as Claude's personal notebook that never forgets and can find connections between ideas automatically.

## Features

- 📝 **Persistent Memory Storage**: Store and retrieve memories with rich metadata
- 🔍 **Semantic Search**: Find memories using natural language queries
- 🔗 **Automatic Relationship Discovery**: Semantic backlinks connect related memories
- 🏷️ **Tag System**: Organize memories with flexible tagging
- 🎯 **Vector Embeddings**: Powered by Voyage AI for high-quality semantic understanding
- 📊 **DuckDB Backend**: Fast, efficient storage with vector similarity search
- 🔧 **MCP Protocol**: Seamless integration with Claude and other MCP clients

## Quick Start

### Prerequisites

- Go 1.21+
- A Voyage AI API key (see Configuration section below)

### Installation

#### Option 1: Download Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/jcdickinson/simplemem/releases):

- **Linux AMD64**: `simplemem-vX.X.X-linux-amd64.tar.gz`

Extract and place the binary in your PATH.

#### Option 2: Build from Source

```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/jcdickinson/simplemem
cd simplemem

# Install dependencies
just deps

# Build the binary
just build
```

#### Option 3: Nix

If you have Nix with flakes enabled:

```bash
# Run directly from GitHub
nix run github:jcdickinson/simplemem

# Or clone and run locally
git clone https://github.com/jcdickinson/simplemem
cd simplemem
nix run

# Install to profile
nix profile install github:jcdickinson/simplemem

# Run in development shell
nix develop
```

### Configuration

SimpleMem uses TOML-based configuration with flexible options for API keys and settings.

#### Configuration File

Create a `config.toml` file (see `config.toml.example` for reference):

```toml
[voyage_ai]
model = "voyage-3.5"
rerank_model = "rerank-lite-1"

api_key = { "path" = "~/.config/simplemem/voyage_api_key.txt" }
# OR
api_key = "api-key-here"
```

#### Environment Variables

You can also configure using environment variables:

```bash
export SIMPLEMEM_VOYAGE_AI_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export SIMPLEMEM_VOYAGE_AI_MODEL="voyage-3.5"
export SIMPLEMEM_VOYAGE_AI_RERANK_MODEL="rerank-lite-1"
```

#### Configuration Options

- **Custom config file**: Use `--config path/to/config.toml`
- **Database path**: Use `--db path/to/database.db` (can also be set in config)
- **API key sources**: File path (recommended) or direct value
- **Multiple configs**: Different configs for different projects

### Usage

#### As an MCP Server

Add to your MCP client configuration:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "simplemem": {
      "command": "./simplemem",
      "args": [
        "--db",
        "path/to/your/database.db",
        "--config",
        "path/to/config.toml"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

#### Command Line Testing

```bash
# Create a memory
just test-json '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"create_memory","arguments":{"name":"my-memory","metadata":{"title":"My First Memory","description":"A test memory","tags":{"category":"test","priority":"low"}},"content":"# Hello World\n\nThis is my first memory!"}},"id":1}'

# Search memories (primary discovery method)
just test-json '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"search_memories","arguments":{"query":"hello world"}},"id":1}'

# Read a specific memory
just test-json '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"read_memory","arguments":{"name":"my-memory"}},"id":1}'
```

#### Testing Semantic Backlinks

```bash
# Run comprehensive semantic backlinks test
just test-backlinks

# Verify backlinks are working
just test-json '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_backlinks","arguments":{"name":"my-memory"}},"id":1}'
```

## Available Tools (MCP)

- **`create_memory`**: Create a new memory with metadata object and markdown content
- **`read_memory`**: Read a specific memory by name
- **`update_memory`**: Update existing memory metadata and content
- **`delete_memory`**: Remove a memory and all related data
- **`search_memories`**: Semantic search with optional tag filtering (primary discovery method)
- **`get_backlinks`**: Get memories related to a specific memory
- **`change_tag`**: Modify tags on memories

> **Note**: `list_memories` has been temporarily removed to encourage efficient semantic search usage instead of token-heavy full listings.

## Memory Format

### API Structure (for create_memory/update_memory)

```json
{
  "name": "my-memory-name",
  "metadata": {
    "title": "A Human-Readable Title",
    "description": "Brief description of the memory",
    "tags": {
      "category": "personal",
      "priority": "high",
      "status": "active"
    },
    "custom_field": "any_value",
    "version": "1.0"
  },
  "content": "# Memory Content\n\nYour memory content in **Markdown** format.\n\n- Clean markdown without frontmatter\n- Links to [[other-memories]]\n- Whatever you need!"
}
```

### On-Disk Storage

Memories are stored as YAML frontmatter + Markdown:

```markdown
---
title: A Human-Readable Title
description: Brief description of the memory
tags:
  category: personal
  priority: high
  status: active
custom_field: any_value
version: "1.0"
created: 2025-01-24T12:00:00Z
modified: 2025-01-24T12:00:00Z
---

# Memory Content

Your memory content in **Markdown** format.

- Clean markdown without frontmatter
- Links to [[other-memories]]
- Whatever you need!
```

## Development

### Prerequisites

- [Just](https://github.com/casey/just) command runner

### Common Commands

```bash
# Show available commands
just

# Run tests (when they exist)
just test

# Format code
just fmt

# Run with verbose logging
just run-verbose

# Test semantic backlinks functionality
just test-backlinks

# Clean up build artifacts
just clean
```

### Debug Testing

For rapid development iteration:

```bash
# Test any JSON-RPC call with custom database
just test-json '<json>' /tmp/test.db

# Quick minimal test
just test-clean /tmp/debug.db

# Build and test in one command
just build-test
```

## Architecture

- **Frontend**: MCP JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol server
- **Storage**: File-based memory storage with DuckDB backend
- **Search**: Voyage AI embeddings + vector similarity
- **Relationships**: Automatic semantic backlink discovery
- **Memory**: YAML frontmatter + Markdown content

## Known Issues

- No proper test suite (it's vibe-coded, remember?)
- Error handling could be more robust
- Some edge cases might crash things
- Documentation is whatever this README covers
- Database migrations? What are those?

## Contributing

This is a vibe-coded project, so contributions should match the energy:

1. Make it work first
2. Make it work well second
3. Make it pretty... maybe later?
4. Tests are aspirational
5. If it breaks, fix it with more vibes

## License

LGPL 3.0 - Use it, modify it, vibe with it (but share improvements back to the community).

## Credits

- Built with love and caffeine
- Powered by [Voyage AI](https://voyageai.com) embeddings
- Uses [DuckDB](https://duckdb.org) for storage
- MCP integration via [mark3labs/mcp-go](https://github.com/mark3labs/mcp-go)

---

_"It works on my machine, and that machine has good vibes."_ ✨