A side-by-side look at the Agent Recall and Modelbrain MCP MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Agent Recall for knowledge & memory work as a local process; choose Modelbrain MCP for knowledge & memory as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
session_start, session_end, remember.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Knowledge & Memory | Knowledge & Memory |
| Quality signal | 69/100 · Great | 41/100 · Fair |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | No auth required | No auth required |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 371 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 5 | Not listed |
| Full listing | View Agent Recall | View Modelbrain MCP |
session_start[ENTRY — call FIRST, before acting] Use when the user asks to start, load, continue, resume, or open memory for a project. Set mode='lite' for a ≤500-token briefing (good for fresh conversations where the agent will pull memory on demand via recall()).session_end[ON SAVE/EXIT — YOU must call this; nothing auto-saves] Use when the user asks to save, checkpoint, summarize, end, retain, or persist the current session. Optionally pass close_phase / open_phase to update the project pipeline narrative spine in the same call.remember[MID-SESSION WRITE — single fact/decision; saying it is not saving it] Use when the user asks to remember, store, note, or save a specific decision, fact, or insight.recall[RETRIEVE — use freely, any time] Use when the user asks to recall, search, find, or look up previous memory, context, or decisions.check[MID-SESSION — safe any time; for alignment, before risky decisions] Use when the user asks to validate understanding, verify alignment, or check if their interpretation matches the human's intent. Also call BEFORE a high-risk action — publish, deploy, delete, credential exposure, external send/message, or any other irreversible write — passing `action_description` (one sentence, what you're about to do). Returns matching corrections/rules/insights plus a `verdict`: `blocked` means an authoritative correction OVERRIDES the plan — read it before proceeding. To RECORD a durable human correction, pass `human_correction` as the STRUCTURED object {rule, why, applies_when} — a plain string is only STAGED for later review, never activated.No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
{
"mcpServers": {
"agent-recall": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"agent-recall-mcp"
]
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"modelbrain-modelbrain-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"modelbrain-mcp"
]
}
}
}