Crbro Memory vs Sequential Thinking
A side-by-side look at the Crbro Memory and Sequential Thinking MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Crbro Memory for knowledge & memory work as a local process; choose Sequential Thinking for knowledge & memory as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Crbro Memory when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
crbro_boot, crbro_inspect, crbro_learn.
Choose Sequential Thinking when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Knowledge & Memory | Knowledge & Memory |
| Quality signal | 65/100 · Great | 76/100 · Great |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | No auth required | No auth required |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Verified |
| GitHub stars | 8 | 91,405 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 4 views 3 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 15 | Not listed |
| Full listing | View Crbro Memory | View Sequential Thinking |
Tools & capabilities
Crbro Memory tools 15
crbro_bootRead the brain at session start — call it FIRST in every conversation, before any other work; writes only the boot stamp (and the brain itself on first use). Loads memory from earlier sessions: hot topics, active context with open_items and recently_closed (never report recently_closed as pending; verify open_items before repeating them), recent_sessions, counts, active protocols as a protocol_enforcement block you must follow, memory_discipline (the rules for using this memory well) and retired_tools (old tool names → their replacement). Readies the search index and syncs shared team spaces (offline is normal). Pass project (the working folder or repo name) to put that project's neurons first: project_neurons. Skipping it loses all context; close the session with crbro_consolidate.crbro_inspectRead-only views of the brain by id or name; to search by content use crbro_recall. Nothing is written by any view: every read leaves the brain untouched. view=status answers any question about CRBRO itself: version, brain path, totals, last boot/consolidation, whether semantic recall is installed and on, hot_topics_recalculated. view=neuron: an index of one neuron — header, counts, connections (min_strength filters) and every entry as id, kind, date and preview, paged with limit/offset; entries=[ids or exact text] reads those in full, detail=full returns the whole neuron, shortened and declared when large. view=neurons: rows hottest first (id, name, domain, type, heat, last_accessed, facts_count), filtered by domain, type, min_heat, paged with limit/offset. view=sessions: day logs newest first, the only place session summaries are read. view=global_map: one cluster per domain plus cross-domain bridges, computed live. Params of other views are ignored.crbro_learnWrite: store a fact, decision, pattern, preference, error or debt on a topic; the neuron is created if missing (or pass neuron_id). A value that can change names its source (file, key, URL, person). Stage 1 of the lifecycle: a new truth that REPLACES an old one → crbro_learn with supersedes; retire with no replacement → crbro_revise; delete from disk → crbro_forget. crbro_recall first — it may already exist. The same fact text again is not duplicated: keywords merge, a changed confidence or shelf_life applies (updated_in_place), a bare repeat counts as re-verified and another session repeating it raises confirmations; text matching a retired entry is refused with skipped_retired. Decisions always append; preferences never leave this machine. Credentials become a marker listed in redacted: crbro_secret them, keep only the name. Returns neuron_id, action, the fact's shelf_life, near_duplicates (stored anyway; retire the old telling) and supersedes_unmatched (still live).crbro_recallRead-only search of everything saved in earlier sessions — facts, decisions, patterns, preferences, errors, debts and maps. Call it BEFORE answering anything about the user, their projects, preferences, decisions or past work: the answer is usually stored, and making them repeat it is the failure this memory exists to prevent. One result per neuron: the best matching entry with entry_id (read it whole: crbro_inspect view=neuron entries=[id]), matched_kind, matched_added, a confidence label (weak = little of the question covered; verify) and also_matched previews. Lines not the user's own carry origin, also_matched too: team:<space> (team if unshared) with self-declared by, or miner. Rows past their shelf life move to possibly_stale as last_known with a next_step: check before answering with one, or say it may be out of date. If nothing matches, retry with 2-4 phrasings in queries or fewer, rarer words. has_map:true: read the system map with crbro_map before touching that system.crbro_reviseWrite: change what a neuron says without deleting anything. Stage 2 of the lifecycle: something stopped being true, or was never true, and nothing replaces it → crbro_revise (kept in the file, gone from recall, reversible with status active). If a replacement exists, crbro_learn with supersedes does both; for what must not exist on disk use crbro_forget. facts retires facts by id or exact text; entries retires decisions, patterns, errors and debts by exact text; status active reactivates either (local only on a shared neuron: the next sync re-applies the retirement, shared_warning says so); status verified records that a fact, decision or pattern was checked against its source and still holds. summary, domain, tags and name edit metadata in the same call (tags replaces the whole list; the id never changes). move_to splits: the listed entries go to another neuron with their dates. Anything in unmatched is STILL LIVE — fix and re-run.crbro_forgetWrite, destructive: remove from disk after a quarantine copy (backup returned). Stage 3 of the lifecycle: something must not exist on disk at all — a credential, personal data, a whole neuron → crbro_forget; for knowledge that merely stopped being true use crbro_revise, which keeps the history. One mode per call. facts: delete entries of a neuron (facts, decisions, patterns, preferences, errors, debts, the map) by id or exact text. entire: delete the whole neuron and its synapses — call it without confirm_token first: the dry run reports what would happen and returns confirm_token. Show the user, get agreement, call again with the token; a stale token is refused. restore: bring back the newest quarantine copy. merge_into: union a neuron into another, rewire synapses, delete the source. session: delete one day's log, search index included (quarantine keeps the text). entire and merge_into refuse a shared neuron — crbro_share unshare first. A removed credential must still be rotated.crbro_connectWrite: create, strengthen or delete the undirected synapse between two neurons; both ids are validated. action=connect (default) creates at strength 0.5 and adds +0.1 per repeat call (cap 1.0), or sets the absolute strength you pass; action=disconnect deletes the synapse and unlinks both neurons — the destructive side. Idle synapses decay and crbro_maintenance prunes the weak; crbro_consolidate links neurons written in the same session by itself, so use this for relationships beyond co-occurrence. To read connections use crbro_inspect view=neuron. Returns synapse_id, action (created|strengthened|disconnected|absent) and strength.crbro_contextRead or write the working context: active topics, open items, recently closed, last session. Called with no arguments it only reads (written:false, nothing touched); any argument writes and returns the full state plus resolved and discarded. Close items as soon as they are done — resolve_pending records them in recently_closed, discard_pending drops one without recording it, clear empties everything — because an item left open is repeated back to the user in later sessions long after it was finished. Sessions are logged by crbro_consolidate, not here.crbro_mapRead or replace a neuron's system map: ONE living document — where the system lives, what serves what, which pieces talk to each other, the traps that cost hours. crbro_inspect view=neuron already returns the map; use crbro_map to read it alone, or to rewrite it. Omit content to read (map:null if none); content replaces the previous version entirely (append-only maps rot); an empty string clears it. Read it before working on a system touched in past sessions; after changing the system rewrite the whole map. Reading never creates a neuron, writing does. Credentials are redacted on write. Atomic facts belong in crbro_learn — the map is the prose around them.crbro_consolidateWrite: close the session — the only way to log a session. Call it before the conversation ends. Persists pending knowledge and index writes, logs the session from summary (credentials stripped, kinds in redacted), sets the context's last_session, recalculates heat, links the neurons written this session with weak temporal synapses (synapses_updated), updates the manifest and syncs shared team spaces (offline is normal). Returns session_id, facts_saved, decisions_saved, topics_touched and per-space sync state; topics_touched logs neurons you only read. promotion_candidates: own lessons (not from a teammate or the miner) found in 2+ project neurons, with suggested_target; nothing is moved. Not consolidating loses the session's knowledge. Mid-session open items go to crbro_context; housekeeping is crbro_maintenance.crbro_maintenanceWrite: brain housekeeping — recalculate heat, prune weak synapses, check integrity, rebuild the search index. Returns a report (counts, integrity_issues, repairable, notes) and flags debts without a revisit trigger. dry_run:true writes nothing at all (the global map is computed live, never cached). Extras are OFF unless asked: archive cold neurons (on a mature brain most look cold, and archived ones stop being searchable), unarchive them back, purge_boilerplate left by early miners, repair what the integrity check found, backfill_dates for entries older than 1.13, compact what a bulk import left. For session close use crbro_consolidate; to only read the brain use crbro_inspect.crbro_auditRead-only scan of every field of every neuron (facts, decisions, patterns, preferences, errors, debts, system map) and of every session log for credentials stored before the filter caught them — API keys, tokens, passwords. Reports where they sit and what kind, never the values. Findings are in the search index too, so recall can return them: remove with crbro_forget (facts for entries, session for a day log), then rotate the credential. Run it after upgrading and whenever a secret may have been pasted into a conversation. crbro_inspect shows content; this only judges it.- +3 more on the listing page
Sequential Thinking tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Ready-to-paste client configs
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.
Crbro Memory
{
"mcpServers": {
"crbro-memory": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"crbro-memory"
]
}
}
}
Sequential Thinking
{
"mcpServers": {
"sequential-thinking": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-sequential-thinking"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Crbro Memory is categorized under Knowledge & Memory and uses a local stdio subprocess. Sequential Thinking belongs to Knowledge & Memory and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Crbro Memory for knowledge & memory work and Sequential Thinking for knowledge & memory.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Crbro Memory is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. Sequential Thinking is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add crbro-memory and sequential-thinking as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Crbro Memory has a quality signal of 65/100 (Great) with 1 views, 0 installs and 8 GitHub stars. Sequential Thinking has 76/100 (Great) with 4 views, 3 installs and 91,405 GitHub stars.