Gnosem vs Lightning Memory

In-depth architectural comparison of the Gnosem and Lightning Memory MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Gnosem when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: memory_write, memory_search, memory_list.

Explore Gnosem Details

L

Choose Lightning Memory when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: memory_store, memory_query, memory_list.

Explore Lightning Memory Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Gnosem Knowledge & Memory	L Lightning Memory Knowledge & Memory
Summary	Cross-vendor AI memory over MCP. One semantic store, readable and writeable from every MCP client.	Decentralized agent memory for the Lightning economy. Nostr identity, L402 payments.
Category & Scope	Knowledge & Memory	Knowledge & Memory
Quality signal

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gnosem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "gnosem-install"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lightning-memory": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "lightning-memory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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