Memento vs Lean Memory

In-depth architectural comparison of the Memento and Lean 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 Memento 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).
• You have access to required keys: MEMENTO_DB.
• Primary tools included: Local SQLite-backed memory, MCP stdio transport, Structured memory read and write.

Explore Memento Details

Choose Lean 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).
• You have access to required keys: LM_DATA_ROOT, LM_MAINT_AUTO.
• Primary tools included: Per-namespace SQLite storage, Hybrid dense and FTS5 retrieval, Point-in-time history queries.

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Memento Knowledge & Memory	Lean Memory Wuesteon Knowledge & Memory
Summary	Local-first, LLM-agnostic memory layer for AI assistants.	Embedded, local-first agent memory in a single SQLite file per namespace (vec0 + FTS5 hybrid retrieval). ADD-only history queryable as-of any past time; offline sleep-time maintenance stages dedupe/summarize/evict proposals a human reviews. No Docker, no server, no cloud key. pip install 'lean-memory[mcp]'
Category & Scope	Knowledge & Memory

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": {
    "memento": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@psraghuveer/memento"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MEMENTO_DB": "YOUR_MEMENTO_DB_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wuesteon-lean-memory": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "lean-memory"
      ],
      "env": {
        "LM_DATA_ROOT": "YOUR_LM_DATA_ROOT_HERE",
        "LM_MAINT_AUTO": "YOUR_LM_MAINT_AUTO_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

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