The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the Aimemo listing page.
Zero-dependency MCP memory server for AI agents — persistent, searchable, local-first, single binary.
brew install in 30 seconds..aimemo/ next to your code — commit it to git or add it to .gitignore. Switch branches; memory follows the directory.memory_context fires automatically on every session start. Claude sees what it was doing, what was blocked, what decisions were made. You stop repeating yourself.Restart Claude Code. On the next session, Claude will automatically load project context.
If you're using OpenClaw skills, see the OpenClaw Integration section below for per-skill memory isolation.
aimemo serve runs as a stdio MCP server; Claude Code manages the process lifecycle, so there is nothing to keep alive yourself. When Claude starts a session it calls memory_context to load relevant prior context; as it works it calls memory_store and memory_link to record decisions and relationships. You can call aimemo search, aimemo list, or aimemo get at any time to read or edit the same data from your terminal. Everything lives in a SQLite database inside .aimemo/, discovered by walking up from the current directory — the same way Git finds .git/.
| Tool | Description | When Claude calls it |
|---|---|---|
memory_context | Returns ranked, recent observations for the current project | Session start — automatic |
memory_store | Saves an observation (fact, decision, journal entry, TODO) | After completing a task or making a decision |
memory_search | Full-text search across all observations, BM25-ranked | When it needs to recall something specific |
memory_forget | Soft-deletes an observation by ID | When instructed to discard something |
memory_link | Creates a named relationship between two observations | When it identifies a dependency or connection |
All tool schemas total under 2,000 tokens. Each call has a hard 5-second timeout — the server never stalls your session. Empty-state queries return in under 5 ms.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
aimemo init | Create .aimemo/ in the current directory |
aimemo serve | Start the MCP stdio server (called by Claude Code automatically) |
aimemo doctor | Verify DB health, FTS5 support, WAL mode, and MCP registration |
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
aimemo add <name> <type> [observations...] [--tag] | Add an entity with one or more observations |
aimemo observe <entity-name> <observation> | Add a new observation to an existing entity |
aimemo retract <entity-name> <observation> | Remove a specific observation from an entity |
aimemo forget <entity-name> [--permanent] | Soft-delete an entity (recoverable); use --permanent to hard-delete |
aimemo search <query> | Full-text search with ranked results |
aimemo get <entity-name> | Show an entity with all its observations and relations |
aimemo link <from> <relation> <to> | Create a typed relation between two entities |
aimemo append <entity-name> <observation> | Add an observation to an entity (alias for observe) |
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
aimemo journal | Open an interactive journal entry (respects $EDITOR) |
aimemo journal <text> | Record a quick inline journal entry |
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
aimemo list | List recent observations |
aimemo tags | List all tags in use |
aimemo stats | Show DB size, observation count, last-write time |
aimemo export --format md | Export all memory to Markdown |
aimemo export --format json | Export all memory to JSON |
aimemo import <file> | Import from JSONL or JSON export file |
All commands accept --context <name> to target a named context (a separate .db file inside .aimemo/).
~/.aimemo/config.toml — global defaults, all optional:
Per-project overrides live in .aimemo/config.toml in the project root — same keys, project values win over global values.
Register the server once per machine:
Add the following to your project's CLAUDE.md so Claude knows memory is available and how to use it:
aimemo solves OpenClaw's "remembers everything but understands none" problem with per-skill memory isolation and zero infrastructure.
The Problem:
The Solution:
vs Other Solutions:
| aimemo | Cognee | memsearch | Supermemory | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependencies | Zero | Neo4j/Kuzu | Milvus | Cloud service |
| Installation | 30 sec | Complex | Complex | Sign up required |
| Skill isolation | Built-in | Manual | Manual | N/A |
| Linux support | ✅ Native | ✅ | ✅ | N/A |
Each skill gets its own isolated memory by using the context parameter:
In your SKILL.md:
memory_context({context: "my-skill"})
memory_store({ context: "my-skill", entities: [{ name: "preferences", entityType: "config", observations: ["User prefers snake_case"] }] })
Result:
See examples/openclaw-github-pr-reviewer/ for a full working skill that:
aimemo works with any MCP-compatible AI coding client. The server command is always aimemo serve.
PATH note (macOS/Homebrew): GUI apps may not inherit your shell PATH. If a client can't find
aimemo, use the absolute path/opt/homebrew/bin/aimemoinstead.
Or commit .mcp.json to the project root (see the one in this repo as an example).
Project-local (.cursor/mcp.json) or global (~/.cursor/mcp.json):
Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json (global only):
Project-local (.codex/config.toml) or global (~/.codex/config.toml):
Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json:
Project-local (.continue/mcpServers/aimemo-memory.yaml):
Or add to global ~/.continue/config.yaml under the mcpServers: key.
In ~/.zed/settings.json (global) or .zed/settings.json (project-local):
Bug reports and feature requests go in GitHub Issues. Pull requests are welcome — please open an issue first for anything non-trivial so we can align on direction before you invest time writing code.