Lean Memory vs YourMemory

In-depth architectural comparison of the Lean Memory and YourMemory 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 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, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.
• Primary tools included: Single SQLite file per namespace for isolated memory storage, Hybrid dense (embedding) and sparse (FTS5) search retrieval, Add-only memory history with point-in-time querying.

Explore Lean Memory Details

Choose YourMemory 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: Ebbinghaus forgetting-curve memory decay and pruning, Hybrid retrieval combining BM25, vector embeddings, and entity graph, Consolidation of related facts into summaries to reduce bloat.

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Lean Memory Wuesteon Knowledge & Memory	YourMemory sachitrafa Knowledge & Memory
Summary	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]'	Persistent memory for AI agents with Ebbinghaus forgetting-curve decay, hybrid BM25+vector retrieval, and entity graph for multi-hop reasoning. Memories auto-prune by importance and recall rate. Built-in browser dashboard, multi-agent support, and yourmemory ask for zero-API-call local queries. pip install yourmemory
Category & Scope

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": {
    "wuesteon-lean-memory": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "lean-memory"
      ],
      "env": {
        "LM_DATA_ROOT": "YOUR_LM_DATA_ROOT_HERE",
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sachitrafa-yourmemory": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "yourmemory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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