AgentKits Memory

by AityTech

Persistent Memory System for AI Coding Assistants

Your AI assistant forgets everything between sessions. AgentKits Memory fixes that.
Decisions, patterns, errors, and context — all persisted locally via MCP.

Website • Docs • Quick Start • How It Works • Platforms • CLI • Web Viewer

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Features

Feature	Benefit
100% Local	All data stays on your machine. No cloud, no API keys, no accounts
Blazing Fast	Native SQLite (better-sqlite3) = instant queries, zero latency
Zero Config	Works out of the box. No database setup required
Multi-Platform	Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode — one setup command
MCP Server	9 tools: save, search, timeline, details, recall, list, update, delete, status
Auto-Capture	Hooks capture session context, tool usage, summaries automatically
AI Enrichment	Background workers enrich observations with AI-generated summaries
Vector Search	sqlite-vec semantic similarity with multilingual embeddings (100+ languages)
Web Viewer	Browser UI to view, search, add, edit, delete memories
3-Layer Search	Progressive disclosure saves ~87% tokens vs fetching everything
Lifecycle Mgmt	Auto-compress, archive, and clean up old sessions
Export/Import	Backup and restore memories as JSON

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How It Works

Session 1: "Use JWT for auth"          Session 2: "Add login endpoint"
┌──────────────────────────┐          ┌──────────────────────────┐
│  You code with AI...     │          │  AI already knows:       │
│  AI makes decisions      │          │  ✓ JWT auth decision     │
│  AI encounters errors    │   ───►   │  ✓ Error solutions       │
│  AI learns patterns      │  saved   │  ✓ Code patterns         │
│                          │          │  ✓ Session context        │
└──────────────────────────┘          └──────────────────────────┘
         │                                      ▲
         ▼                                      │
    .claude/memory/memory.db  ──────────────────┘
    (SQLite, 100% local)

1. Setup once — npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory configures your platform
2. Auto-capture — Hooks record decisions, tool usage, and summaries as you work
3. Context injection — Next session starts with relevant history from past sessions
4. Background processing — Workers enrich observations with AI, generate embeddings, compress old data
5. Search anytime — AI uses MCP tools (memory_search → memory_details) to find past context

All data stays in .claude/memory/memory.db on your machine. No cloud. No API keys required.

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Design Decisions That Matter

Most memory tools scatter data across markdown files, require Python runtimes, or send your code to external APIs. AgentKits Memory makes fundamentally different choices:

Design Choice	Why It Matters
Single SQLite database	One file (memory.db) holds everything — memories, sessions, observations, embeddings. No scattered files to sync, no merge conflicts, no orphaned data. Backup = copy one file
Native Node.js, zero Python	Runs wherever Node runs. No conda, no pip, no virtualenv. Same language as your MCP server — one npx command, done
Token-efficient 3-layer search	Search index first (~50 tokens/result), then timeline context, then full details. Only fetch what you need. Other tools dump entire memory files into context, burning tokens on irrelevant content
Auto-capture via hooks	Decisions, patterns, and errors are recorded as they happen — not after you remember to save them. Session context injection happens automatically on next session start
Local embeddings, no API calls	Vector search uses a local ONNX model (multilingual-e5-small). Semantic search works offline, costs nothing, and supports 100+ languages
Background workers	AI enrichment, embedding generation, and compression run asynchronously. Your coding flow is never blocked
Multi-platform from day one	One --platform=all flag configures Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and OpenCode simultaneously. Same memory database, different editors
Structured observation data	Tool usage is captured with type classification (read/write/execute/search), file tracking, intent detection, and AI-generated narratives — not raw text dumps
No process leaks	Background workers self-terminate after 5 minutes, use PID-based lock files with stale-lock cleanup, and handle SIGTERM/SIGINT gracefully. No zombie processes, no orphaned workers
No memory leaks	Hooks run as short-lived processes (not long-running daemons). Database connections close on shutdown. Embedding subprocess has bounded respawn (max 2), pending request timeouts, and graceful cleanup of all timers and queues

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Web Viewer

View and manage your memories through a modern web interface.

npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory web

Then open http://localhost:1905 in your browser.

Session List

Browse all sessions with timeline view and activity details.

Memory List

Browse all stored memories with search and namespace filtering.

Add Memory

Create new memories with key, namespace, type, content, and tags.

Memory Details

View full memory details with edit and delete options.

Manage Embeddings

Generate and manage vector embeddings for semantic search.

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Quick Start

Option 1: Claude Code Plugin Marketplace (Recommended for Claude Code)

Install as a plugin with one command — no manual configuration needed:

/plugin marketplace add aitytech/agentkits-memory
/plugin install agentkits-memory@agentkits-memory

This installs hooks, MCP server, and memory workflow skill automatically. Restart Claude Code after installation.

Option 2: Automated Setup (All Platforms)

npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory

This auto-detects your platform and configures everything: MCP server, hooks (Claude Code/OpenCode), rules files (Cursor/Windsurf/Cline), and downloads the embedding model.

Target a specific platform:

npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory --platform=cursor
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory --platform=windsurf,cline
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory --platform=all

Option 3: Manual MCP Configuration

If you prefer manual setup, add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@aitytech/agentkits-memory", "server"]
    }
  }
}

Config file locations:

• Claude Code: .claude/settings.json (embedded in mcpServers key)
• Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json
• Windsurf: .windsurf/mcp.json
• Cline / OpenCode: .mcp.json (project root)

3. MCP Tools

Once configured, your AI assistant can use these tools:

Tool	Description
memory_status	Check memory system status (call first!)
memory_save	Save decisions, patterns, errors, or context
memory_search	[Step 1] Search index — lightweight IDs + titles (~50 tokens/result)
memory_timeline	[Step 2] Get temporal context around a memory
memory_details	[Step 3] Get full content for specific IDs
memory_recall	Quick topic overview — grouped summary
memory_list	List recent memories
memory_update	Update existing memory content or tags
memory_delete	Remove outdated memories

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Progressive Disclosure (Token-Efficient Search)

AgentKits Memory uses a 3-layer search pattern that saves ~70% tokens compared to fetching full content upfront.

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Step 1: memory_search                                      │
│  Returns: IDs, titles, tags, scores (~50 tokens/item)       │
│  → Review index, pick relevant memories                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                             ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Step 2: memory_timeline (optional)                         │
│  Returns: Context ±30 minutes around memory                 │
│  → Understand what happened before/after                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                             ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Step 3: memory_details                                     │
│  Returns: Full content for selected IDs only                │
│  → Fetch only what you actually need                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Example Workflow

// Step 1: Search - get lightweight index
memory_search({ query: "authentication" })
// → Returns: [{ id: "abc", title: "JWT pattern...", score: 85% }]

// Step 2: (Optional) See temporal context
memory_timeline({ anchor: "abc" })
// → Returns: What happened before/after this memory

// Step 3: Get full content only for what you need
memory_details({ ids: ["abc"] })
// → Returns: Full content for selected memory

Token Savings

Approach	Tokens Used
Old: Fetch all content	~500 tokens × 10 results = 5000 tokens
New: Progressive disclosure	50 × 10 + 500 × 2 = 1500 tokens
Savings	70% reduction

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CLI Commands

# One-command setup (auto-detects platform)
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory setup --platform=cursor   # specific platform
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory setup --platform=all      # all platforms
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory setup --force             # re-install/update

# Start MCP server
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory server

# Web viewer (port 1905)
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory web

# Terminal viewer
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory viewer
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory viewer --stats
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory viewer --json

# Save from CLI
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory save "Use JWT with refresh tokens" --category pattern --tags auth,security

# Settings
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings .
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings . --reset
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings . aiProvider.provider=openai aiProvider.apiKey=sk-...

# Export / Import
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook export . my-project ./backup.json
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook import . ./backup.json

# Lifecycle management
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook lifecycle . --compress-days=7 --archive-days=30
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook lifecycle-stats .

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Programmatic Usage

import { ProjectMemoryService } from '@aitytech/agentkits-memory';

const memory = new ProjectMemoryService({
  baseDir: '.claude/memory',
  dbFilename: 'memory.db',
});
await memory.initialize();

// Store a memory
await memory.storeEntry({
  key: 'auth-pattern',
  content: 'Use JWT with refresh tokens for authentication',
  namespace: 'patterns',
  tags: ['auth', 'security'],
});

// Query memories
const results = await memory.query({
  type: 'hybrid',
  namespace: 'patterns',
  content: 'authentication',
  limit: 10,
});

// Get by key
const entry = await memory.getByKey('patterns', 'auth-pattern');

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Auto-Capture Hooks

Hooks automatically capture your AI coding sessions (Claude Code and OpenCode only):

Hook	Trigger	Action
context	Session Start	Injects previous session context + memory status
session-init	User Prompt	Initializes/resumes session, records prompts
observation	After Tool Use	Captures tool usage with intent detection
summarize	Session End	Generates structured session summary
user-message	Session Start	Displays memory status to user (stderr)

Setup hooks:

npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory

What gets captured automatically:

• File reads/writes with paths
• Code changes as structured diffs (before → after)
• Developer intent (bugfix, feature, refactor, investigation, etc.)
• Session summaries with decisions, errors, and next steps
• Multi-prompt tracking within sessions

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Multi-Platform Support

Platform	MCP	Hooks	Rules File	Setup
Claude Code	.claude/settings.json	✅ Full	CLAUDE.md (skill)	--platform=claude-code
Cursor	.cursor/mcp.json	—	.cursorrules	--platform=cursor
Windsurf	.windsurf/mcp.json	—	.windsurfrules	--platform=windsurf
Cline	.mcp.json	—	.clinerules	--platform=cline
OpenCode	.mcp.json	✅ Full	—	--platform=opencode

• MCP Server works with all platforms (memory tools via MCP protocol)
• Hooks provide auto-capture on Claude Code and OpenCode
• Rules files teach Cursor/Windsurf/Cline the memory workflow
• Memory data always stored in .claude/memory/ (single source of truth)

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Background Workers

After each session, background workers process queued tasks:

Worker	Task	Description
embed-session	Embeddings	Generate vector embeddings for semantic search
enrich-session	AI Enrichment	Enrich observations with AI-generated summaries, facts, concepts
compress-session	Compression	Compress old observations (10:1–25:1) and generate session digests (20:1–100:1)

Workers run automatically after session end. Each worker:

• Processes up to 200 items per run
• Uses lock files to prevent concurrent execution
• Auto-terminates after 5 minutes (prevents zombies)
• Retries failed tasks up to 3 times

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AI Provider Configuration

AI enrichment uses pluggable providers. Default is claude-cli (no API key needed).

Provider	Type	Default Model	Notes
Claude CLI	claude-cli	haiku	Uses claude --print, no API key needed
OpenAI	openai	gpt-4o-mini	Any OpenAI model
Google Gemini	gemini	gemini-2.0-flash	Google AI Studio key
OpenRouter	openai	any	Set baseUrl to https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
GLM (Zhipu)	openai	any	Set baseUrl to https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4
Ollama	openai	any	Set baseUrl to http://localhost:11434/v1

Option 1: Environment Variables

# OpenAI
export AGENTKITS_AI_PROVIDER=openai
export AGENTKITS_AI_API_KEY=sk-...

# Google Gemini
export AGENTKITS_AI_PROVIDER=gemini
export AGENTKITS_AI_API_KEY=AIza...

# OpenRouter (uses OpenAI-compatible format)
export AGENTKITS_AI_PROVIDER=openai
export AGENTKITS_AI_API_KEY=sk-or-...
export AGENTKITS_AI_BASE_URL=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
export AGENTKITS_AI_MODEL=anthropic/claude-3.5-haiku

# Local Ollama (no API key needed)
export AGENTKITS_AI_PROVIDER=openai
export AGENTKITS_AI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434/v1
export AGENTKITS_AI_MODEL=llama3.2

# Disable AI enrichment entirely
export AGENTKITS_AI_ENRICHMENT=false

Option 2: Persistent Settings

# Saved to .claude/memory/settings.json — persists across sessions
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings . aiProvider.provider=openai aiProvider.apiKey=sk-...
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings . aiProvider.provider=gemini aiProvider.apiKey=AIza...
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings . aiProvider.baseUrl=https://openrouter.ai/api/v1

# View current settings
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings .

# Reset to defaults
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook settings . --reset

Priority: Environment variables override settings.json. Settings.json overrides defaults.

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Lifecycle Management

Manage memory growth over time:

# Compress observations older than 7 days, archive sessions older than 30 days
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook lifecycle . --compress-days=7 --archive-days=30

# Also auto-delete archived sessions older than 90 days
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook lifecycle . --compress-days=7 --archive-days=30 --delete --delete-days=90

# View lifecycle statistics
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook lifecycle-stats .

Stage	What Happens
Compress	AI-compresses observations, generates session digests
Archive	Marks old sessions as archived (excluded from context)
Delete	Removes archived sessions (opt-in, requires --delete)

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Export / Import

Backup and restore your project memories:

# Export all sessions for a project
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook export . my-project ./backup.json

# Import from backup (deduplicates automatically)
npx @aitytech/agentkits-memory hook import . ./backup.json

Export format includes sessions, observations, prompts, and summaries.

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Memory Categories

Category	Use Case
decision	Architecture decisions, tech stack picks, trade-offs
pattern	Coding conventions, project patterns, recurring approaches
error	Bug fixes, error solutions, debugging insights
context	Project background, team conventions, environment setup
observation	Auto-captured session observations

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Storage

Memories are stored in .claude/memory/ within your project directory.

.claude/memory/
├── memory.db          # SQLite database (all data)
├── memory.db-wal      # Write-ahead log (temp)
├── settings.json      # Persistent settings (AI provider, context config)
└── embeddings-cache/  # Cached vector embeddings

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CJK Language Support

AgentKits Memory has automatic CJK support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text search.

Zero Configuration

When better-sqlite3 is installed (default), CJK search works automatically:

import { ProjectMemoryService } from '@aitytech/agentkits-memory';

const memory = new ProjectMemoryService('.claude/memory');
await memory.initialize();

// Store CJK content
await memory.storeEntry({
  key: 'auth-pattern',
  content: '認証機能の実装パターン - JWT with refresh tokens',
  namespace: 'patterns',
});

// Search in Japanese, Chinese, or Korean - it just works!
const results = await memory.query({
  type: 'hybrid',
  content: '認証機能',
});

How It Works

• Native SQLite: Uses better-sqlite3 for maximum performance
• Trigram tokenizer: FTS5 with trigram creates 3-character sequences for CJK matching
• Smart fallback: Short CJK queries (< 3 chars) automatically use LIKE search
• BM25 ranking: Relevance scoring for search results

Advanced: Japanese Word Segmentation

For advanced Japanese with proper word segmentation, optionally use lindera:

import { createJapaneseOptimizedBackend } from '@aitytech/agentkits-memory';

const backend = createJapaneseOptimizedBackend({
  databasePath: '.claude/memory/memory.db',
  linderaPath: './path/to/liblindera_sqlite.dylib',
});

Requires lindera-sqlite build.

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API Reference

ProjectMemoryService

interface ProjectMemoryConfig {
  baseDir: string;              // Default: '.claude/memory'
  dbFilename: string;           // Default: 'memory.db'
  enableVectorIndex: boolean;   // Default: false
  dimensions: number;           // Default: 384
  embeddingGenerator?: EmbeddingGenerator;
  cacheEnabled: boolean;        // Default: true
  cacheSize: number;            // Default: 1000
  cacheTtl: number;             // Default: 300000 (5 min)
}

Methods

Method	Description
initialize()	Initialize the memory service
shutdown()	Shutdown and persist changes
storeEntry(input)	Store a memory entry
get(id)	Get entry by ID
getByKey(namespace, key)	Get entry by namespace and key
update(id, update)	Update an entry
delete(id)	Delete an entry
query(query)	Query entries with filters
semanticSearch(content, k)	Semantic similarity search
count(namespace?)	Count entries
listNamespaces()	List all namespaces
getStats()	Get statistics

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Code Quality

AgentKits Memory is thoroughly tested with 970 unit tests across 21 test suites.

Metric	Coverage
Statements	90.29%
Branches	80.85%
Functions	90.54%
Lines	91.74%

Test Categories

Category	Tests	What's Covered
Core Memory Service	56	CRUD, search, pagination, categories, tags, import/export
SQLite Backend	65	Schema, migrations, FTS5, transactions, error handling
sqlite-vec Vector Index	47	Insert, search, delete, persistence, edge cases
Hybrid Search	44	FTS + vector fusion, scoring, ranking, filters
Token Economics	27	3-layer search budgets, truncation, optimization
Embedding System	63	Cache, subprocess, local models, CJK support
Hook System	502	Context, session-init, observation, summarize, AI enrichment, service lifecycle, queue workers, adapters, types
MCP Server	48	All 9 MCP tools, validation, error responses
CLI	34	Platform detection, rules generation
Integration	84	End-to-end flows, embedding integration, multi-session

# Run tests
npm test

# Run with coverage
npm run test:coverage

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Requirements

• Node.js LTS: 18.x, 20.x, or 22.x (recommended)
• MCP-compatible AI coding assistant

Node.js Version Notes

This package uses better-sqlite3 which requires native binaries. Prebuilt binaries are available for LTS versions only.

Node Version	Status	Notes
18.x LTS	✅ Works	Prebuilt binaries
20.x LTS	✅ Works	Prebuilt binaries
22.x LTS	✅ Works	Prebuilt binaries
19.x, 21.x, 23.x	⚠️ Requires build tools	No prebuilt binaries

Using Non-LTS Versions (Windows)

If you must use a non-LTS version (19, 21, 23), install build tools first:

Option 1: Visual Studio Build Tools

# Download and install from:
# https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/
# Select "Desktop development with C++" workload

Option 2: windows-build-tools (npm)

npm install --global windows-build-tools

Option 3: Chocolatey

choco install visualstudio2022-workload-vctools

See node-gyp Windows guide for more details.

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AgentKits Ecosystem

AgentKits Memory is part of the AgentKits ecosystem by AityTech - tools that make AI coding assistants smarter.

Product	Description	Link
AgentKits Engineer	28 specialized agents, 100+ skills, enterprise patterns	GitHub
AgentKits Marketing	AI-powered marketing content generation	GitHub
AgentKits Memory	Persistent memory for AI assistants (this package)	npm

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Star History

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License

MIT

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Give your AI assistant memory that persists.

AgentKits Memory by AityTech

Star this repo if it helps your AI remember.