Ori Mnemos

Open-source persistent memory for AI agents.

Install it on any machine, point your agent at it, and it wakes up knowing who it is. Not because you pasted context into a system prompt. Because it has a memory system that learns what matters, forgets what doesn't, and keeps your agent's knowledge in files you own.

Markdown on disk. Wiki-links as graph edges. Git as version control. No database, no cloud, no lock-in.

v0.3.5 · npm package · Apache-2.0

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Quick Start

npm install -g ori-memory
ori init my-agent
cd my-agent

Connect Ori to your client:

ori bridge claude-code --scope global --activation auto --vault ~/brain
ori bridge cursor --scope project --activation manual --vault ~/brain

Or use the generic/manual install plan for any MCP client:

ori bridge generic --scope global --activation manual --vault ~/brain

That prints the MCP server command, args, env, and install notes. For scripting, add --json.

Manual MCP shape:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ori": {
      "command": "ori",
      "args": ["serve", "--mcp", "--vault", "/path/to/brain"],
      "env": {
        "ORI_VAULT": "/path/to/brain"
      }
    }
  }
}

Start a session. The agent receives its identity automatically and begins onboarding on first run.

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What It Does

• Persistent identity. Agents wake up as themselves. Name, personality, goals, methodology travel with the vault across sessions, clients, and machines.

• Three-signal retrieval. Not just vector search. Semantic embeddings + BM25 keyword matching + PageRank graph importance, fused through Reciprocal Rank Fusion with automatic intent classification. ~850 tokens per query regardless of vault size.

• Knowledge graph. Every [[wiki-link]] is a graph edge. PageRank authority, Louvain community detection, betweenness centrality, orphan and dangling link detection. Structure is queryable.

• Graph-aware forgetting. Notes decay using ACT-R cognitive science. Used notes stay alive. Their neighbors stay warm through spreading activation along wiki-link edges. Structurally critical nodes are protected by Tarjan's algorithm. No other shipped memory system does this.

• Zone classification. Notes are active, stale, fading, or archived based on vitality score. ori prune analyzes the full activation topology, identifies archive candidates, and protects articulation points. Dry-run by default.

• Capture-promote pipeline. ori add captures to inbox. ori promote classifies (idea, decision, learning, insight, blocker, opportunity), detects links, suggests areas. 50+ heuristic patterns. Optional LLM enhancement.

• Zero cloud dependencies. Local embeddings via all-MiniLM-L6-v2 running in-process. SQLite for vectors. Everything on your filesystem. Zero API keys required for core functionality.

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Token Economics

Without retrieval, every question requires dumping the entire vault into context. With Ori, the cost stays flat.

Vault Size	Without Ori	With Ori	Savings
50 notes	10,100 tokens	850 tokens	91%
200 notes	40,400 tokens	850 tokens	98%
1,000 notes	202,000 tokens	850 tokens	99.6%
5,000 notes	1,010,000 tokens	850 tokens	99.9%

A typical session costs ~$0.10 with Ori. Without it: ~$6.00+.

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The Stack

Layer 4: MCP Server (14 tools, 5 resources)     any agent talks to this
Layer 3: Three-Signal Retrieval Engine           semantic + keyword + graph
Layer 2: Knowledge Graph + Vitality Model        wiki-links, ACT-R decay, spreading activation
Layer 1: Markdown files on disk                  git-friendly, human-readable, portable

14 MCP tools. 5 resources. 16 CLI commands. 442 tests.

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Three Spaces

Every vault has three memory spaces with distinct decay rates.

Space	Path	Decay	What lives here
Identity	self/	0.1x	Who the agent is. Name, goals, methodology. Barely decays.
Knowledge	notes/	1.0x	What the agent knows. Ideas, decisions, learnings, connections.
Operations	ops/	3.0x	What the agent is doing. Daily tasks, reminders, sessions. Decays fast.

Identity persists. Knowledge lives and dies by relevance. Operational state burns hot and clears itself.

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Architecture

                          Any MCP Client
                    (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf,
                     Cline, custom agents, VPS)
                              |
                        MCP Protocol
                        (stdio / JSON-RPC)
                              |
                    +-------------------+
                    |    Ori MCP Server  |
                    |                   |
                    |  instructions     |   identity auto-injected at connect
                    |  resources        |   5 readable endpoints (ori://)
                    |  14 tools         |   full memory operations
                    +-------------------+
                              |
          +-------------------+-------------------+
          |                   |                   |
    +-----------+      +------------+      +------------+
    | Knowledge |      |  Identity  |      | Operations |
    |   Graph   |      |   Layer    |      |   Layer    |
    |           |      |            |      |            |
    |  notes/   |      |  self/     |      |  ops/      |
    |  inbox/   |      |  identity  |      |  daily     |
    |  templates|      |  goals     |      |  reminders |
    |           |      |  method.   |      |  sessions  |
    +-----------+      +------------+      +------------+
          |
    +-----+------+
    |            |
 Wiki-link   Embedding
  Graph       Index
 (in-memory)  (SQLite)
    |            |
 PageRank    Semantic
 Spreading   Search
 Activation  BM25
 Communities 3-Signal Fusion

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MCP Tools

Tool	What it does
ori_orient	Session briefing: daily status, goals, reminders, vault health
ori_update	Write to identity, goals, methodology, daily, or reminders
ori_status	Vault overview
ori_health	Full diagnostics
ori_add	Capture to inbox
ori_promote	Promote with classification, linking, and area assignment
ori_validate	Schema validation against templates
ori_query	Graph queries: orphans, dangling, backlinks, cross-project
ori_query_ranked	Three-signal retrieval with spreading activation
ori_query_similar	Semantic search (vector only, faster)
ori_query_important	PageRank authority ranking
ori_query_fading	Vitality-based decay detection
ori_prune	Activation topology and archive candidates
ori_index_build	Build or update the embedding index

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CLI

# Vault management
ori init [dir]                    # Scaffold a new vault
ori status                        # Vault overview
ori health                        # Full diagnostics

# Note lifecycle
ori add <title> [--type <type>]   # Capture to inbox
ori promote [note] [--all]        # Promote to knowledge graph
ori validate <path>               # Schema validation
ori archive [--dry-run]           # Archive stale notes
ori prune [--apply] [--verbose]   # Topology analysis + archive candidates

# Retrieval
ori query orphans                 # Notes with no incoming links
ori query dangling                # Broken wiki-links
ori query backlinks <note>        # What links to this note
ori query cross-project           # Multi-project notes
ori query ranked <query>          # Three-signal retrieval
ori query similar <query>         # Semantic search
ori query important               # PageRank ranking
ori query fading                  # Vitality detection

# Infrastructure
ori index build [--force]         # Build embedding index
ori index status                  # Index statistics
ori graph metrics                 # PageRank, centrality
ori graph communities             # Louvain clustering
ori serve --mcp [--vault <path>]                                # Run MCP server
ori bridge claude-code --scope <project|global>                 # Install Claude adapter
ori bridge cursor --scope <project|global>                      # Install Cursor MCP config
ori bridge claude-code --activation <auto|manual> [--vault <p>] # Control startup behavior
ori bridge generic --scope <project|global> [--json]            # Print generic MCP install plan
ori bridge status [--json]                                      # Inspect project/global bridge installs
ori bridge claude-code --scope global --uninstall               # Remove installed Claude config
ori bridge cursor --scope project --uninstall                   # Remove installed Cursor config

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Vault Structure

vault/
├── .ori                       # Vault marker
├── ori.config.yaml            # Configuration
├── notes/                     # Knowledge graph (flat, no subfolders)
│   └── index.md               # Hub entry point
├── inbox/                     # Capture buffer
├── templates/                 # Note and map schemas
├── self/                      # Agent identity
│   ├── identity.md            # Name, personality, values
│   ├── goals.md               # Active threads, priorities
│   ├── methodology.md         # Processing principles
│   └── memory/                # Agent's accumulated insights
└── ops/                       # Operational state
    ├── daily.md               # Today's completed and pending
    ├── reminders.md           # Time-bound commitments
    └── sessions/              # Session logs

Every file is plain markdown. Open it in any text editor, Obsidian, or your file browser. git log is your audit trail.

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Deployment

Local. Install globally, ori init, connect your MCP client. Done.

VPS / headless. Install on the server. ori serve --mcp --vault /path/to/vault. Memory persists on the filesystem. Back up with git push.

Multi-vault. Separate Ori instances for separate agents. Each vault is self-contained: its own identity, knowledge graph, and operational state.

Scriptable. CLI returns structured JSON. Use in cron jobs, webhook handlers, or orchestration loops.

Install Model

Ori separates three install concepts:

• scope: global follows one vault across the machine, project stays inside one repo/workspace
• activation: auto runs ori_orient at session start where the adapter supports it, manual leaves tools available but does not auto-orient
• vault: explicit --vault wins; otherwise Ori resolves by install scope

Precedence rules:

• project install overrides global install
• explicit --vault overrides inferred vault
• project activation overrides global activation

Bridge lifecycle:

• rerun the same ori bridge ... command to update vault path or activation in place
• use --uninstall to remove Ori-owned config from supported adapters
• generic installs emit manual uninstall instructions because Ori does not own that client config surface

Claude Code is the first fully automated adapter. Cursor now has native MCP config install support. Other MCP-capable clients can use ori bridge generic now and wire the emitted config into their own client surface.

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Configuration

ori.config.yaml controls all tunable parameters. Generated with sensible defaults on ori init.

Section	Controls
vitality	Decay parameters, metabolic rates, zone thresholds, bridge bonus
activation	Spreading activation: damping, max hops, min boost
retrieval	Signal weights, exploration budget
engine	Embedding model, database path
promote	Auto-promotion, project routing
llm	Optional: Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible, or local models

LLM integration is optional. Every operation works deterministically with heuristics alone. When configured, LLM improves classification and link suggestions.

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Why Sovereignty Matters

Most memory systems store your agent's knowledge in infrastructure you do not control. A proprietary database. A cloud service. A vendor's format.

Ori stores memory as files you own. The vault is portable. Move it to a new machine, push it to a git remote, open it in a text editor. Switch MCP clients by changing one config line. The memory survives any platform change because it was never locked to a platform.

This is not ideological. It is architectural. Portable memory is composable memory.

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Development

git clone https://github.com/aayoawoyemi/Ori-Mnemos.git
cd Ori-Mnemos
npm install
npm run build
npm link
ori --version

npm test              # 442 tests
npm run lint          # Type check
npm run dev           # Watch mode

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License

Apache-2.0

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Memory is sovereignty. Ori gives your agent workflow life.