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  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/main/docs/assets/banner.svg" alt="bettermemory: memory that is checked before it is believed" width="100%">
</p>

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://pypi.org/project/bettermemory/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/bettermemory.svg" alt="PyPI"></a>
  <a href="https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/actions/workflows/ci.yml"><img src="https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg" alt="CI"></a>
  <a href="https://www.python.org/downloads/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/python-3.11%E2%80%933.14-blue.svg" alt="Python 3.11-3.14"></a>
  <a href="LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg" alt="MIT"></a>
  <a href="https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/0Mattias/bettermemory"><img src="https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/0Mattias/bettermemory/badges/score.svg" alt="bettermemory MCP server"></a>
</p>

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.0Mattias/bettermemory -->

An MCP memory server for coding agents. Stored facts get checked against
the filesystem and git *before* the model relies on them, so a memory
that has rotted is flagged instead of quoted back at you.

## Install

Claude Code — two slash commands, zero config:

```
/plugin marketplace add 0Mattias/bettermemory
/plugin install bettermemory@bettermemory
```

Anything else that speaks MCP:

```sh
uv tool install bettermemory
bettermemory init --client claude-desktop   # or cursor / cline / claude-code / hermes
```

Restart the client. `bettermemory doctor` exits 0 when it's wired
correctly and prints a one-line fix for anything that isn't.

Try it without installing: `uvx bettermemory try` writes a memory
citing a file, deletes the file, and shows the next search flagging it.
Offline, throwaway store.

## What it does

- Checks memory before believing it. Every hit carries a staleness
  verdict: calendar age, whether the paths it cites still exist, the
  commits landed since it was last confirmed, and how the record
  entered the store (written here, pulled, or placed by hand).
  Declared claims
  (`path`, `path::symbol`, `path::NAME=literal`) are re-checked
  against the working tree; a claim that stops being true blocks the
  stamp instead of riding along.
- Retrieval is deliberate. Memory is a tool call, not an
  injection. Write gates bounce transient state, secret-shaped tokens
  and near-duplicates; claims about *you* stage for confirmation.
- The code is the model. Search is deterministic lexical ranking —
  keyword + BM25, fused — over your own vocabulary. No embedding
  models, no downloads, nothing to warm up, same answer every time.
- Plain files. One markdown file per memory. Greppable,
  git-syncable, no cloud, no account. The SQLite index beside the
  files is a derived cache you can delete; `bettermemory reindex`
  rebuilds it.
- Rot gets acted on, not accumulated. Episodes journal per-session
  run-state without polluting durable search; health telemetry and
  curation tools surface what drifted, what went cold, and what
  contradicts what.
- Receipts, not adjectives. The claims above are measured by
  preregistered benchmarks whose frozen result artifacts — misses
  included — live in [bench/][bench] (`results/*.json`, each carrying
  the declared terms it was scored under), and `bettermemory eval`
  scores whether memory actually helped against your own log ([ours
  is published][eval-results]).

## For agents

You were likely handed this link with "set this up." On Claude Code,
the two plugin commands above are the whole install — skip to step 3.
Everywhere else, steps are idempotent and safe to re-run:

1. `uv tool install bettermemory` — or `pipx install bettermemory`,
   or `pip install bettermemory` into a venv. Python 3.11–3.14.
2. `bettermemory init --client claude-code` — likewise
   `claude-desktop`, `cursor`, `cline`, `hermes`. For any other MCP host, plain
   `bettermemory init` prints the canonical `mcpServers` JSON snippet
   plus known config locations. (Continue needs a hand-written YAML
   entry — see [docs/clients.md][clients-continue].)
3. `bettermemory doctor` — exit 0 means correctly wired; every failed
   check prints a one-line fix.
4. Have the user restart the client so the server loads, then confirm
   by asking the model *"what memory tools do you have?"*

Your operating contract — tool signatures, retrieval discipline,
write gates — is [docs/api.md][api]; the server's
`instructions` block delivers the core policy automatically. For the
long-form policy in your system prompt: `bettermemory init
--with-addendum`. Migrating from Claude Code's built-in auto-memory:
`bettermemory ingest` imports those files once.

## Everything else

The rest is written down: mechanics, storage format, the full tool
surface, CLI, configuration and limitations in
[internals][internals]; per-client setup in [clients][clients] and
[installation][installation]; eval methodology in [eval][eval];
postmortems in [incidents][incidents]; release history in
[CHANGELOG][changelog]; dev setup and the compatibility contract in
[CONTRIBUTING][contributing].

MIT licensed — see [LICENSE][license].

[api]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/api.md
[bench]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/tree/main/bench
[changelog]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
[clients]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/clients.md
[clients-continue]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/clients.md#continue-legacy-shape--see-caveat
[contributing]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md
[eval]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/eval.md
[eval-results]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/eval-results.md
[incidents]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/incidents/
[installation]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/installation.md
[internals]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/docs/internals.md
[license]: https://github.com/0Mattias/bettermemory/blob/main/LICENSE