# LoreDocs v0.1.26

Your AI project's knowledge base. Organized, searchable, version-tracked.

LoreDocs gives Claude persistent access to your project documentation -- specs, guides, architecture decisions, reference docs -- so it never loses context between sessions. Works with Claude Code, Cowork, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, and Hermes Agent.

> Install directly from Claude Code's plugin marketplace, or via PyPI: `uvx loredocs`

## Quick Start

**Prerequisites:** [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/) (fast Python package manager).

```bash
# Install uv (one time)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Clone and install
cd /path/to/loredocs
uv sync
```

For detailed installation instructions, see [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md).

**Using the Claude Agent SDK directly?** `git clone` the public repo and point the SDK's local-directory plugin loader at it -- the repo root is a self-contained plugin directory (`.claude-plugin/plugin.json` + `.mcp.json`). No separate SDK-installable bundle exists or is needed.

## Using LoreDocs

### Claude Code (Terminal)

```bash
claude --plugin-dir /path/to/loredocs
```

Or inside an existing session:

```
/plugin add /path/to/loredocs
```

Once loaded, Claude has access to all 48 LoreDocs MCP tools automatically. Ask Claude to "create a vault for this project" or "find the architecture doc" and it uses the tools on its own.

### Cowork (Desktop App)

1. Click **+** next to the prompt box
2. Select **Plugins** > **Add plugin**
3. Browse to the `loredocs` source folder

**Shared Database Access:** Cowork runs in a sandboxed VM. To access docs saved from Claude Code, ask Claude:

> "Mount my ~/.loredocs folder"

## How It Works

LoreDocs organizes knowledge into **vaults** -- named containers for related documents. Each vault can hold specs, guides, decisions, checklists, or any text you want Claude to remember.

```
~/.loredocs/loredocs.db          <-- SQLite database (metadata, search index)
~/.loredocs/vaults/<vault-id>/   <-- Document files on disk
```

**Key concepts:**

- **Vaults** group related docs by project or topic
- **Documents** are text files with metadata (tags, categories, priority, notes)
- **Version history** tracks every change to every document
- **Full-text search** via SQLite FTS5 finds anything instantly
- **Injection** loads vault content into Claude's context on demand

## Your Data is Always Available

LoreDocs works through MCP tools when they are available and falls back to bundled scripts automatically when they are not. Your vault documents are safe regardless of MCP status -- the same add, search, and retrieve operations work either way. You do not need to configure anything; the plugin skill handles the switch silently.

## Verify Installation

After installing, verify LoreDocs is working by asking Claude:

> "Run `vault_list` and show me the results."

If you see a list of vaults (or an empty list if this is your first time), LoreDocs is connected. If you get an error about missing tools, re-run `uv sync` and reload the plugin.

## Recommended CLAUDE.md Setup

For the best experience, add the following snippet to your `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` (global) or your project's `CLAUDE.md`. This tells Claude how to use LoreDocs consistently across sessions.

```markdown
## LoreDocs (persistent project knowledge)

At session start:
1. Call `vault_list` to see available knowledge vaults.
2. Call `vault_inject_summary` for any vaults relevant to the current project.
3. Use this context to understand project architecture, decisions, and reference docs.

During the session:
- If you create significant documentation, add it to LoreDocs with `vault_add_doc`.
- Tag documents for easy cross-vault discovery with `vault_tag_doc`.

At session end:
- If new docs were created or updated, ensure they are stored in LoreDocs for future sessions.
```

**For Cowork users:** Cowork does not run hooks automatically. Add instructions to call `vault_list` and `vault_inject_summary` at session start in your project CLAUDE.md.

## Canonical Project Knowledge

In multi-agent environments, different tools and agents often create improvised mirrors
of shared skill or configuration content -- playbooks, style guides, shared reference
docs. Those mirrors drift. One agent updates the source; the other keeps reading the
stale copy. Two agents in the same project end up operating from divergent knowledge
with no visible signal that anything is wrong.

LoreDocs prevents this by making the vault the single canonical source that every agent
reads. Instead of each agent loading a local file copy, every agent calls
`vault_inject_by_tag` at session start and gets the same vault-managed version.

### Recommended pattern

Store shared content (playbooks, team guidelines, shared specs) as vault documents
rather than as local files that agents copy or mirror.

Agents load the content at session start:

```
vault_inject_by_tag: team-playbook
```

All agents -- regardless of surface (Claude Code, Cowork, CLI, or any future AI tool)
-- call the same vault and receive the same current version. Updating the content
requires editing the vault document once; all agents pick up the change on their next
session start.

Local files (`.claude/skills/`, `.agents/`, or any surface-specific config) become
pointers or bootstrap stubs only -- not the authoritative content. The vault is the
source of truth.

### Example: sharing a playbook across an agent team

```python
# Session start for any agent on the team:
# 1. Inject the shared playbook by tag
vault_inject_by_tag("team-playbook")

# 2. Inject any project-specific reference docs
vault_inject_by_tag("project-architecture")

# Working context is now current -- no local file copies needed.
```

To store the shared content in the vault (one time, or on each update):

```python
# Store (or update) the shared playbook:
vault_update_doc(vault="team-knowledge", doc_id="playbook-id", content=open("PLAYBOOK.md").read())

# Or add it fresh (path= reads directly from disk -- no need to load into context):
vault_add_doc(vault="team-knowledge", name="Team Playbook", path="/absolute/path/to/PLAYBOOK.md", tags=["team-playbook"])
```

Any agent that calls `vault_inject_by_tag("team-playbook")` reads the same document.
No copies, no mirrors, no drift.

## Plans: Free vs Pro

LoreDocs is local-first and free to use. Pro ($9/mo) removes the storage limits and
unlocks semantic (meaning-based) retrieval. Everything runs on your machine on either
plan -- Pro does not add any cloud component.

| | Free | Pro ($9/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Vaults | 3 | Unlimited |
| Documents per vault | 50 | Unlimited |
| Storage | 500 MB | Unlimited |
| Version history per document | 5 versions | Unlimited |
| Full-text search (FTS5) | Yes | Yes |
| Core MCP tools (create, search, version, tag, inject, import/export) | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first, no cloud, no telemetry | Yes | Yes |
| Semantic search (`vault_search semantic=true`, `vault_rebuild_index`) | -- | Yes |
| Embedding-based document relationships (`vault_find_related`) | Keyword co-occurrence only | Keyword + embedding auto-links |
| Cross-product session linking (`vault_link_session` + 2 more) | -- | Yes (also requires LoreConvo Pro) |

[Upgrade to Pro -- $9/month](https://buy.stripe.com/00w3cndEw0l5b8fek17N601)

After checkout, your license key is emailed to the address you used at checkout, usually within one business day. Questions: info@labyrinthanalyticsconsulting.com.

Free tier limits are enforced before writes; Pro removes them. Check your current tier
and usage anytime with `vault_tier_status`. Activate a Pro license with `vault_set_tier`.

> The Pro semantic features use a local embedding model (BGE-small-en-v1.5) and the
> LanceDB index -- still no data leaves your machine.

## Features

- **Vault organization**: Group docs by project with linked project metadata
- **Document versioning**: Full history with rollback to any prior version
- **Tagging and categorization**: Tag docs for cross-vault discovery
- **Priority levels**: Mark docs as critical, high, normal, or low priority
- **Full-text search**: Fast keyword search across all vaults and documents
- **Context injection**: Load specific docs, tags, or vault summaries into Claude's context
- **Bulk operations**: Import directories, bulk-tag, export manifests
- **Document linking**: Connect related docs across vaults
- **Embedding-based document relationships (Pro)**: `vault_find_related` returns both keyword co-occurrence and embedding-based auto-links for Pro users. Uses BGE-small-en-v1.5, cosine >= 0.75, same-vault scoped. Embedding links are archived if you downgrade from Pro to Free.
- **Cross-product session linking (Pro)**: Automatically links vault documents to the most relevant LoreConvo sessions, and vice versa. Three tools: `vault_link_session`, `vault_get_session_links`, `vault_get_linked_sessions`. Requires both LoreDocs Pro and LoreConvo Pro.
- **Tier management**: Free/Pro tiers with configurable limits
- **Local-first**: SQLite database, no cloud dependency, zero API costs

## MCP Tools

LoreDocs provides 48 MCP tools by default (49 with the `notion` extra installed; 50 with LOREDOCS_ENABLE_CAP_TOOLS=1 and the notion extra) organized by function:

### Vault Management (8 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_create` | Create a new vault with name and description |
| `vault_list` | List all vaults with doc counts and sizes |
| `vault_info` | Get detailed vault information |
| `vault_archive` | Archive a vault (preserves data, hides from listing) |
| `vault_delete` | Permanently delete a vault and all its documents |
| `vault_link_project` | Link a vault to a project directory |
| `vault_open_workspace` | Open or create the vault scoped to a directory path |
| `loredocs_onboard` | Set up workspace with starter vaults on first install |

### Document Operations (10 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_add_doc` | Add a new document to a vault (inline content or from file path) |
| `vault_update_doc` | Update document content (creates version history) |
| `vault_remove_doc` | Remove a document from a vault |
| `vault_get_doc` | Retrieve a document with full content |
| `vault_list_docs` | List documents in a vault with filtering and sorting |
| `vault_copy_doc` | Copy a document to another vault |
| `vault_move_doc` | Move a document to another vault |
| `vault_doc_history` | View version history of a document |
| `vault_doc_restore` | Restore a document to a previous version |

### Search and Discovery (5 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_search` | Full-text search across all vaults |
| `vault_search_by_tag` | Find documents by tag across all vaults |
| `vault_find_related` | Discover documents related to a given doc (Pro only) |
| `vault_suggest` | Proactive suggestions for relevant docs to load |
| `vault_rebuild_index` | Rebuild the LanceDB semantic search index (Pro only; run once after installing Pro deps) |

### Organization (5 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_tag_doc` | Add tags to a document |
| `vault_bulk_tag` | Tag multiple documents at once |
| `vault_categorize` | Set document category (spec, guide, decision, etc.) |
| `vault_set_priority` | Set document priority level |
| `vault_add_note` | Add a note or annotation to a document |

### Context Injection (9 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_inject` | Load ranked vault documents into context, packed within a token budget |
| `vault_inject_by_tag` | Load all documents matching a tag, packed within a token budget |
| `vault_inject_summary` | Load a vault summary with doc titles and descriptions |
| `vault_prime` | Pre-load all vault documents by priority order (equivalent to `vault_inject` with no query) |
| `vault_get_injection_cap` | Get the configured token cap for a vault's injection tools |
| `vault_set_injection_cap` | Set a vault's injection token cap (requires `LOREDOCS_ENABLE_CAP_TOOLS=1`) |
| `vault_get_session_token` | Generate a per-session cache key for injection tools |
| `vault_estimate_tokens` | Estimate the token count an injection call would use before running it |
| `vault_get_server_capabilities` | Report which injection/token-budget features this server build supports |

### Import/Export (5 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_import_dir` | Import a directory of files into a vault |
| `vault_import_notion` | Import Notion pages and databases into a vault (one-time, no live sync) |
| `vault_import_notion_setup` | Report Notion import readiness and how to enable it (read-only) |
| `vault_export` | Export a document to a file on disk |
| `vault_export_manifest` | Export vault metadata as a JSON manifest |

### Document Links (2 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_link_doc` | Create a link between two documents |
| `vault_unlink_doc` | Remove a link between documents |

### Administration (4 tools)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_tier_status` | Check current tier limits and usage |
| `vault_set_tier` | Set the active tier (free or pro) |
| `get_license_tier` | Check current tier and license key status |
| `vault_verify` | Check document version-history integrity, optionally repair |

### Cross-product Session Links (3 tools, Pro)
| Tool | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| `vault_link_session` | Create a manual link from a LoreConvo session to a LoreDocs document |
| `vault_get_session_links` | Return LoreConvo sessions linked to a LoreDocs document |
| `vault_get_linked_sessions` | Return LoreDocs documents linked to a given LoreConvo session |

## Portable Project Workspace

LoreDocs and [LoreConvo](https://github.com/labyrinth-analytics/loreconvo) together form
a portable project workspace for all of Claude -- session memory AND structured knowledge,
entirely on your machine.

- **LoreConvo** remembers what you discussed, decided, and left open (episodic + semantic memory)
- **LoreDocs** stores the reference docs, specs, and guides Claude needs (durable knowledge)

Where cloud AI workspaces tie you to one ecosystem, LoreConvo + LoreDocs works across
Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Hermes Agent, and Cowork. Both store data locally in
SQLite. Neither sends anything to an external server.

## Requirements

- Python 3.10+
- macOS or Linux
- [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/) package manager
- `mcp` and `pydantic` (auto-installed by `uv sync`)

## Supported Storage Substrates

LoreDocs stores document content as plain files on disk. The durability
guarantee depends on the filesystem substrate:

| Vault root location | Support | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Local disk (APFS, ext4, NTFS on a local volume) | Supported | Guarantee holds: a substrate that misreports writes can lose the most recent save, but can never destroy or corrupt a version already on disk. |
| Cloud-sync folder (Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Google Drive) | Best-effort | Newest save may be lost or resurrected by the sync client. |
| Network mount (SMB, NFS, sshfs) | Best-effort | Advisory locks may be no-ops, so concurrent clients can lose an update. |
| Container bind mount / WSL cross-OS path | Best-effort | Same guarantees as the underlying filesystem. |

A one-time warning is emitted when a vault root is detected under a known
cloud-sync directory. Suppress it with `LOREDOCS_SUPPRESS_SUBSTRATE_WARNING=1`.

The `metadata.json` file in each document directory is strictly derived from
the SQLite database -- the database is the source of truth. Do not edit
`metadata.json` directly; changes will be overwritten on the next document
update.

## Version History Integrity

LoreDocs v0.1.21+ includes version-storage integrity features:

- **Atomic writes**: Every mutation uses temp + rename, never writing into
  a destination path. A crash or disk-full leaves existing data untouched.
- **Intent journal**: Crash recovery via hash-guarded, idempotent replay.
- **Five-source allocator**: Version numbers are monotonically increasing
  across content files, sidecars, DB counter, reset marker, and highwater.
- **Divergence detection**: History loss, jump, rollback, and holes are
  detected and reported. Writes refuse on divergence; reads proceed with
  a `divergence` field flagging the issue.
- **Per-version sidecars**: `history/v{N}.meta.json` records save time,
  author, session ID, change note, and operation type for each version.
- **Retention rotation**: Free tier retains 5 versions per document; Pro
  retains 100. Oldest versions are rotated automatically (never renumbered).
- **vault_verify**: A diagnostic tool that reports integrity issues and can
  perform additive-only repairs. Run `vault_verify --pre-upgrade` before
  upgrading LoreDocs to check for legacy vault anomalies.

## Data and Privacy

LoreDocs is **local-first**. All data lives in `~/.loredocs/` on your machine.

- **Data collected:** Document names, content, tags, categories, and vault names you provide when storing documents. No telemetry, usage analytics, or identifiers are collected automatically.
- **Storage:** SQLite database at `~/.loredocs/loredocs.db`; document files in `~/.loredocs/vaults/`. No cloud storage. Override the root directory with the `LOREDOCS_ROOT` environment variable.
- **Third-party sharing:** None. Data never leaves your machine.
- **Retention:** Data is retained until you delete it via `vault_remove_doc`, `vault_delete`, or remove the database files manually. No automatic expiry.
- **Contact:** info@labyrinthanalyticsconsulting.com

Full privacy policy: https://labyrinthanalyticsconsulting.com/privacy

## Troubleshooting

**MCP tools not showing up in Claude Code?**
Make sure you ran `uv sync` first. The virtual environment must exist with dependencies installed.

**"No module named 'mcp'" error?**
The `.mcp.json` points to the virtual environment's Python. If you moved the folder, re-run `uv sync`.

**Cowork can't see docs saved in Code?**
Ask Claude to "mount my ~/.loredocs folder" so Cowork can access the shared database.

## Fallback Script (Direct DB Access)

If the MCP server is unreachable (e.g., in scheduled tasks or automation scripts), `scripts/query_loredocs.py` provides the same core operations directly against the SQLite database.

```bash
# List all vaults
python scripts/query_loredocs.py --list

# Show vault details and document manifest
python scripts/query_loredocs.py --info "My Project Docs"

# Search documents across all vaults
python scripts/query_loredocs.py --search "architecture"

# Add a document to a vault
python scripts/query_loredocs.py --add-doc \
    --vault "My Project Docs" \
    --name "Architecture Overview" \
    --file docs/architecture.md \
    --tags '["architecture", "design"]'

# Add a document from stdin
echo "# Quick Note" | python scripts/query_loredocs.py --add-doc \
    --vault "My Project Docs" \
    --name "Quick Note" \
    --stdin
```

The script auto-discovers the database at `~/.loredocs/loredocs.db` (or pass `--db-path` explicitly). It writes the same schema as the MCP tools, including FTS indexing and on-disk file storage.

## What's New

<!-- WHATS_NEW:START -->

## v0.1.26 (2026-09-08)

### Fixed: a rejected update no longer costs you your document history

When an update to a document was turned away -- because it would have
exceeded the history storage budget, because another process held the
document lock, or because the stored copy had diverged from what was
expected -- the earlier versions of that document had already been deleted
by the time the rejection happened. The update failed and the history went
with it.

Rotation now happens only after the new content has been validated and
written, so a rejected update leaves your previous versions exactly where
they were. The history budget also counts the right thing: it charges the
bytes actually being archived rather than the size of the incoming
replacement, and it credits space that the rotation itself is about to free,
so updates that comfortably fit are no longer refused. If a rotation is
interrupted partway through, it now completes cleanly the next time instead
of leaving the document in a half-rotated state.

### Fixed: viewing a document's history works again

Asking for a document's version history through the MCP tool raised an error
instead of returning anything. It now renders the full result -- the list of
versions, any divergence between them, and how much history is being
retained.

### Fixed: clearing a document's content is saved as a version

Updating a document to empty text is now treated as a real edit: the content
clears and the previous version is kept in history, so you can get it back.
Leaving the content field out of an update still means "don't touch the
content", as before.

### Fixed: loading context twice in a row respects settings you changed in between

Repeated context-loading calls were served from a cache that ignored the
selection settings and token limits you passed, so changing them had no
effect on the second call, and the report of which documents had been left
out could disagree with what was actually loaded. The cache now accounts for
those settings, and reconsiders every eligible document each time, so what
you asked for is what you get and the omission report matches it.

### Fixed: Notion imports no longer stop partway through

Importing from Notion silently dropped content past the first page of
results -- both for a page's own blocks and for blocks nested inside them --
so large pages arrived incomplete with nothing to indicate anything was
missing. Pagination is now followed to the end.

Importing with a page limit also lost track of which pages remained, so
there was no way to continue where you left off. The remaining page IDs are
now retained in order, including when the import stops because it reached
the end of the workspace and when databases are still pending. A malformed
or looping cursor from Notion now fails with an explicit error rather than
importing partial content quietly.

### Fixed: semantic search stops returning documents you have cleared

Clearing a document's content left its old text in the semantic index, so
searches kept matching and returning it. Blank content now removes the stale
entries, and rebuilding an index that has nothing to index clears it rather
than leaving the previous contents in place.

### Fixed: automatically discovered relationships now meet the documented similarity bar

Auto-discovered related documents were being linked at a weaker similarity
than the documented 0.75 minimum, so the "related documents" list included
pairs that were not meaningfully related. New links now apply the documented
threshold.

This governs links created from now on. Relationship records already stored
do not retain the scores needed to identify which of them fell below the
corrected bar, so existing weak links are not removed automatically -- a
rebuild will regenerate them at the correct threshold.

### Documentation: what "portable data" actually means

The description of LoreDocs storage promised more portability than it
delivered, implying a single file could be moved on its own. It now
distinguishes the SQLite metadata and keyword index from your vault's
content and version history, and states that moving your data means moving
the complete data directory.

<!-- WHATS_NEW:END -->

See the full [changelog](docs/CHANGELOG.md) for the complete release history.

## License

Business Source License 1.1 (BSL 1.1) - Labyrinth Analytics Consulting

Free for personal/non-commercial use (up to 3 vaults). Commercial use requires
a paid license. Converts to Apache 2.0 on 2030-03-31. See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for details.