Personal Brain

Local-first working styles for Codex, Claude Code and ChatGPT. Manage reusable styles, project-private instructions, required skills, examples and review criteria through a browser UI and MCP.

How it works

Choose shared styles, adapt them privately to your repository, and let your agent retrieve the instructions needed for each task. Fusion brings reusable lessons back to the shared library after your review.

flowchart TD
    Library["Global style library"] -->|Select starting styles|Project["Project styles and required dependencies"]
    Repo["Existing repository"] -->|Read source evidence|Personalize["Agent personalizes selected styles"]
    Project --> Personalize
    Personalize -->|Save private changes|Project

    Project -->|Project-scoped discovery|MCP["Personal Brain MCP"]
    MCP -->|Load task instructions on demand|Agent["Codex or Claude Code"]
    Skills["Installed external skills"] -->|Read required procedures|Agent
    Agent --> Work["Develop and verify deliverables"]
    Work --> Review["Review against prepared instructions"]
    Review -->|Record evidence and gaps|Trace["Local reviews and activity traces"]

    Project -->|Compare selected projects|Fusion["Fusion analysis with Codex or Claude"]
    Fusion --> Proposals["Proposed global style revisions"]
    Proposals -->|Human review and publish|Library

    classDef shared fill:#fff1e6,stroke:#a9431e,color:#292524;
    classDef project fill:#eef3e5,stroke:#526b2d,color:#292524;
    classDef agent fill:#eaf2f8,stroke:#36637d,color:#292524;
    class Library,Proposals shared;
    class Project,Repo,Trace project;
    class Personalize,MCP,Agent,Skills,Work,Review,Fusion agent;

Legend: orange = shared styles and proposals; green = project context and records; blue = agent workflow. Arrows show information flow or an explicit action. Styles and review evidence are stored locally in SQLite. Fusion sends selected instructions to the chosen agent provider; publishing updates shared styles without overwriting private copies. Recorded reviews do not prove that an agent followed every instruction.

Related MCP server: Claude PM MCP

Install

Requires Node.js 22.13+; Node 24 LTS is recommended. This is a beta package; the commands below become available after publication.

npm install -g personal-brain-style@beta
personal-brain setup

Open http://127.0.0.1:4177. Setup starts the local workspace; create a project, select styles and link its repository in the UI. It does not change agent configuration automatically. Keep the process running while using the browser UI.

For a temporary preview: npx personal-brain-style@beta setup. Use a stable global installation before registering agent hooks.

Connect your agent

codex mcp add personal-brain -- personal-brain mcp codex
claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user personal-brain -- personal-brain mcp claude
personal-brain hooks install both

Restart your agent and approve hooks where required. Ensure its environment can find the installed personal-brain command. The UI provides repository linking and project personalization instructions. External skills are references; they must be installed separately.

For ChatGPT, open Agent setup and select a project. See ChatGPT connection. OpenAI tunnel access and workspace authorization are required. The helper currently requires Bash.

Fusion and project instructions

Use Fusion to compare effective project instructions and review proposed shared-style revisions. Agents can use brain_prepare to load a version-bound task instruction set, then brain_review to check the same set before completion. See Fusion and instruction workflow for research decisions, examples and verification limits.

Data and upgrades

Data stays in ~/.personal-brain-style by default; PB_HOME selects another directory. The package contains no user database, credentials or installed third-party skill files. Startup installs built-in starter styles; review them before selecting them for a project.

personal-brain backup /absolute/path/brain-backup.sqlite
npm install -g personal-brain-style@beta
personal-brain doctor

Stop the running server before upgrading. Restart afterward. Reinstall hooks if the installation path changes. Keep backups before upgrades; do not run an older version against a migrated database.

To uninstall, run personal-brain hooks remove both, remove the personal-brain MCP entry from each agent, then npm uninstall -g personal-brain-style. Your database is preserved. Removing the data folder is a separate, destructive action.

Development

Source is grouped by responsibility, with one stable CLI entry point:

src/
  cli.ts          CLI entry point for local and packaged execution
  core/           Models, validation, ranking metadata and SQLite storage
  projects/       Project scope, repository evidence and skill discovery
  instructions/   Task preparation, compliance, review and Fusion
  agents/         MCP transport, agent hooks and external tool bridge
  server/         Local HTTP API and static file serving
  styles/         Built-in style catalog, seeds and versioned upgrades
web/              Browser TypeScript source
public/           HTML, CSS and generated browser JavaScript
scripts/          Development, packaging and agent setup commands
tests/            Behavior and regression tests
examples/         Sample style catalog
docs/             Architecture, workflows and operating guides
dist/             Generated npm package contents (do not edit)

Keep agent and HTTP adapters thin; place shared behavior in the relevant source module. Update importing tests when moving a module. Keep the src/cli.ts entry point stable for existing agent registrations. The package build recursively compiles source modules and preserves their directory layout.

npm install
npm run build:package
npm test
npm pack
node scripts/test-package.mjs

The npm artifact includes compiled JavaScript and the prebuilt browser UI. No runtime npm dependencies are required. The CLI and UI run locally on loopback; retrieved content is shared with the agent provider when requested. Trace events show observed activity, not proof of model compliance.

MIT licensed. macOS is the primary tested platform; other operating systems require additional verification.

Project and support

Source: nghiacr002/personal-brain-style. Report reproducible problems through GitHub Issues.

Package discovery keywords are maintained in package.json; npm displays them after the next published version. They describe MCP, agent instructions, skills, project styles and Fusion.