Renor

Self-hosted Renor, real session: Claude Code saves a decision, a fresh Codex session recalls it. Waiting time sped up.

Renor is memory for coding agents: it keeps what you tell Claude Code, Codex or Cursor in a folder of Markdown files on your machine, and serves it back to any of them over MCP.

Every new agent session starts from zero: you re-explain the project, last week's decision and why, the thing you corrected twice. With Renor, one agent saves it and the next one finds it. The memory is plain files you own. It runs locally, needs no account or API key, and sends nothing off your machine unless you configure a model or opt in to sharing (off by default; the signals level sends anonymous usage numbers, the data level also sends your searches and memory text with keys and passwords filtered out; renor-engine telemetry off stops it). A hosted version with no install is at https://renor.cloud.

Quickstart

You need Node 22 and git. The install is the only step that needs the network.

git clone https://github.com/renorai/renor-engine.git
cd renor-engine
node -v                    # v22.16 or newer
npm ci && npm run build
node scripts/smoke-self-hosted.mjs

The last command starts the MCP server, saves one fact (Ada favorite_color cerulean), searches for it three ways and stops. It works in a temporary folder that it deletes afterwards, so it never touches your notes. It ends with:

PASS: self-hosted stdio MCP can remember and retrieve a current fact.

Downloaded a ZIP instead of cloning? It has no git history to stamp the build with, so build with RENOR_BUILD_COMMIT=0000000 npm run build instead. A wrong Node version or skipped install scripts: see Troubleshooting.

Related MCP server: memory-vault

Connect your agent

Without a clone. With Node 22 installed, one line registers the published package. Your notes go to a hidden .renor folder in your home directory (~/.renor, printed on stderr at start; it never reuses an existing renor folder); to use another folder, add -e VAULT_PATH=/absolute/path to the claude line or --env VAULT_PATH=/absolute/path to the codex line. The first start downloads about 130 MB and takes about 15 seconds; if your agent shows one failed connection, restart it.

claude mcp add --scope user renor-local -- npx -y renor-engine mcp
codex mcp add renor-local -- npx -y renor-engine mcp

For Cursor or any other client, the server is the command npx with the arguments -y renor-engine mcp. In Cursor or VS Code (GitHub Copilot), one click adds it:

claude mcp remove renor-local and codex mcp remove renor-local undo the two lines above. The rest of this section is the same thing from a clone, which also lets you change the code.

From a clone.

Pick a folder for your memory (a new, empty one is fine; an Obsidian vault works too) and index it. Run this, and the commands below, from the renor-engine directory in the same shell:

export VAULT_PATH="$HOME/renor-notes"    # absolute path; created if missing
node dist/cli.js index

Each command below starts Renor with the Node 22 you are using now (node -p process.execPath), so the agent does not need Node 22 on its own PATH. In a new terminal, run the export line again first: each command stops with VAULT_PATH: run the export line above first rather than register a server that cannot start (an agent shows that only as "Connection closed").

Claude Code

claude mcp add --scope user renor-local -e VAULT_PATH="${VAULT_PATH:?run the export line above first}" -- "$(node -p process.execPath)" "$PWD/dist/cli.js" mcp

Restart Claude Code; /mcp lists renor-local in every project. claude mcp remove renor-local undoes it.

Codex

codex mcp add renor-local --env VAULT_PATH="${VAULT_PATH:?run the export line above first}" -- "$(node -p process.execPath)" "$PWD/dist/cli.js" mcp

Restart Codex; codex mcp list shows it. codex mcp remove renor-local undoes it.

Cursor

Cursor reads MCP servers from ~/.cursor/mcp.json (every project) or .cursor/mcp.json (one project). This prints the entry:

VAULT_PATH="${VAULT_PATH:?run the export line above first}" node -e 'console.log(JSON.stringify({ mcpServers: { "renor-local": { command: process.execPath,
  args: [process.cwd() + "/dist/cli.js", "mcp"], env: { VAULT_PATH: process.env.VAULT_PATH } } } }, null, 2))'

Put it in that file, or merge the renor-local entry into an existing mcpServers, then check that renor-local is enabled in Cursor's MCP settings. (The cursor-plugin/ folder of this repository is the Cursor plugin for the hosted service at renor.cloud, which needs a Renor account; it does not connect to this engine.)

Any other MCP client: the command is node dist/cli.js mcp (stdio) with VAULT_PATH set.

Then ask your agent to remember something, and ask about it in a new session. What an agent saves is searchable at once. A Markdown file you add or edit by hand is searchable after you run node dist/cli.js index again.

What is stored where

Everything Renor keeps is in that one folder, so back it up, sync it or move it like any other folder. Nothing leaves your machine unless you set a model key: EMBEDDING_PROVIDER=openai sends your notes' text to OpenAI to embed it, and RENOR_EVIDENCE_MODE=auto or always with an evidence-model key (RENOR_EVIDENCE_API_KEY or an OLLAMA_* key) makes search send the notes it matched to that model. The evidence pass is off unless RENOR_EVIDENCE_MODE is set, so a key alone sends nothing. Every setting and its default: docs/ENVIRONMENT-VARIABLES.md.

Search without embeddings. With nothing set, Renor uses no embedding model, so a note is found by its exact words: blue notebook finds "The blue notebook is on the desk", but where is my notebook? does not. Saved facts are found either way. For search by meaning, set EMBEDDING_PROVIDER=openai with OPENAI_API_KEY, or local to download a model once and run it on this machine, then run node dist/cli.js rebuild so existing notes are embedded (details).

More

• docs/self-hosting.md: troubleshooting, embeddings, the HTTP server with OAuth sign-in, connecting agents over HTTP, the tool lists, owner names, multi-agent ("hive") tools (set RENOR_CONNECTION_NAME per agent), and how the vault is protected.

• skill/SKILL.md: instructions to give your agent so it recalls and saves memory without being asked. Most of it names the hosted tools (get_context, remember); the renor-local server above has other names (search, remember_fact, note), listed in its Stdio section.

Renor is a single-owner engine: one person's notes, one set of agents. It is not a multi-user product.

Contributing, license, security

Contributions are welcome. CONTRIBUTING.md covers setup and tests and lists good first issues. Renor's own code is Apache-2.0 (LICENSE); 1.0.0 was released under AGPL-3.0; 1.1.0 and later are Apache-2.0; files imported from the upstream project stay ISC (NOTICE, UPSTREAM.md). Report vulnerabilities privately as described in SECURITY.md, not in a public issue.