brain-core

Name: brain-core
Author: xy-claude

by xy-claudeversion 0.4.10i★ –iRuns on your computer

Registry nameio.github.xy-claude/brain-core

Install

Overview

Description from the maker (original English)

Memory for a Claude Code agent that survives the session: five tools, a markdown vault, all local.

PopNx MCP’s three pillars

These three are never merged into one score: opinions, measurements and popularity are different things.

User voiceiNo reviews yetReviews open together with accounts in a later step
Our basic checksi1 of 1 passedChecked from public information; code not scanned yet
UsageiNot measured yet★ –

What you can do with it

We have not written a plain-language summary for this one yet. Below are the facts we read from the registry.

Connection: Runs on your computer
Transport: stdio
Category: Search & AI memory

Install

Pick the AI app you use, then copy the settings.

Before you install

Basic checks: 1 of 1 passed
Runs on your computer with your user’s permissions (files, network, apps).
The registry lists no key to fill in.

You need

PyPIPython’s uv installed (for the uvx command)

Which app do you use?

ClaudeClaude CodeCursorVS CodeChatGPT

Pick your app above. We remember it, so next time the button says “Install in …”.

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config, and paste this into claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brain-core": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "brain-core-mcp",
        "serve"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Run this in your terminal

claude mcp add brain-core -- uvx brain-core-mcp serve

This one needs values on its command line, so copy the settings and fill them in.

Or copy the settings yourself

Paste into .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brain-core": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "brain-core-mcp",
        "serve"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.

This one needs values on its command line, so copy the settings and fill them in.

Or copy the settings yourself

Paste into .vscode/mcp.json in your project

{
  "servers": {
    "brain-core": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "brain-core-mcp",
        "serve"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.

This one runs on your computer, and ChatGPT can only connect to servers on the internet. Pick another app.

Your choice stays on this device in a cookie; no account needed.

These settings are generated from the maker’s registry entry. If the README says otherwise, follow the README.

What it can do

Runs on your computer; the tool list appears in your AI app after you install it.

Basic checksi

We check information anyone can see; we have not read the code. Checks that do not apply are left out of the count. · Checked Nov 7, 2026

✓ Pass
Maker matches the repo
The registry name was verified with the GitHub account xy-claude, which owns the repo
… Not checked yet
Still maintained
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
… Not checked yet
Has a licence
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
– Not applicable
Endpoint responds
This one runs on your computer; there is no internet endpoint
– Not applicable
Sign-in with OAuth
Runs on your computer and uses local settings instead
… Not checked yet
No hidden instructions in tool descriptions
Runs on your computer; we can only read tool lists from internet endpoints

Compared with others in Search & AI memoryi

More stars than 0% of the other 7281 servers in this category
Published to the registry more recently than 98% of the other 7281 servers in this category
Basic checks equal to or better than 100% of the other 7281 servers in this category

Compared with every active server in this category in the registry. Stars count only when the publisher owns the repo.

Common questions

Is brain-core safe?

It passed 1 of 1 applicable basic checks. We have not read the code. Before adding a key or token, see what access the server asks for and use a key with only the permissions you need.

What keys or codes does it need?

The registry does not list a required key, though some servers ask you to sign in on first use.

Does it run on my computer or in the cloud?

It runs on your computer. Your AI app starts it when needed, and data does not pass through the maker’s servers (unless it calls an online service itself).

Is it still maintained?

The GitHub repo last changed –, and the latest version (0.4.10) reached the registry yesterday.

Which apps can use it?

Apps that support MCP, such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. You also need Python (uv) on your computer.

What can I use instead?

In the same category: Context7, Codebase Memory, Exa

Alternatives

Servers in the same category from other makers, sorted by stars.

Reading a card:★ GitHub starsiThree pillars: reviews · checks · usageiUpdated = latest version published to the registryi

Context7

by upstash

Feeds AI the latest docs for libraries and frameworks before it answers, so code it writes does not use outdated, removed functions.

Computer or cloud★ 64,224MITUpdated yesterday

Install

Codebase Memory

by DeusData

Codebase knowledge graph for AI agents — 162 languages, sub-ms queries, 99% fewer tokens.

Runs on your computer★ 48,148MITUpdated 21 days ago

Install

Exa

by exa-labs

Connect AI agents to Exa for web search, content fetching, and multi-step research.

Runs in the cloud★ 5,213MITUpdated last month

Install

README from the maker

Open the README

Copied from the maker’s repo as written. PopNx MCP has not reviewed or endorsed it. HTML, images and scripts are removed. Links lead off this site.

brain-core

A memory for your Claude Code agent that survives the session. One local MCP server, five tools, a markdown vault you can read, an eval that proves recall. Installs with one command.

brain-core gives a Claude Code agent a long-term memory that lives on your disk. You name the agent, you tell it who you are, and from then on every session opens with yesterday's brief, the decisions you made, the facts that changed and the corrections you gave. It remembers by writing markdown files you can open in any editor, and it finds things again through a local SQLite index plus Hindsight, a self-hosted vector memory. Nothing leaves your machine except the LLM calls you already make.

It is for one person running one or more agents on their own computer: a solo developer, a founder, anyone tired of re-explaining their project every morning. It is not a hosted service and not a team product.

Is it an MCP server or a tool?

Both. One Python package, three ways in:

Piece	What it is	Who uses it
`brain serve`	an MCP server that Claude Code starts from the agent's `.mcp.json` and that exposes five tools	the agent, every session, without you touching it
`brain` command	a CLI: `brain init`, `brain doctor`, `brain index`, `brain hindsight install`, `brain cron install`, `brain daily`, `brain weekly`	you, once at setup, then cron
`brain_core.Agent`	the Python library both of the above sit on	the eval runner, the demo script, your own scripts

To a Claude Code user: an MCP server with five memory tools and a one-line installer. To a Python developer: a memory library with an MCP front end.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xy-claude/brain-core/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --agent Atlas --user Alex

The problem

Every session with a coding agent starts from zero. You explain the project again, the decision you made last week again, the thing it got wrong on Tuesday again. Memory add-ons exist, but they put your notes in someone's cloud, expose 30 tools the agent cannot choose between, and nobody shows you an eval.

brain-core is the opposite: local, five tools, markdown files you own, and a test suite that reports hit rates.

How it works

`brain init` scaffolds an agent folder. It writes a CLAUDE.md with the agent's name and yours, five rule files (identity, doctrine, authority, memory, system), three skills, a safety hook, an .mcp.json and an empty vault. Claude Code reads that folder as a project, so the agent knows how to use its memory from the first message.
`brain serve` runs as an MCP server inside Claude Code. It exposes exactly five tools. The agent calls them the way it calls any other tool; you never run them by hand.
Every session has a shape. The agent opens with brain_session('start'), which returns one block: today's brief, the executive state, the mental models, a recall per active mission, and a flag if the previous session crashed. It closes with brain_session('end'), which files the day's archive and rewrites state for tomorrow.
Memory is written, not inferred. When you say something worth keeping, the agent calls brain_remember(text, kind). The text goes to the vault first, then the SQLite index, then Hindsight, then the relations table, and the reply says what each layer did. A duplicate is skipped. A fact whose value changed gets a ⚠ Fact changed banner and the old line stays, so the history is visible.
Recall is one query across every store. brain_recall(query) searches the vault, the index and Hindsight at once, deduplicates, ranks by relevance and recency, and caps the reply at 6k tokens so it never floods the context.
Two cron jobs do the housekeeping. brain daily writes the next morning's brief and backs up Hindsight. brain weekly archives sessions older than 30 days into a monthly summary and refreshes the mental models.

flowchart LR

CC[Claude Code] -->|MCP, 5 tools| B[brain serve] B --> V[(vault/ markdown)] B --> S[(brain.db SQLite + FTS)] B --> H[(Hindsight vector memory)] B --> G[(relations table)] CRON[brain daily / weekly] --> V CRON --> H

The five tools

Tool	One call does
`brain_session('start')`	the whole start block: daily brief, executive state, mental models, a recall per mission, inbox count, and a flag if the last session crashed
`brain_recall(query, scope)`	one query across every store, the Claude Code transcripts of this folder and any `stores.notes` folders included, deduplicated, ranked by relevance and recency, capped at 6k tokens; `scope='transcript'` is what past sessions said and ran, useful on day one
`brain_remember(text, kind)`	writes vault → SQLite → Hindsight → graph and reports each layer. Near-duplicates are skipped; a changed value gets a `⚠ Fact changed` banner and the old line stays
`brain_distill(source)`	captures a URL, GitHub repo, YouTube video, PDF, file or pasted text into an immutable `raw/` folder for the agent to compile
`brain_session('end')`	drains the queue, closes the day's session file, rewrites state and critique, writes the clean-close marker

Plus brain_status() for health in one call: which stores are up, how many tokens the always-loaded context costs, whether a session is open, and which decisions are waiting on you.

Install

Before you start

You need	Why	Check
macOS, or Linux with systemd	the installer sets up a background service and cron	`uname`
about 2 GB of disk and 10 minutes, or `--lite`	Hindsight ships an embedded Postgres and a CPU embedding model; `--lite` skips it
an Anthropic API key, or a Claude Code login, or `--lite`	Hindsight uses an LLM to reason over memories	`echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`
Claude Code	the agent runs inside it; the installer adds it if missing	`claude --version`

Pick two names before you run the command: the agent's name (--agent), which becomes its folder and identity, and your own (--user), which is how the agent addresses you. Both can be changed later by editing CLAUDE.md.

macOS, one line

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xy-claude/brain-core/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --agent Atlas --user Alex

In a hurry, or no 2 GB to spare? Add --lite: vault plus SQLite full-text search, no Hindsight, installed in about a minute. Everything in the five tools works; what you give up is semantic recall over paraphrases, mental models and the weekly reflection. The recall numbers in Does it work? are measured on exactly this configuration. Upgrade any time with brain hindsight install, then uncomment the hindsight: block in brain.yaml.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xy-claude/brain-core/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --agent Atlas --user Alex --lite

What it does, in order. Re-running skips what is already there, so after a failure you fix the cause and run the same line again.

== 1/8 Xcode command line tools      present

== 2/8 Homebrew present == 3/8 uv, gh, gitleaks, node, Claude Code == 4/8 brain-core (v0.4.0) installed with uv tool == 5/8 Agent Atlas at ~/Agents/Atlas 31 files written == 6/8 Hindsight (required store) service: healthy == 7/8 Cron daily 06:07, weekly Sun 07:13 == 8/8 Doctor Health check: OK

Step	What happens	If it stops here
1	checks for `git` via the Xcode command line tools	macOS opens an install dialog; finish it, then re-run
2	installs Homebrew if missing	Homebrew asks for your password itself
3	installs `uv`, `gh`, `gitleaks`, `node` and Claude Code with Homebrew	anything already present is left alone
4	installs the `brain` command from PyPI with `uv tool`	`--ref v0.4.0` pins a git tag instead
5	runs `brain init` and writes the agent folder	an existing `brain.yaml` is never overwritten
6	installs Hindsight as a launchd service on `127.0.0.1:8888`	first start downloads the embedding model; give it a few minutes
7	installs `brain daily` and `brain weekly` as launchd agents
8	runs `brain doctor` on the new agent	`brain doctor ~/Agents/Atlas` repeats it any time

After the installer

Two things the installer cannot do for you:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...     # add it to ~/.zshrc too

brain hindsight install # copies the key into ~/.config/hindsight/env (mode 600) and restarts the service claude # sign in to Claude Code once

The installer prints a note if the key was not in your shell when it ran. If you would rather not use an API key, pass --provider claude-code and Hindsight uses your Claude Code login instead. That mode is for personal use only.

Flag	Meaning
`--agent NAME`	the agent's name (required)
`--user Alex`	how the agent addresses you
`--dir PATH`	where the agent lives, default `~/Agents/NAME`
`--provider`	`anthropic` (default), `openai`, or `claude-code` (uses your Claude Code login; personal use only)
`--api-key-env VAR`	read the key from a variable other than `_API_KEY`
`--profile DIR`	a folder copied over the generic rules last, for your own doctrine
`--lite`	skip Hindsight: vault + SQLite only, upgrade later
`--dashboard`	the Hindsight web UI on http://localhost:9999
`--ref v0.4.0`	pin a git tag instead of the PyPI release

Already have an agent?

brain adopt ~/Agents/Atlas --vault ~/Agents/Atlas/vault --bank atlas-brain --user Alex

Adds brain.yaml, the brain MCP server, the four hooks and the memory rule to an existing Claude Code folder, then indexes its facts. CLAUDE.md, skills and the vault are left alone; omit --bank to run lite.

Linux

The same one line. It needs git and curl already present. It then installs uv from astral.sh, installs Claude Code with npm when node is present, runs Hindsight as a systemd --user service, and writes the two jobs into your user crontab as tagged lines it can find and replace on re-run.

Manual, any platform

uv tool install brain-core-mcp   # or: uv tool install git+https://github.com/xy-claude/brain-core@v0.4.0

brain init Atlas --path ~/Agents/Atlas --user Alex brain hindsight install # launchd on macOS, systemd --user on Linux brain cron install ~/Agents/Atlas brain doctor ~/Agents/Atlas

Check it worked

brain doctor ~/Agents/Atlas

It prints the agent name, the config path, row counts per table, and Health check: OK. Store health shows up in the first brain_session('start') reply and in brain_status(). The common problems:

Symptom	Cause	Fix
`brain: command not found`	the `uv tool` bin folder is not on your PATH	`uv tool update-shell`, then open a new terminal
`ERROR: no brain.yaml at ...`	wrong path	pass the agent folder, or the `brain.yaml` inside it

| hindsight unreachable at http://127.0.0.1:8888 | the service i

Only the beginning is shown; read the rest in the repo

brain-core

Overview

PopNx MCP’s three pillars

What you can do with it

Install

Before you install

What it can do

Basic checksi

Maker matches the repo

Still maintained

Has a licence

Endpoint responds

Sign-in with OAuth

No hidden instructions in tool descriptions

Compared with others in Search & AI memoryi

Common questions

Alternatives

Context7

Codebase Memory

Exa

README from the maker

brain-core

Is it an MCP server or a tool?

The problem

How it works

The five tools

Install

Before you start

macOS, one line

After the installer

Already have an agent?

Linux

Manual, any platform

Check it worked