Ctxfile

ctxfile

One context, every agent, all local.

Website · Docs · Quickstart · Clients · The .ctxfile convention · Security

You work with more than one AI agent. Claude Code in the terminal, Cursor in the editor, a chat tab for thinking. Each one starts cold, because your working state (the plan, the key files, the git state, what you decided an hour ago) lives in your head and in scrollback.

ctxfile is a local-first MCP server that snapshots your project's working state into one structured context object, and hands it to any MCP agent in a single call. Save a session in one agent, continue it in another. Nothing leaves your machine.

you → ctxfile → the same context, in every agent

30-second quickstart

Every client on your machine at once

npm install -g ctxfile

ctxfile connect # lists the MCP clients it found ctxfile connect --all # adds ctxfile to each (backups kept, other servers untouched)

Or tell any coding agent: *"Set up ctxfile for me by following https://ctxfile.dev/setup.md"*.

Claude Code (as a plugin, or one command)

/plugin install ctxfile --marketplace ctxfile/ctxfile

claude mcp add --scope user ctxfile -- npx -y ctxfile

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json globally)

{

"mcpServers": { "ctxfile": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "ctxfile", "--root", "${workspaceFolder}"] } } }

Codex CLI

codex mcp add ctxfile -- npx -y ctxfile --root .

Claude Desktop (no terminal needed): download ctxfile-macos-arm64.mcpb and drag it into Settings → Extensions. The bundle carries a compiled native module, so it is macOS (Apple Silicon) only for now; on Windows or an Intel Mac, add the stdio JSON above to claude_desktop_config.json instead.

Every other client: ctxfile is a standard stdio server, so npx -y ctxfile is the whole command. One-click install links and copy-paste setup for VS Code, Windsurf, Zed, Cline, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Warp, Goose, LM Studio, Kiro, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Amp, OpenClaw, Hermes, and more are on the per-client tabs at ctxfile.dev/docs/clients.

Then, in your agent: *"load my context"* (or call get_context). Requires Node ≥ 20 (≥ 22 on Windows).

Make it automatic

You stop typing "save this." One command installs a skill that teaches any agent, while doing its normal work, *when* to checkpoint context and to announce every save (never silent, paused any time, reviewable always):

ctxfile init

It renders from one canonical spec into whatever each harness reads: an Agent SKILL.md for Claude Code, OpenCode, OpenClaw, and Hermes (one portable file across all four skill systems), a Cursor rule, and managed GEMINI.md / AGENTS.md blocks. Details at ctxfile.dev/docs/automatic.

It follows you into the chat tabs, too

The same context your CLI and editor agents load over MCP can travel to web chatbots. Connect Grok, ChatGPT, Claude web, or Perplexity to your encrypted Sync vault as a custom MCP connector, or ctxfile export and paste the envelope into any prompt box (Gemini, and anything else). Walkthrough: ctxfile.dev/docs/webchat.

Private by default

This is the part we care about most, so it goes first:

• The default path makes zero network calls. Files and git only.
• Secret-looking content (cloud keys, tokens, private keys, JWTs, password= assignments) is redacted before it enters the snapshot. .env*, key files, and credential files are never read at all.
• Core is read-only over your project. It never writes to your repo, your git state, or anything else.
• No telemetry by default. An anonymous weekly install ping exists, and it is opt-in only.
• Network connectors (Notion, local Ollama summarization, Sync) activate only when you explicitly configure them.

The full model, including what Pro and Sync add and what they can never see, is documented at ctxfile.dev/security.

What it does

The monorepo

Open core, honestly

Everything in this repo is Apache-2.0 and works standalone, forever. The paid Pro add-on (a separate, closed package) adds session connectors that read your recent sessions from Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Aider, OpenClaw, and Hermes Agent, encrypted cross-session memory, multi-provider consult (Anthropic, OpenRouter for hundreds of models on one key, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or local Ollama), AI-distilled prompt Playbooks, and local voice capture. Licensing is an Ed25519-signed key verified offline. No phone-home, ever. Pro funds the open-source work.

Contributing

We want your issues, your PRs, and your weird harness reports. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md. Every ingested format, every MCP client quirk, every redaction gap you find makes the whole thing better.

• Bugs and features: issues
• Questions and show-and-tell: discussions
• Security reports: SECURITY.md (please do not open public issues for vulnerabilities)

git clone https://github.com/ctxfile/ctxfile.git && cd ctxfile

npm install npm run build && npm test # the whole gate: lint, typecheck, tests

Star history

If ctxfile saves you a cold start, a star is how other people find it.

License

Apache-2.0. "ctxfile" and the ctxfile logo are trademarks of ctxfile; the license covers the code, not the name.