Linksee Memory

linksee-memory

A local MCP memory server: one SQLite file on your machine that Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenAI Codex and Gemini CLI all read and write. No account, no credit card, no cloud, no API key. The server makes no network calls; telemetry is opt-in and off by default.

It is for handing a project over — to your next session, to another client, to the person after you — with the reasons attached. Every client can save and search the memory. In Claude Code, hooks also bring a recorded decision back at session start and before an edit. Drift detection shows which recorded decisions the code has since left.

Needs Node.js 22.16 or later (recommended: SQLite with FTS5 is built into Node, nothing is compiled), and Claude Code or Codex to try it (either one is enough). Node 20 and Node 22.0–22.15 still work through better-sqlite3, which then has to be built on install — on npm 12 that means allowing its install script (see troubleshooting).

Install

Claude Code, from inside a session (plugin: MCP server and skill, no hooks):

/plugin marketplace add michielinksee/linksee-memory

/plugin install linksee-memory@linksee-memory

Or from a shell, which also installs the hooks:

npx -y linksee-memory setup                       # Claude Code: MCP server, skill, hooks

codex mcp add linksee -- npx -y linksee-memory # Codex: the same memory

The plugin starts the server with npx -y linksee-memory@latest and ships the same skill setup installs. It has no hooks: the Stop hook (auto-capture) and the re-injection guard come only from setup. One or the other, not both:

• Already ran setup? Do not add the plugin. With both, Claude Code runs the server twice (linksee and plugin:linksee-memory:linksee).
• Installed the plugin and want the hooks? Disable it (/plugin → Installed → linksee-memory → disable, or claude plugin disable linksee-memory@linksee-memory), then run npx -y linksee-memory setup. The memory file is the same; nothing is lost.
• Plugin only: no hooks, so nothing is saved unless the agent calls remember (the skill tells it when).
• Windows: after installing the plugin, run /mcp and check that plugin:linksee-memory:linksee is connected. If it is not, disable the plugin first (previous bullet), then run npx -y linksee-memory setup from the shell block above. setup registers the server with claude mcp add, the form that is known to work on Windows, and it does not disable the plugin for you.

One command for Claude Code. setup --dry-run prints what it would change. It edits ~/.claude/settings.json, so the hooks apply in every repo, and keeps the old file as settings.json.bak- (what it writes).

First round trip

A new install has an empty memory, so "how did we solve this before?" finds nothing yet. Try this instead:

1. In Claude Code or Codex, say: *"Remember: in this repo we decided to use X, because Y. Use Linksee."*
2. Open a new session — in either one — and ask: *"What did we decide about X? Use Linksee."*
3. Two repos: record a decision in repo A, then in repo B (e.g. Codex) ask the same. It does come back — the memory is per machine, not per repo — labelled entity: repo-a and by: ; entity_name on the recall narrows by a part of the entity name (repo-a also matches repo-a-backup).
4. Reverse it: remember the new decision with supersedes: . recall then shows only the new one (supersedes # ); include_superseded: true shows both.

Works for me

Where the first round trip is known to work. Most cells are empty because nobody has tried them yet, not because they fail.

• verified: run by the maintainer with a record. Claude Code on Windows: remember in one session, recall in a new one, on 0.18.1 (record). The plugin install path connected on 2026-11-05; its round trip is not in the record.
• reported: someone said it works, without a version or log. Claude Code on macOS: the maintainer on one Mac (#16); the hooks there are not checked.
• untested: nobody has reported it either way.

If you fill one cell, your name goes in the weekly report under "Added by others". Report your client and OS — five fields, no database contents.

Weekly report: Discussion #16.

What it does not do

• Reminders and blocks before an edit are Claude Code hooks. Cursor, Windsurf, Codex and Gemini CLI share the memory but get no warning before an edit.
• Saving every session automatically is also Claude Code only. Other clients save when the agent calls remember.
• The memory is shared on one machine. There is no sync to another machine; to hand it over, copy ~/.linksee-memory/ (with every client closed).
• A database from a very early version (schema 1–5) is refused without being changed. Close every client and keep them closed while it runs, then npx -y linksee-memory@0.17.2 migrate --dry and npx -y linksee-memory@0.17.2 migrate: it migrates a copy and moves the original files, as one set, into memory.db.pre-migrate- / (details and how to go back).

Docs: docs.linksee.app · Site: linksee.app (setup guides for non-developers) · Free, MIT, local only — there is no paid tier you need.

What setup writes, and how to undo it

setup registers the MCP server (claude mcp add -s user linksee -- npx -y linksee-memory), installs the agent skill, adds a Stop hook that saves each session, and wires the re-injection guard for every repo (--project-guard for this repo only, --no-guard to skip). Running it again changes nothing that is already in place.

To remove everything: claude mcp remove linksee, delete the linksee hooks from settings.json (or copy the .bak back), then rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/linksee-memory ~/.linksee-memory — the last one deletes the memory stored in that folder. It does not reach copies you made yourself (for example to hand the memory over) or telemetry already sent if you opted in. Linksee itself never sends memory text anywhere. Step by step, with manual setup: docs/install.md.

Other clients

Every client points at the same stdio command and the same ~/.linksee-memory/memory.db. A decision made in Claude Code is recalled in Cursor.

The JSON clients take the same block:

{ "mcpServers": { "linksee": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "linksee-memory"] } } }

Full configs, including Codex's config.toml: docs/install.md.

Everyday use

Adding "Use Linksee Memory" to your system prompt or CLAUDE.md prompts the agent to call recall more often; whether it does is still up to the agent.

What each part does, and where:

• Shared (every client): remember saves to the one SQLite file; recall searches it when the agent calls it.
• Re-injected (Claude Code only, hooks): remember({ content, anchor: {} }) also records the decision as an anchor. At session start the guard hook adds a short digest of recorded decisions (up to 8). Before an Edit / Write / Bash, a decision comes back only if it matches: with affects globs, the edited path must match (a Bash command that names no file can still match on a violation_signal); without affects, a detect_terms or violation_signal hit is needed. An empty anchor: {} has none of these, so it appears only in the session-start digest, never before an edit.
• Contradiction warned or blocked (Claude Code only): the guard can only tell that an edit contradicts a decision if you give it the strings that mean "contradiction": anchor: { violation_signal: ["pgvector"] }. An empty anchor: {} is stored as a constraint and is re-injected, never matched as a contradiction. A match warns; after resolve_drift(action: "harden") it blocks. The guard fails open: its own errors never block anything. Details: docs/guard.md.

Tools: seven, six for memory and drift and one you ask for

Three for memory, three for drift, and share_draft,