remem

remem: Local-first memory for Claude Code and OpenAI Codex

Stop re-explaining your project every new coding-agent session.

Language: English | 简体中文

remem automatically captures, distills, searches, and injects engineering memory across Claude Code and OpenAI Codex CLI sessions. Decisions, bug-fix rationale, project patterns, and preferences stay available through hooks, MCP, CLI, and a localhost REST API.

A new Claude Code session recalls the earlier root cause, commit, and open TODO with memory citations and no re-explaining.

What remem gives you

• Automatic session capture and background LLM distillation.
• Project-scoped recall across Claude Code and Codex using one local store.
• Searchable decisions, bug fixes, architecture notes, preferences, and raw session evidence.
• Source attribution, staleness labels, suppression, review queues, and injection audits.
• SQLite with SQLCipher encryption by default for fresh installs.
• MCP, CLI, and authenticated localhost REST access from one Rust runtime.

remem prioritizes memory quality. Automatic capture is the primary path; manual save_memory calls supplement it when a decision needs to be recorded immediately.

Install in five minutes

Homebrew

brew install majiayu000/tap/remem
"$(brew --prefix remem)/bin/remem" install --target codex

Use --target claude for Claude Code. --target all configures every known host, including Cursor where its v1 renderer is supported.

Standalone installer

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/majiayu000/remem/main/install.sh | env REMEM_NO_CONFIG=1 sh
~/.local/bin/remem install --target codex

npm or Cargo

npm install -g @remem-ai/remem
# or
cargo install remem-ai --bin remem

remem install --target codex

GitHub Releases: prebuilt binaries for macOS and Linux on x64/arm64, with published checksums. Use one canonical remem executable on PATH; remem doctor warns when hooks and terminals resolve different copies.

For channel-specific upgrades, platform boundaries, PATH drift, and manual install notes, read the installation and upgrade guide. The broader documentation guide links plugin and operational material.

Verify the installation

Restart the selected coding agent, then run:

remem doctor
remem status
remem search "last decision"

A healthy Claude Code or Codex installation injects relevant project memory at SessionStart and queues durable session distillation at Stop. remem doctor checks the schema, encryption key, database, hooks, MCP registration, worker, and common install-path drift.

Repository contributors can verify duplicate SessionStart suppression with the isolated executable smoke fixture.

For a focused, read-only view of current-memory truth:

remem doctor truth --cwd .

Host support

Capability	Claude Code	Codex CLI	Cursor v1
MCP memory tools	Yes	Yes	Yes on macOS/Linux
SessionStart injection	Yes	Yes	Not supported
Automatic session memory	Yes	Yes, Stop-based and low-noise	Not enabled by the v1 installer
Tool-event capture	Installed hooks	No high-frequency Bash hook by default	Runtime command exists; no installed hook
Compiled command-rule enforcement	Optional warn/block on Bash	Not supported	Not supported
Windows	Supported	Supported	Not supported

Cursor's v1 installer registers MCP only. The verified observe and summarize runtime commands exist, but remem install --target cursor does not install automatic capture hooks or SessionStart injection.

The repository also includes a Codex plugin wrapper. See plugins/remem/README.md for local plugin runtime and explicit hook activation instructions.

Why use remem alongside built-in memory

Built-in MEMORY.md, CLAUDE.md, and agent instruction files are ideal for a small set of stable facts that should always be visible. remem covers the engineering history that is too large, dynamic, or evidence-heavy to maintain by hand.

Need	Built-in files	remem
Stable project rules	Excellent	Supported
Automatic session capture	Manual upkeep	Hook-driven
Search older rationale	Limited by loaded text	Curated and raw search
Branch, time, and staleness handling	Manual	Built in
Provenance and injection audit	Git history	Database-backed audit
Review, suppression, and lifecycle governance	Manual edits	First-class commands

Use both. Keep concise rules in native files and let remem retain the long tail of decisions, failures, evidence, and changing project state.

The broader ecosystem comparison lives in the dated memory-tool survey.

How it works

Claude Code / Codex hooks
          |
          v
append-only captured_events ledger
          |
          v
coalesced background extraction and session rollup
          |
          v
governed candidates -> curated memories + workstreams + raw archive
          |
          v
FTS, entity, temporal, vector, graph, and optional local rerank retrieval
          |
          v
budgeted, source-attributed SessionStart context

Hooks return quickly after durable capture or queueing. Background workers perform extraction, candidate governance, compression, retrieval enrichment, and lifecycle cleanup. MCP, CLI, REST, and SessionStart share the same local store and governance model, but apply surface-specific eligibility policies. Explicit search is an inspection and recovery surface, so it may return labeled legacy_unverified memories; default SessionStart and CurrentTruth exclude those rows and record the reason.

Generated memory is treated as untrusted until it passes source-support, secret, instruction-pattern, scope, and lifecycle checks. Unsafe content is dropped or routed to review with a diagnosable reason.

For module ownership and current data flow, read docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

The experimental MCP context_bundle tool exposes the versioned, budgeted compiler to explicit callers. The experimental remem context-plan command prints a request-specific retrieval plan. These opt-in interfaces are tracked by the Context Bundle and retrieval-router contracts.

Everyday workflows

Recall and inspect

remem search "database encryption"
remem search "deployment decision" --branch main --explain
remem show <memory-id>
remem why <memory-id>
remem current <state-key>

Agents can use MCP search for compact results, then get_observations for selected details. Use raw recall only when curated memory misses exact transcript evidence:

remem raw search "exact phrase" --since 2026-06-01 --json

List complete host-bound sessions before reading an exact transcript:

remem raw sessions --latest 20 --json
remem raw messages --host codex-cli --source-root local \
  --project "/path/to/project" --session-id SESSION_ID --json
remem ingest-sessions --root codex-cli:archive=/path/to/sessions --json

Copy host, source_root, project, and session_id unchanged from one raw sessions summary into raw messages. Existing scripts must add the required --host selector and replace --root LABEL=PATH with --root HOST:LABEL=PATH; the same root format applies to raw reconcile. The JSON envelope reports excluded_legacy_rows and excluded_legacy_sessions when pre-identity transcript rows are retained in the raw archive but cannot safely enter the host-bound session contract. HOST is claude-code or codex-cli, and LABEL becomes the persisted source_root. Cursor snapshot evidence requires a manually configured and verified remem summarize --host cursor Stop integration; filesystem --root ingestion and reconciliation reject cursor explicitly.

Review and govern

remem review list
remem review approve <candidate-id>
remem memory suppress memory:<id> --reason "no longer relevant"
remem govern --action stale --dry-run --json <id>

Mutating governance commands expose previews, explicit confirmations, or review boundaries according to their risk. Run remem <command> --help for the current contract instead of relying on a copied command inventory.

Configure memory AI and retrieval

remem config show
remem model current
remem model use balanced --dry-run
remem embedding status
remem embedding download --model multilingual-e5-small
remem embedding backfill --limit 1000

auto embedding mode stays local unless a remem-specific API key is selected. The verified local model is optional; the labeled feature-hash fallback remains available. The second-stage local reranker is also optional and disabled until configured.

Use the current configuration routes, the local embedding contract, and remem config, remem embedding, or remem reranker help for details.

Share or edit memory outside the database

remem sync-memory --cwd .
remem export --markdown --output ./remem-memory
remem export --pack .remem-pack

Markdown mirrors are human-editable. Project memory packs are deterministic, git-committable exports with provenance-aware import and quarantine behavior. See the memory usage guide and project memory pack contract.

Evidence and benchmarks

The checked-in public suite separates memory-system capability evidence from coding-agent outcome evidence. Verify it locally with:

cargo run -- bench verify --root eval/public --json-out /tmp/remem-bench-verify.json

The current public report is deliberately labeled directional_only_no_public_claim. The historical isolated coding baseline is useful engineering evidence, but its preloaded-memory condition is not comparable with the current SessionStart retrieval path.

Reproduction commands, artifact schemas, claim boundaries, and current gates live in:

• eval/README.md
• eval/public/README.md
• eval/coding-bench/README.md

README claims intentionally exclude unsealed local metrics that have no checked-in report.

Security and privacy

• Fresh installs create a SQLCipher-encrypted database and private key file.
• The data directory and key use restrictive per-user permissions.
• The REST API binds to 127.0.0.1 and requires a bearer token.
• Hook-captured event previews are redacted before durable storage.
• Memory candidates and injected content pass secret and poisoning defenses.
• remem doctor reports encryption, plaintext residue, schema, and audit failures without printing memory payloads.

Read SECURITY.md for reporting and security policy. Operational contracts for SQLite tuning and memory-poisoning defense are kept outside the landing page.

REST API

remem api --port 5567
TOKEN=$(cat ~/.remem/.api-token)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:5567/api/v1/health
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" http://127.0.0.1:5567/api/v1/capabilities

Clients should feature-detect through /api/v1/capabilities. The current endpoint and compatibility contract is maintained in docs/specs/SPEC-web-api.md.

Documentation

Use docs/README.md as the jump page for installation, configuration, memory lifecycle, retrieval, governance, API, plugin, operations, architecture, and benchmark material.

The most common destinations are:

• Architecture and data flow
• Memory usage guide
• Memory lifecycle
• Codex plugin
• REST API contract
• Current spec index
• Changelog
• Contributing

Uninstall

Preview and remove host hooks and MCP registration without deleting memory:

remem uninstall --dry-run
remem uninstall

The encrypted database remains in the configured REMEM_DATA_DIR. Back it up before manually deleting that directory if data removal is intended. Ordinary file deletion removes remem's local data but does not guarantee secure erasure from filesystem snapshots, backups, or the underlying storage media.

License

MIT