Memory Vault

The memory database for AI applications. Self-hosted Postgres + pgvector with hybrid search, MCP-native, and a knowledge graph baked in.

Every conversation with Claude or ChatGPT starts from zero. No memory of what you built last week, what decisions you made last month, what problems you've already solved. You either re-explain everything from scratch, or paste in a wall of context and hope it fits in the window.

Memory Vault is the persistent layer underneath. It stores what you want your AI to remember — decisions, conversations, notes, project context — in a single Postgres database with hybrid semantic + keyword search. Claude can recall and store memories during any session via MCP, you can chat with your own memories through a local LLM, or you can build your own AI tool on top of the REST API.

Chat with your vault using a local LLM. Every answer shows the exact memories it was grounded in — click any source to verify.

Status

v1.0 — released 2026-05-07. First stable release of Memory Vault. M1-M7 (hybrid search, Docker, MCP, REST API, dashboard, knowledge graph, local LLM chat) all shipped and stable.

Release notes: GitHub Releases.

Semver from here forward — the public surface (REST API endpoints, MCP tool signatures, DB schema) is stable. Breaking changes only on a major version bump.

Quick Start (Docker)

git clone https://github.com/MihaiBuilds/memory-vault.git
cd memory-vault
docker compose up -d

That's it. PostgreSQL + pgvector + Memory Vault, running and ready. Migrations run automatically on first start.

# Check it's working
docker compose exec app memory-vault status

# Ingest a file
docker compose exec app memory-vault ingest /path/to/file.md --space default

# Search
docker compose exec app memory-vault search "your query here"

Data persists in a Docker volume — docker compose down and up again, your memories are still there.

Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser to use the dashboard (Chat, Search, Browse, Graph, Ingest, Stats).

Windows users: clone into WSL2, not a Windows path, and read docs/windows.md if you hit a line-ending error.

No-Docker quick start

If you prefer running without Docker:

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• PostgreSQL 16 with pgvector extension

Setup

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/MihaiBuilds/memory-vault.git
cd memory-vault

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -e .

# Configure
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your PostgreSQL credentials

# Run migrations
memory-vault migrate

# Verify
memory-vault status

Usage

# Ingest a file
memory-vault ingest notes.md --space default

# Search memories
memory-vault search "hybrid search architecture" --limit 5

# Check status
memory-vault status

Features

• Hybrid search — semantic similarity + keyword matching combined, so you find the right memory even when you don't remember the exact words
• MCP integration — four tools (recall, remember, forget, memory_status) that Claude can use natively during any session
• Local LLM chat — query your own memories through LM Studio without sending anything to the cloud, with sources shown for every answer
• Knowledge graph — entities and relationships extracted automatically, connections between things emerge over time
• Memory spaces — separate namespaces for different projects or domains
• REST API — integrate AI memory into any application
• One-command setup — docker compose up and

... View full README on GitHub