MemDrive

An MCP server that gives LLMs persistent memory on your own storage: a local folder (Google Drive / OneDrive / iCloud sync folder, or any plain directory). Local only, by design.

The model reads and writes Markdown + a sibling assets/ image folder through six small tools. No cloud service, no account, no server to run — the MCP server runs on your own machine and touches only the folder you point it at.

Status: 0.8.2. Local filesystem backend only. Full-text search index with BM25 ranking (Chinese segmentation, filters, pagination, read-only diagnostics). 0.1.1 added one total response budget to read_file (see Reading back and Limits) and put the clipboard rule first in the save_file tool description. 0.1.2 fixes the preview ladder so previews use the budget instead of stopping at the first coarse shrink step (see TEST-REPORT.md §7). 0.1.3 tries higher JPEG quality at full resolution before shrinking, states the three limit layers (host / server / model) in the read_file tool description, and adds CHANGELOG.md (see TEST-REPORT.md §8). 0.2.0 adds open_image (open an original image in the OS viewer, only when the user explicitly asks) and a setup wizard that finds a sync folder and writes the Claude Desktop config for you (see Setup and TEST-REPORT.md §9). 0.3.0 adds a Cursor adapter to the wizard: the wizard asks which host to configure first and writes Cursor's global config (~/.cursor/mcp.json) as well (see TEST-REPORT.md §12). 0.4.0 adds a VS Code adapter (Copilot Global config, ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json) and a per-host response budget written by the wizard into each host's config (see TEST-REPORT.md §13). 0.5.0 raises the Cursor budget to 10,000,000 on the 2026-10-30 verified read and adds open_containing_folder (open a note's folder in the OS file manager, only when the user explicitly asks, no highlight or selection — see TEST-REPORT.md §14). 0.6.0 adds a Claude Code adapter to the wizard (user scope, ~/.claude.json top-level mcpServers, budget 10,000,000) — UNVERIFIED on a real machine, budget estimated by the author's decision, not measured; see Claude Code config and TEST-REPORT.md §17.

Quick start

Requires Node.js 24+.

Easiest — setup wizard (recommended for first install). Download the release zip, extract it, and run the launcher for your system (it installs dependencies, builds, and starts the wizard, which asks which host to configure and which folder to use, and writes the Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, or Claude Code config):

• Windows: double-click setup.bat
• macOS: double-click setup.command (or run ./setup.sh in a terminal)
• Linux: run ./setup.sh in a terminal

The wizard needs Node.js 24+ already installed; if it is missing, the launcher says so and offers to open https://nodejs.org for you. It never installs anything silently and never changes a config file without backing it up first (see Setup).

# Run without installing (after this package is published to npm):
npx -y memdrive-mcp

# Or from a checkout:
npm install
npm run build
node dist/index.js

The library root defaults to ~/memdrive (created automatically). Override it with MEMDRIVE_ROOT:

MEMDRIVE_ROOT=~/Documents/memory npx -y memdrive-mcp

Claude Desktop config

The setup wizard (see Setup) writes this for you. Only edit it by hand if the wizard could not find your config file — it then prints a ready-to-paste snippet instead.

Add this to your Claude Desktop config file (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memdrive": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "memdrive-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MEMDRIVE_ROOT": "/Users/you/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive

... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/newmannn91/memdrive#readme)