Local-first knowledge-graph memory layer for AI agents and humans, exposed entirely via MCP. Conversations and notes are stored as plain Markdown files; observations and wikilinks compound into a semantic graph over time. Designed to work with any AI client or IDE that speaks MCP — Claude, Copilot, Cursor, and others. A team cloud tier (basicmemory.com) provides shared workspaces.
- Storage
- Markdown files on local disk are the source of truth — every note, observation, and entity is a human-readable file. Wikilinks between notes build a knowledge graph that accumulates automatically as agents write memories. All writes go through MCP tools so no direct file-system access is required from the agent.
- Retrieval
- Semantic search and graph traversal via MCP tools. Agents query the knowledge graph through a standardised MCP server; the server resolves wikilinks to expand context and uses embedded similarity for fuzzy recall. The local setup requires no external embedding API (uses a bundled model).
- Self-host
- Self-host: trivial
- License
- AGPL-3.0
- Pricing
- Open-source AGPL-3.0, free to self-host (`uv tool install basic-memory`). Cloud tiers at basicmemory.com/pricing: Team $15/seat/mo (volume discounts to $12/seat at 20+ seats), Business $30/seat/mo (adds SSO/SAML, audit logs, HIPAA-compliant infra), and custom credit-metered Agent Infrastructure for fleets/on-prem; 7-day free trial on paid tiers. · Free + paid
- GitHub stars
- 3,616
- Last release
- 2026-06-13
- Last commit
- 2026-08-10
- First catalogued
- 2026-06-28
Strengths
- Zero-infra local-first install (single `uv` command); runs entirely on local disk with no external API keys required
- MCP-native: works with any agent or IDE that supports the Model Context Protocol out of the box
- Human-readable Markdown + wikilink graph — memories are inspectable and editable by both humans and AI
- Active development with frequent releases; 3330+ stars; AGPL-3.0 open-source core
Watch out
- AGPL-3.0 license may require open-sourcing application code in commercial products that incorporate it
- Cloud tiers (Team $15/seat/mo, Business $30/seat/mo) are priced per seat and billed monthly by default (a yearly/discounted rate applies at higher seat counts) — model per-seat cost before assuming it's cheaper than self-hosting
- Knowledge graph quality depends on consistent MCP-tool usage; agents that bypass MCP and write files directly will miss graph updates
- Default install emits anonymous telemetry (cloud promo impressions) to an external Umami Cloud instance — set BASIC_MEMORY_NO_PROMOS=true for true air-gapped environments
Best for
- Individual developers and small teams wanting persistent cross-session memory for AI coding assistants with zero infrastructure
- Projects where human-readable memory files and direct editing are a design requirement
How it integrates
Benchmark results
No sourced results yet.
Sources
- Pricing page re-checked — unchanged: Team $15/seat/mo (volume discounts $13/seat at 10+, $12/seat at 20+, 7-day trial); Business $30/seat/mo (SSO/SAML, audit logs, HIPAA-compliant infrastructure, 7-day trial); Agent Infrastructure custom credit-metered (vendor)
- Monthly card re-verification — GitHub API repo metadata: 3,544 stars, license AGPL-3.0 confirmed, archived=false, last commit on the default branch 2026-07-30 (third-party)
- Basic Memory README — air-gapped: Yes (local), telemetry: BASIC_MEMORY_NO_PROMOS env var; FastEmbed for local embeddings; 'Just files plus a local SQLite index. No servers required.' (vendor)
- GitHub API repo metadata — stars 3332, pushed 2026-06-29, AGPL-3.0, v0.22.1 latest release 2026-06-13 (third-party)
- basic-memory PyPI page — `uvx basic-memory mcp` stdio transport confirmed; `uv tool install basic-memory` CLI install; MCP config blocks for Claude Desktop and Cursor shown (vendor)
- GitHub API re-check — stars 3347, latest release still v0.22.1 (2026-06-13); docs.basicmemory.com and README still do not name Windsurf explicitly (open-gaps G15 unresolved) (third-party)
- Basic Memory Cloud pricing page — now publicly lists Free Open Source, Team ($15/seat/mo, volume discounts), Business ($30/seat/mo, SSO/HIPAA), and custom Agent Infrastructure tiers (previously not publicly listed) (vendor)
- Monthly re-check — AGPL-3.0 license confirmed, not archived (third-party)
Last verified 2026-08-01 · updated by refresh-framework-cards