Knowledge Graph Memory MCP server for AI agents

The Knowledge Graph Memory Server enables Claude to remember information about users across chats by maintaining a local knowledge graph. It stores entities, relations, and observations in a persistent format.

Installation Options

Using with Claude Desktop

You can add the MCP Memory server to your Claude Desktop configuration in one of two ways:

Using Docker

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "-v", "claude-memory:/app/dist", "--rm", "mcp/memory"]
    }
  }
}

Using NPX

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Custom Configuration

You can configure the server using environment variables:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MEMORY_FILE_PATH": "/path/to/custom/memory.jsonl"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available environment variables:

MEMORY_FILE_PATH: Custom path to the memory storage file (defaults to memory.jsonl in the server directory)

VS Code Installation

For VS Code, you have two installation methods:

Method 1: User Configuration (Recommended)

Add the configuration to your user-level MCP configuration file:

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P)
Run MCP: Open User Configuration
Add the server configuration to the opened mcp.json file

NPX Configuration

{
  "servers": {
    "memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Docker Configuration

{
  "servers": {
    "memory": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "-v",
        "claude-memory:/app/dist",
        "--rm",
        "mcp/memory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Method 2: Workspace Configuration

Add the configuration to a file called .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace.

Using the Memory Server

The memory server offers several tools to work with the knowledge graph:

Example System Prompt

Here's an example prompt for chat personalization that you could use in the "Custom Instructions" field of a Claude.ai Project:

Follow these steps for each interaction:

1. User Identification:
   - You should assume that you are interacting with default_user
   - If you have not identified default_user, proactively try to do so.

2. Memory Retrieval:
   - Always begin your chat by saying only "Remembering..." and retrieve all relevant information from your knowledge graph
   - Always refer to your knowledge graph as your "memory"

3. Memory
   - While conversing with the user, be attentive to any new information that falls into these categories:
     a) Basic Identity (age, gender, location, job title, education level, etc.)
     b) Behaviors (interests, habits, etc.)
     c) Preferences (communication style, preferred language, etc.)
     d) Goals (goals, targets, aspirations, etc.)
     e) Relationships (personal and professional relationships up to 3 degrees of separation)

4. Memory Update:
   - If any new information was gathered during the interaction, update your memory as follows:
     a) Create entities for recurring organizations, people, and significant events
     b) Connect them to the current entities using relations
     c) Store facts about them as observations

Available API Tools

The server provides these core functions:

create_entities: Add new entities to the knowledge graph
create_relations: Define connections between entities
add_observations: Add new facts to existing entities
delete_entities: Remove entities and their associated relations
delete_observations: Remove specific facts from entities
delete_relations: Remove connections between entities
read_graph: Retrieve the entire knowledge graph
search_nodes: Find entities matching a query
open_nodes: Get specific entities by name

Data Structure

Entities

Entities are the primary nodes in the knowledge graph:

{
  "name": "John_Smith",
  "entityType": "person",
  "observations": ["Speaks fluent Spanish"]
}

Relations

Relations connect entities in the knowledge graph:

{
  "from": "John_Smith",
  "to": "Anthropic",
  "relationType": "works_at"
}

Observations

Observations are facts attached to entities:

{
  "entityName": "John_Smith",
  "observations": [
    "Speaks fluent Spanish",
    "Graduated in 2019",
    "Prefers morning meetings"
  ]
}

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "memory" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "memory": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "memory": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect