mcp-ltm: Long-Term Memory for LLMs

An MCP server that provides persistent long-term memory for AI assistants. Memories are stored as browsable markdown files with a SQLite index for fast tag-based retrieval.

Features

• Tag-based retrieval: Store and query memories using tags, ranked by overlap

• Human-browsable: Memories stored as markdown files with YAML frontmatter

• Tag co-occurrence: Discover related tags based on how often they appear together

• Memory linking: Create wiki-style links between related memories

• Source references: Link memories to external documents with origin-based path management

• Access tracking: Track when and how often memories are accessed for pruning

Related MCP server: context-vault

Installation

pip install -e .

Configuration

Add to your Claude Code MCP settings (~/.claude.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ltm": {
      "command": "mcp-ltm",
      "env": {
        "MCP_LTM_PATH": "/path/to/memories",
        "MCP_LTM_CONFIG": "/path/to/config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

Default paths (if env vars not set):

• Memories: ~/.local/share/mcp-ltm/memories/

• Config: ~/.local/share/mcp-ltm/config.yaml

Tools

Memory Operations

• store_memory - Create memory with title, tags, summary, content, optional source/links

• query_memories - Search by tags (ranked by overlap), filter by required_tags

• get_memory - Retrieve by ID (updates access stats)

• update_memory - Modify existing memory

• delete_memory - Remove memory

• get_stale_memories - Find old, rarely-accessed memories for pruning

Tag Operations

• get_tags - List all tags with usage counts and example summaries

• get_related_tags - Find tags that frequently co-occur (for query expansion)

Origin Management

• list_origins - Show configured origin directories

• add_origin - Register origin (auto-contracts existing matching sources)

• remove_origin - Delete origin mapping

Origins: Managing Source Paths

Origins let you use short paths like myproject:docs/file.md instead of full absolute paths.

Config file (~/.local/share/mcp-ltm/config.yaml):

origins:
  myproject: /home/user/projects/myproject
  notes: /home/user/notes

When storing a memory with a source:

• Full paths matching an origin are automatically contracted

• When retrieving, paths are expanded back to full paths

• Makes memories portable and readable

Storage Format

Each memory is a markdown file with YAML frontmatter:

---
id: example-memory-title
title: Example Memory Title
tags: [python, debugging, testing]
summary: Brief description of what this memory contains.
source: myproject:docs/example.md
created_at: 2026-01-15T10:30:00Z
accessed_at: 2026-01-20T14:00:00Z
access_count: 3
links: [related-memory-id]
---

# Example Memory Title

Full content here. Can link to [other memories](related-memory-id.md).

The SQLite index (index.db) stores metadata for fast querying but can be rebuilt from the markdown files if needed.

Tag Conventions

Tags are normalized: lowercase, spaces become hyphens, punctuation stripped (except colons for namespacing).

Suggested prefixes:

• type: - Memory type (decision, insight, preference, fact, reference)

• project: - Project name

• topic: - Subject area

Usage Patterns

Pure Memory

Self-contained insight with no external reference:

store_memory(
    title="Python Dict Merge Operator",
    tags=["python", "syntax"],
    summary="Python 3.9+ supports d1 | d2 to merge dicts.",
    content="Use `d1 | d2` to merge dictionaries..."
)

Reference Memory

Summary pointing to detailed external document:

store_memory(
    title="Project Architecture Overview",
    tags=["project:foo", "architecture"],
    summary="Key architectural decisions for the Foo project.",
    content="Main insight: use event sourcing for audit trail...",
    source="/path/to/architecture.md"
)

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.