memex

Memex

A local-first temporal knowledge graph memory layer for AI agents. Single Go binary, zero dependencies beyond SQLite. Runs entirely on your machine with Ollama — no API keys required.

Inspired by Vannevar Bush's 1945 vision of a personal knowledge machine, Memex gives AI agents persistent, searchable, graph-structured memory with temporal awareness.

Features

• Local-first and private - Runs as a single Go binary with embedded SQLite, works out of the box with Ollama, and keeps data on your machine.
• Flexible model providers - Supports Ollama (local), OpenAI, Gemini, Vertex AI, Azure, and Groq, with per-knowledge-base model and credential isolation.
• Low-cost ingestion pipeline - Uses zero-LLM rule-based extraction for structured signals (errors, commits, config changes), with LLM fallback for rich text.
• Automatic memory capture - Learns passively via editor hooks (PostToolUse, PreCompact, UserPromptSubmit) and records feedback/corrections for closed-loop improvement.
• Temporal knowledge graph core - Builds entities, relations, and episodes with 3-tier entity resolution, bitemporal modeling, and relation strengthening instead of duplicate edges.
• Advanced graph retrieval - Full N-hop subgraph extraction, Personalized PageRank scoring, weight-aware traversal, edge-type filtering, community-seeded expansion, temporal path queries, and graph-to-text summarization for richer LLM context.
• Hybrid retrieval and lifecycle - Combines BM25 + vector + graph traversal with RRF, plus decay, pruning, and consolidation to keep memory relevant over time.
• Multiple interfaces - Includes a full MCP server (25 tools), HTTP API (20+ endpoints), and a 3-pane Bubble Tea TUI with graph explorer.
• Operationally ready - Provides async ingestion jobs with retries and one-command editor integration via memex init (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Zed).

Quick Start

# Build
go build -o memex ./cmd/memex/

# Auto-configure your AI editors (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Zed)
./memex init

# Create a knowledge base with local Ollama (no API keys needed)
# Requires: ollama pull nomic-embed-text && ollama pull llama3.2
./memex kb create my-project --name "My Project"

# Or use a cloud provider
./memex kb create my-project \
  --embed gemini/gemini-embedding-001 \
  --llm gemini/gemini-2.5-flash \
  --name "My Project"

# Store memories (rule-based extraction for errors/commits, LLM for rich text)
./memex store "Alice is a senior engineer working on Project Atlas" --kb my-project
./memex store "Project Atlas uses Kafka and targets Q3 completion" --kb my-project

# Search
./memex search "who works on Atlas?" --kb my-project

# Search with advanced graph options
./memex search "who works on Atlas?" --kb my-project \
  --graph-scorer pagerank --edge-types works_on,knows --expand-communities

# Traverse the graph from a specific entity
./memex graph <entity-id> --kb my-project --hops 3 --format text

# Launch the TUI
./memex tui

# Start the MCP server (for Claude, Cursor, etc.)
./memex mcp

# Start the HTTP API
./memex serve

Architecture

Text Input
    |
    v
+-----------+     +-------------+      +-------------+      +-----------+     +-------------+
| Ingestion | --> | Rule-Based  | -?-> | LLM Extract | ---> | Entity    | --> | Relation    |
| Queue     |     | Extract     |      | (fallback)  |      | Resolution|     | Upsert &    |
|           |     | (zero cost) |      |             |      | & Merge   |     | Strengthen  |
+-----------+     +-------------+      +-------------+      +-----------+     +-------------+
                                                              |
                                                              v
                                                      +---------------+
                                                      | Embed & Store |
                                                      | (SQLite +     |
                                                      |  vec index)   |
                                                      +---------------+
                                                              |
                  +-------------------------------------------+
                  |               |               |
                  v               v               v
            +-----------+   +-----------+   +----------------------+
            | BM25 FTS  |   | Vector    |   | Graph Traversal      |
            | Search    |   | Search    |   | (BFS / PageRank /    |
            +-----------+   +-----------+   |  Weighted / Temporal)|
                  |               |         +----------------------+
                  |               |               |
                  +-------+-------+-------+-------+
                          |               |
                          v               v
                    +----------+   +-----------+
                    | RRF      |   | Community |
                    | Fusion   |   | Expansion |
                    +----------+   +-----------+

How Memory Strengthening Works

When the same fact is ingested multiple times, Memex recognizes existing relations and strengthens them rather than creating duplicates:

./memex store "Alice works on Project Atlas" --kb my-project
# Creates: Alice --[WORKS_ON, weight=0.50]--> Project Atlas

./memex store "Alice is working on the Atlas project" --kb my-project
# Strengthens: Alice --[WORKS_ON, weight=0.75]--> Project Atlas (not a duplicate)

Weights are combined using probability union: w = 1 - (1-a)(1-b), bounded to [0, 1] and monotonically increasing with each observation. This means frequently mentioned facts become high-confidence edges in the graph.

During lifecycle management:

• Consolidation merges duplicate entities and deduplicates any resulting duplicate edges
• Pruning deduplicates fragmented relations before deleting — combined weight may exceed the prune threshold, saving them from deletion

Graph Retrieval

Memex exposes the knowledge graph directly, giving agents rich structural context beyond keyword and vector search.

Subgraph Extraction

Retrieve the full N-hop ego-graph around any entity as structured JSON or natural language text:

# JSON subgraph (nodes + edges with metadata)
./memex graph <entity-id> --kb my-project --hops 3

# Natural language summary for LLM context
./memex graph <entity-id> --kb my-project --hops 2 --format text

Text output is designed for direct injection into LLM prompts:

Context from knowledge graph:

Alice (person, seed): Software engineer at Acme
  - works_on Project Atlas [weight: 0.90, since 2025-01-15]
  - knows Bob [weight: 0.75, since 2025-02-01]

Project Atlas (project, 1 hop): Internal platform for data processing
  - uses Kafka [weight: 0.85, since 2025-01-20]

Graph Scoring Strategies

Control how the graph channel ranks entities during hybrid search:

Scorer	Flag	Description
BFS (default)	--graph-scorer bfs	Score = 1/hops. Closer neighbors rank higher.
PageRank	--graph-scorer pagerank	Personalized PageRank from seed nodes. Hub entities rank higher.
Weighted	--graph-scorer weighted	Cumulative edge-weight product along path. High-confidence paths dominate.

Filtering & Temporal Queries

# Only traverse specific relation types
./memex search "Atlas" --kb my-project --edge-types works_on,manages

# Only traverse edges with weight >= 0.5
./memex search "Atlas" --kb my-project --graph-scorer weighted --min-weight 0.5

# Expand seeds with their community members before graph traversal
./memex search "Atlas" --kb my-project --expand-communities

# Query the graph as it was at a specific point in time
./memex search "Atlas" --kb my-project --at "2025-06-01T00:00:00Z"

Providers

Provider	Embeddings	LLM	Config prefix
Ollama	nomic-embed-text, etc.	llama3.2, etc.	ollama/
OpenAI	text-embedding-3-small	gpt-4o-mini	openai/
Google Gemini	gemini-embedding-001	gemini-2.5-flash	gemini/
Vertex AI	textembedding-gecko	gemini-2.5-flash	vertex/
Azure OpenAI	text-embedding-3-small	gpt-4o-mini	azure/
Groq	--	llama-3.3-70b	groq/

CLI Reference

memex version                              Print version
memex init [--editor <name>] [--dry-run]   Auto-configure AI editors
memex hook <post|compact|prompt> [flags]   Process hook events from editors
memex kb create <id> [flags]               Create a knowledge base
memex kb list [flags]                      List knowledge bases
memex kb delete <id> [flags]               Delete a knowledge base
memex store <text> --kb <id> [flags]       Store a memory
memex search <query> --kb <id> [flags]     Hybrid search
memex graph <entity_id> --kb <id> [flags]  Traverse graph from entity
memex jobs [--kb <id>] [--status <s>]      List ingestion jobs
memex stats [--kb <id>] [flags]            Show statistics
memex serve [flags]                        Start HTTP API server
memex mcp [flags]                          Start MCP server (stdio)
memex tui [flags]                          Launch interactive terminal UI

KB Creation Flags

--embed <provider/model>    Embedding provider and model (default: ollama/nomic-embed-text)
--llm <provider/model>      LLM provider and model (default: ollama/llama3.2)
--name <name>               Display name
--desc <description>        Description
--db <path>                 Database path (default: ~/.memex/memex.db)

Search Flags

--mode <hybrid|bm25|vector>     Search mode (default: hybrid)
--top-k <n>                     Max results (default: 10)
--hops <n>                      Graph BFS depth, 1-10 (default: 2)
--graph-scorer <bfs|pagerank|weighted>  Graph scoring strategy (default: bfs)
--edge-types <type1,type2>      Restrict traversal to these relation types
--min-weight <f>                Min edge weight for weighted scorer (default: 0)
--expand-communities            Expand seeds with community members
--at <RFC3339>                  Temporal filter: only traverse edges valid at this time
--json                          Output as JSON

Graph Traverse Flags

--hops <n>                      Traversal depth, 1-10 (default: 2)
--edge-types <type1,type2>      Restrict traversal to these relation types
--format <json|text>            Output format (default: json)

MCP Integration

The fastest way to set up is with memex init:

./memex init           # Auto-detects and configures all installed editors
./memex init --dry-run # Preview changes without writing

Or manually add to your editor's MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memex": {
      "command": "/path/to/memex",
      "args": ["mcp", "--db", "/path/to/memex.db"]
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools (25)

Memory & Search

Tool	Description
memex_store	Store a memory (rule-based or LLM extraction)
memex_search	Hybrid search (BM25 + vector + graph). Supports max_hops, graph_scorer (bfs/pagerank/weighted), edge_types, min_weight, expand_communities, and temporal at params.

Graph Traversal

Tool	Description
memex_graph_traverse	Traverse the knowledge graph from a seed entity, returning an N-hop subgraph. Supports edge_types filtering, temporal at queries, and format (json/text).

Knowledge Bases

Tool	Description
memex_kb_create	Create a new knowledge base
memex_kb_list	List all knowledge bases
memex_kb_get	Get a specific knowledge base
memex_kb_delete	Delete a knowledge base

Entities & Relations

Tool	Description
memex_entities	List or search entities
memex_entity_get	Get entity by ID
memex_relations	Get relations for an entity
memex_relation_get	Get relation by ID
memex_delete	Delete entity, relation, or episode

Episodes & Communities

Tool	Description
memex_episode_list	List stored episodes
memex_episode_get	Get episode by ID
memex_community_list	List entity communities

Feedback (Closed-Loop Learning)

Tool	Description
memex_feedback_record	Record a correction when AI gets something wrong
memex_feedback_search	Search past corrections to avoid repeating mistakes
memex_feedback_stats	Get feedback statistics by topic

Lifecycle & Stats

Tool	Description
memex_stats	Get knowledge base statistics
memex_lifecycle_decay	Run memory decay
memex_lifecycle_prune	Prune weak memories
memex_lifecycle_consolidate	Merge duplicate entities

Jobs

Tool	Description
memex_job_list	List ingestion jobs
memex_job_get	Get job details
memex_job_retry	Retry a failed job

HTTP API

Start with memex serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080.

Method	Path	Description
GET	/health	Health check
GET	/api/v1/jobs	List jobs (query: kb, status, limit)
GET	/api/v1/jobs/{id}	Get job details
POST	/api/v1/jobs/{id}/retry	Retry a failed job
POST	/api/v1/kb	Create KB
GET	/api/v1/kb	List KBs
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}	Get KB
DELETE	/api/v1/kb/{id}	Delete KB
POST	/api/v1/kb/{id}/store	Store memory
POST	/api/v1/kb/{id}/search	Hybrid search (query: max_hops, graph_scorer, edge_types, min_weight, expand_communities, at)
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/entities	List entities
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/entities/{eid}	Get entity
DELETE	/api/v1/kb/{id}/entities/{eid}	Delete entity
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/relations	List relations
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/episodes	List episodes
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/communities	List communities
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/graph/traverse	Traverse graph from entity (query: entity_id, hops, edge_types, format, at)
POST	/api/v1/kb/{id}/feedback	Record feedback
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/feedback	List/search feedback
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/feedback/stats	Feedback statistics
GET	/api/v1/kb/{id}/stats	Get stats
POST	/api/v1/kb/{id}/decay	Run decay
POST	/api/v1/kb/{id}/prune	Run prune
POST	/api/v1/kb/{id}/consolidate	Run consolidation

Hook-Based Auto-Capture

Memex can passively learn from your AI editor sessions via hooks. When configured, it automatically:

• PostToolUse: Extracts entities from tool outputs (bash errors, git commits, etc.) using zero-cost rule-based extraction
• PreCompact: Saves important context before the editor compresses its conversation history
• UserPromptSubmit: Injects relevant memories into each new prompt

# Process tool output (reads from stdin)
echo "error: permission denied" | ./memex hook post --kb my-project

# Save transcript before context compression
cat transcript.txt | ./memex hook compact --kb my-project

# Inject relevant memories for a prompt
echo "How do I fix the auth bug?" | ./memex hook prompt --kb my-project

Hooks are automatically configured when you run memex init for supported editors.

Terminal UI

Launch with memex tui. Vim-style navigation:

Key	Action
h/l	Switch panes (KB, Content, Inspector)
j/k	Navigate items
g/G	Jump to first/last
/	Search
i	Insert memory
n	Create new KB (wizard)
e/r/p/J	Switch collection (entities/relations/episodes/jobs)
V	Graph explorer
x/d	Delete item/KB
s	Stats
?	Help

Development

# Build
go build -o memex ./cmd/memex/

# Run tests
go test ./...

# Run with verbose logging
MEMEX_LOG=debug ./memex tui

# Seed example data
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key"
./examples/seed.sh

License

MIT - see LICENSE.