getting-started.md

Getting Started

Memory Engine is permanent memory for AI agents. Store, search, and organize knowledge that persists across conversations.

Install

curl -fsSL https://install.memory.build | sh

This installs the me binary to ~/.local/bin. Make sure it's on your PATH.

Sign up and log in

me login

This starts an OAuth device flow via GitHub or Google -- authorize in your browser and the CLI stores your session token (rolling 7-day, refreshed as you use it). On a host with a system keychain the token is stored there; otherwise it falls back to ~/.config/me/credentials.yaml (mode 0600).

If you belong to more than one space, pick the active one (it's carried as the X-Me-Space on every request):

me space list
me space use <slug-or-name>

me login <space> selects it in one step, and me whoami shows your identity and active space.

If your CLI is older than the server (or vice versa), me login will tell you and bail out before sending you to the browser. You can run the same check explicitly:

me version

Store your first memory

me memory create "PostgreSQL 18 supports native UUIDv7 generation." \
  --tree share.notes.postgres \
  --meta '{"topic": "database"}'

A --tree is required. Put memories the rest of your space should see under share.*, and personal ones under ~.* (your private home). See Core Concepts.

Search

# Hybrid search (recommended default: meaning + keywords)
me memory search "UUID generation in Postgres"

# Keyword search
me memory search --fulltext "UUIDv7"

# Pure semantic search (by meaning only)
me memory search --semantic "database-generated identifiers"

Browse the tree

me memory tree

Browse in the web UI

For a richer, visual experience:

me serve

Starts a local web UI on http://127.0.0.1:3000 (or the next free port) with a tree explorer, hybrid / advanced search, rendered Markdown viewer, and a Monaco-based editor for content + metadata. See me serve for details.

Connect to AI tools

Register Memory Engine with your AI coding tools:

me opencode install
me codex install
me gemini install

For Claude Code, me claude install installs the full Memory Engine plugin (hooks + slash commands + MCP):

me claude install            # full plugin
me claude install --mcp-only # or just the MCP server

This drives Claude Code's native plugin flow for you (claude plugin marketplace add + claude plugin install), passing your resolved server/space/api_key through --config. Afterwards, restart Claude Code (or run /plugin) to load the hooks and slash commands; you can re-run /plugin → memory-engine → Configure to adjust options. All are optional except server: leave api_key blank to use your me login session, leave space blank to use your active space, and tree_root defaults to share.projects.

After installation, your AI agent has access to memory tools -- create, search, get, update, delete, and more.

See MCP Integration for details.

What's next

• Core Concepts -- understand memories, tree paths, metadata, search modes
• Access Control -- spaces, principals, and tree-access grants
• Memory Packs -- install pre-built knowledge collections
• MCP Integration -- how AI agents use Memory Engine
• CLI Reference -- full command reference
• MCP Tool Reference -- full MCP tool reference