MCP servers / Memory

Memory MCP server: setup for Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor

The Memory server gives your AI a simple knowledge graph it can store facts in: things (entities), how they connect (relations), and notes about them (observations). It lets an AI carry details from one conversation to the next.

The AI decides what to store, so nothing is remembered unless it (or you) asks it to.

Runs with

npx (Node.js)

Package

@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory on npm

Needs

Node.js (for npx).

Tools

9 (3 read-only, 6 can change things)

Source

modelcontextprotocol/servers

Last checked

2026-09-20 (server reported version 0.6.3)

Config for Memory

Generated by the same code as the free builder, so it matches what you get there. Pick your client, then copy.

Claude Code

Save as .mcp.json in your project root. Claude Code asks you to approve it the first time.

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

Or add it from a terminal instead (single quotes work in bash, zsh and PowerShell; more on this command):

claude mcp add memory -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-memory

Claude Desktop

Merge into claude_desktop_config.json (Settings → Developer → Edit Config), then fully quit and restart Claude Desktop.

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

Cursor

Save as .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all projects.

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

What it can do

These are all 9 tools the server reported when we started it and asked on 2026-09-20. The labels come from the hints each tool declares about itself.

• create_entities can change things
  Create multiple new entities in the knowledge graph
• create_relations can change things
  Create multiple new relations between entities in the knowledge graph.
• add_observations can change things
  Add new observations to existing entities in the knowledge graph
• delete_entities can change things
  Delete multiple entities and their associated relations from the knowledge graph
• delete_observations can change things
  Delete specific observations from entities in the knowledge graph
• delete_relations can change things
  Delete multiple relations from the knowledge graph
• read_graph read-only
  Read the entire knowledge graph
• search_nodes read-only
  Search for nodes in the knowledge graph based on a query
• open_nodes read-only
  Open specific nodes in the knowledge graph by their names

Watch out for

• By default it saves to a file called memory.jsonl inside the server's own package folder. When we ran it through npx, that folder was inside npm's _npx cache. We saved a memory with an older release, then ran the normal npx -y command, which upgraded the package, and the file was gone. Set MEMORY_FILE_PATH to keep it somewhere permanent (see below, and the full guide).
• If you point MEMORY_FILE_PATH at a folder that does not exist, the server still starts, but every save fails with a "no such file or directory" error. Create the folder first. We tested both cases.
• The file is plain text, so it holds whatever the AI stored, in readable form. Keep it private, and do not let it collect secrets.
• 6 of its 9 tools change the graph, including tools that delete entities and observations.

Variations

Save memories somewhere permanent

Replace the path with a folder that already exists. In a Windows path, write each backslash twice in JSON, or use forward slashes.

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

The same in Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor.

Try asking

• “Remember that this project uses pnpm and deploys to Cloudflare Pages.”
• “What do you remember about my preferences for code style?”
• “Show me everything you have stored about this project.”

Related servers

• Notion: Search and edit pages and databases in your Notion workspace.
• Sequential Thinking: Helps the AI work through hard problems step by step.