mem

Minimal local-first knowledge keeper. Markdown files, SQLite index, tiny desktop UI, CLI.

Install

Desktop app

Download the latest release for your platform:

Platform	Download
macOS (Apple Silicon)	.dmg
macOS (Intel)	.dmg
Linux	.AppImage / .deb
Windows	.msi

One-line install (CLI + Desktop)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/denyzhirkov/mem/master/scripts/install.sh | sh

Use --cli-only or --app-only to install just one component.

Or build from source:

cargo install --path crates/mem-cli

Usage

Desktop

Open the app and start writing. That's it.

• Cmd+S — save note
• Cmd+N — new blank note
• Cmd+P — search / switch notes
• #tag — type tags inline, they auto-extract on save

Notes are Markdown files in ~/.mem-vault/notes/. Tags create connections — related notes appear at the bottom.

Auto-save kicks in after you stop typing or every ~80 characters.

CLI

mem init                             # create a vault in current directory
mem note new "My idea"               # create a note
mem note new "Idea" -b "body text"   # create with body (or --stdin)
mem note list                        # list all notes
mem note list --tag rust             # filter by tag
mem note show <id-or-slug>           # print note content
mem note update <id> --title "New"   # rename (file gets renamed too)
mem note delete <id-or-slug>         # delete a note
mem note related <id-or-slug>        # notes sharing tags
mem search "query"                   # search notes
mem tags list                        # all tags with counts
mem sync status                      # git status
mem sync commit "update notes"       # git commit
mem sync pull                        # git pull
mem sync push                        # git push

MCP (AI assistants)

mem-mcp exposes your vault to MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) over stdio — agents can create, search, update, and sync notes as structured tool calls.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mem": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "mem-mcp"
    }
  }
}

By default the server uses the global vault at ~/.mem-vault. Set MEM_VAULT in env only if your vault lives elsewhere:

"env": { "MEM_VAULT": "/absolute/path/to/vault" }

See docs/mcp.md for the full tool list and configuration.

How it works

• Files are truth — notes live as .md files on disk. You can edit them with any editor.
• SQLite is an index — fast search, tags, backlinks. Delete it and it rebuilds from files.
• Git sync — your vault is just a folder. Push to a repo to sync between machines.
• Tags — write #tag anywhere in a note. Tags connect notes automatically.
• Local-first — no accounts, no cloud, no telemetry. Everything stays on your machine.

Vault structure

~/.mem-vault/
  mem.json              # vault config
  notes/
    2026/
      2026-03-11-my-note.md
    inbox/
    journal/
  .mem/
    index.sqlite        # rebuildable index

Development

# CLI
cargo run -p mem-cli -- note list

# Desktop
cd apps/desktop
npm install
npx tauri dev

# Build all (CLI + Desktop)
./scripts/build.sh 0.1.0

Stack

• Core: Rust workspace (mem-domain, mem-storage, mem-index, mem-parser, mem-sync, mem-core)
• Interfaces: mem-cli (terminal), mem-mcp (MCP server), mem-desktop (Tauri + SolidJS + Tiptap)
• Search: SQLite FTS5
• Sync: Git CLI wrapper

Auto-updates

Desktop app checks for updates on GitHub Releases. To enable:

1. Generate signing keys: npx tauri signer generate -w ~/.tauri/mem.key
2. Set TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY in GitHub repo secrets
3. Add the public key to tauri.conf.json → plugins.updater.pubkey
4. Update the endpoints URL with your GitHub username

Release

Tag and push:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

GitHub Actions builds for macOS (ARM + Intel), Linux, and Windows, then creates a release.

License

MIT