tinyMem

Local, project-scoped memory system for language models with evidence-based truth validation.

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tinyMem gives small and medium language models (7B–13B) reliable long-term memory in complex codebases. It sits between you and the LLM, injecting verified context and capturing validated facts—all locally, without model retraining or cloud dependencies.

📖 Table of Contents

• Purpose
• Key Features
• Quick Start
• Installation
• Usage
  • CLI Commands
  • Writing Memories
  • Memory Types & Truth
• The Ralph Loop
• Integration
  • Proxy Mode
  • MCP Server (IDE Integration)
  • AI Agent Directives
• Architecture
• Token Economics
• Configuration
• Development
• Contributing
• License

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🎯 Why tinyMem?

If you've ever used an AI for a large project, you know it eventually starts to "forget." It forgets which database you chose, it forgets the naming conventions you agreed on, and it starts making things up (hallucinating).

tinyMem is a "Hard Drive for your AI's Brain."

Instead of the AI trying to remember everything in its limited "short-term memory" (the chat window), tinyMem saves important facts and decisions to a local database on your computer. When the AI needs to answer a question or write code, tinyMem "reminds" it of the relevant facts.

• No more repeating yourself: "Remember, we use Go for the backend."
• No more AI hallucinations: If the AI isn't sure, it checks its memory.
• Total Privacy: Your project data never leaves your machine to "train" a model.

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✨ Key Features

• Evidence-Based Truth: Typed memories (fact, claim, decision, etc.). Only verified claims become facts.
• Chain-of-Verification (CoVe): Optional LLM-based quality filter to reduce hallucinations before storage.
• Local & Private: Runs as a single binary. Data lives in .tinyMem/.
• Zero Configuration: Works out of the box.
• Dual Mode: Works as an HTTP Proxy or Model Context Protocol (MCP) server.
• Hybrid Search: FTS (lexical) + Optional Semantic Search.
• Recall Tiers: Prioritizes Always (facts) > Contextual (decisions) > Opportunistic (notes).

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🚀 Quick Start

Get up and running in seconds.

1. Initialize

Go to your project root and initialize the memory database:

cd /path/to/your/project
tinymem health

2. Run

Start the server (choose one mode):

Option A: Proxy Mode (for generic LLM clients)

tinymem proxy
# Then point your client (e.g., OpenAI SDK) to http://localhost:8080/v1

Option B: MCP Mode (for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code)

tinymem mcp
# Configure your IDE to run this command

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📦 Installation

See the Quick Start Guide for Beginners for a detailed walkthrough.

Option 1: Pre-built Binary (Recommended)

Download from the Releases Page.

macOS / Linux:

curl -L "https://github.com/andrzejmarczewski/tinyMem/releases/latest/download/tinymem-$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')-$(uname -m)" -o tinymem
chmod +x tinymem
sudo mv tinymem /usr/local/bin/

Windows: Download tinymem-windows-amd64.exe, rename to tinymem.exe, and add to your system PATH.

Option 2: Build from Source

Requires Go 1.25.6+.

git clone https://github.com/andrzejmarczewski/tinyMem.git
cd tinyMem
./build/build.sh   # macOS/Linux
# or
.\build\build.bat  # Windows

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💻 Usage

CLI Commands

The tinyMem CLI is your primary way to interact with the system from your terminal.

Command	What it is	Why use it?	Example
health	System Check	To make sure tinyMem is installed correctly and can talk to its database.	tinymem health
stats	Memory Overview	To see how many memories you've stored and how your tasks are progressing.	tinymem stats
dashboard	Visual Status	To get a quick, beautiful summary of your project's memory "health."	tinymem dashboard
query	Search	To find specific information you or the AI saved previously.	tinymem query "API"
recent	Recent History	To see the last few things tinyMem learned or recorded.	tinymem recent
write	Manual Note	To tell the AI something important that it should never forget.	tinymem write --type decision --summary "Use Go 1.25"
run	Command Wrapper	To run a script or tool (like make or npm test) while "reminding" it of project context.	tinymem run make build
proxy / mcp	Server Modes	To start the "brain" that connects tinyMem to your IDE or AI client.	tinymem mcp
doctor	Diagnostics	To fix the system if it stops working or has configuration issues.	tinymem doctor
addContract	Agent Setup	To automatically configure your AI agents to use tinyMem properly.	tinymem addContract

Writing Memories

Think of writing memories as "tagging" reality for the AI.

# Record a decision so the AI doesn't suggest an alternative later
tinymem write --type decision --summary "Switching to REST" --detail "GraphQL was too complex for this scale."

# Add a simple note for yourself or the AI
tinymem write --type note --summary "The database password is in the vault, not .env"

Memory Types & Truth

Type	Evidence Required?	Truth State	Recall Tier
Fact	✅ Yes	Verified	Always
Decision	✅ Yes (Confirmation)	Asserted	Contextual
Constraint	✅ Yes	Asserted	Always
Claim	❌ No	Tentative	Contextual
Plan	❌ No	Tentative	Opportunistic

Evidence types supported: file_exists, grep_hit, cmd_exit0, test_pass.

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🤖 The Ralph Loop (Autonomous Repair)

The Ralph Loop (memory_ralph) is a deterministic governor for autonomous codebase repair. It is not automatic; the AI must explicitly choose to "engage" it when it detects a complex failure that requires iterative fixing. Once triggered, tinyMem takes control, iterating until evidence passes or limits are reached.

🔄 Execution Phases

Phase	Action	Purpose
Execute	Run Command	Executes the target verification (e.g., go test).
Evidence	Validate	Checks predicates (test_pass, file_exists).
Recall	Search	Retrieves failure patterns from long-term memory.
Repair	Apply Fix	tinyMem's internal LLM applies code changes.

📜 Execution Contract

• Evidence is King: Only successful evidence checks can terminate the loop.
• Safety First: Supports path blacklisting (forbid_paths) and command blocking.
• Durable Memory: The loop results are stored even if the agent is reset.

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🔌 Integration

Proxy Mode

Intercepts standard OpenAI-compatible requests.

export OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/v1
# Your existing scripts now use tinyMem automatically

While proxying, tinyMem now reports recall activity back to the client so that downstream UIs or agents can show “memory checked” indicators:

• Streaming responses append an SSE event of type tinymem.memory_status once the upstream LLM finishes. The payload includes recall_count, recall_status (none/injected/failed), and a timestamp.
• Non-streaming responses carry the same data via new headers: X-TinyMem-Recall-Status and X-TinyMem-Recall-Count. Agents or dashboards that read those fields can display whenever recall was applied or when the proxy skipped it.

MCP Server (IDE Integration)

Compatible with Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other MCP clients.

Claude Desktop Configuration (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tinymem": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/tinymem",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Run ./verify_mcp.sh to validate your setup.

Available MCP Tools:

When tinyMem is running in MCP mode, your AI agent (like Claude or Gemini) gains these "superpowers":

• memory_query: Search the past. The AI uses this to find facts, decisions, or notes related to its current task.
• memory_recent: Get up to speed. The AI uses this when it first starts to see what has happened recently in the project.
• memory_write: Learn something new. The AI uses this to save a new fact or decision it just discovered or made. Facts require "Evidence" (like checking if a file exists).
• memory_ralph: Self-Repair. This is the "Nuclear Option." The AI uses this to try and fix a bug autonomously by running tests, reading errors, and retrying until it works.
• memory_stats & memory_health: System Check. The AI uses these to check if its memory is working correctly or how much it has learned.
• memory_doctor: Self-Diagnosis. If the AI feels "confused" or senses memory issues, it can run this to identify problems.

AI Agent Directives

CRITICAL: If you are building an AI agent, you MUST include the appropriate directive in its system prompt to ensure it uses tinyMem correctly.

Quick Setup: Run tinymem addContract to automatically create these files in your project.

• Claude: docs/agents/CLAUDE.md
• Gemini: docs/agents/GEMINI.md
• Qwen: docs/agents/QWEN.md
• Other: docs/agents/AGENT_CONTRACT.md

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🏗 Architecture

flowchart TD
    User[LLM Client / IDE] <-->|Request/Response| Proxy[TinyMem Proxy / MCP]
    
    subgraph "1. Recall Phase"
        Proxy --> Recall[Recall Engine]
        Recall -->|FTS + Semantic| DB[(SQLite)]
        Recall -->|Filter| Tiers{Recall Tiers}
        Tiers -->|Always/Contextual| Context[Context Injection]
    end
    
    subgraph "2. Extraction Phase"
        LLM[LLM Backend] -->|Stream| Proxy
        Proxy --> Extractor[Extractor]
        Extractor -->|Parse| CoVe{CoVe Filter}
        CoVe -->|High Conf| Evidence{Evidence Check}
        Evidence -->|Verified| DB
    end

    Context --> LLM

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File Structure

.
├── .tinyMem/             # Project-scoped storage (DB, logs, config)
├── assets/               # Logos and icons
├── build/                # Build scripts
├── cmd/                  # Application entry points
├── docs/                 # Documentation & Agent Contracts
├── internal/             # Core logic (Memory, Evidence, Recall)
└── README.md             # This file

📉 Token Efficiency & Economics

tinyMem uses more tokens per minute but significantly fewer tokens per task compared to standard agents.

Feature	Token Impact	Why?
Recall Engine	📉 Saves	Replaces "Read All Files" with targeted context snippets.
Context Reset	📉 Saves	Prevents chat history from snowballing by starting iterations fresh.
Truth Discipline	📉 Saves	Stops expensive "hallucination rabbit holes" before they start.
Ralph Loop	📈 Uses	Requires multiple internal completions to reach autonomous success.

The Verdict: tinyMem acts as a "Sniper Rifle" for context. By ensuring the few tokens sent are the correct ones, it avoids the massive waste of re-reading files and un-breaking hallucinated code.

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⚙ Configuration

Zero-config by default. Override in .tinyMem/config.toml:

[recall]
max_items = 10
semantic_enabled = false # Set true if you have an embedding model

[cove]
enabled = true           # Chain-of-Verification
confidence_threshold = 0.6

See Configuration Docs for details.

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🛠 Development

# Run tests
go test ./...

# Build
./build/build.sh

See Task Management for how we track work.

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🤝 Contributing

We value truth and reliability.

1. Truth Discipline: No shortcuts on verification.
2. Streaming: No buffering allowed.
3. Tests: Must pass go test ./....

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

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📄 License

MIT © 2026 Andrzej Marczewski