Choose Your Path
You do not need every memtomem feature at once. Pick the outcome you need now, finish one working path, and add another layer only when it becomes useful.
Start Here
Section titled “Start Here”| I want to… | Start with | You are done when… |
|---|---|---|
| Prove that memory storage and search work | Quick Start | mm search returns the memory you just added |
| Recall a decision in a new AI session | Memory Across Sessions | a new session returns the saved reason and source |
| Connect Claude Code, Codex, or another MCP client | Connect an AI Client | the client can call mem_status |
| Search existing notes, docs, code, or built-in AI memory | Index and Import Existing Content | a known phrase returns with its source path |
| Add response compression or proactive memory surfacing | Add STM to an MCP Server | one proxied call appears in mms stats --source mcp |
| Separate personal, agent, and shared memory | Multi-Agent Collaboration | one agent shares a reviewed memory and another retrieves it |
| Maintain skills and commands across runtimes | Context Gateway | a previewed Store version is pushed to a selected runtime |
| Check local storage and external-service boundaries | Local-First & Privacy | you know which enabled integrations can send data off-device |
| Diagnose or operate an existing installation | Troubleshooting and Operations & API | health checks pass or point to a specific recovery step |
LTM or STM?
Section titled “LTM or STM?”Start with LTM (memtomem). It stores durable memory and searches it on demand. Add STM (memtomem-stm) only when an MCP workflow needs response compression, caching, or proactive memory surfacing.
| Need | LTM | STM |
|---|---|---|
| Save a decision across sessions | Yes | No |
| Search notes, docs, and code | Yes | No |
| Share one local store across AI clients | Yes | No |
| Compress an MCP tool response | No | Yes |
| Attach relevant LTM memory to a proxied call | Provides the memory | Performs the surfacing |
| Required for the first successful setup | Yes | No |
STM does not replace LTM and does not write every proxied response back into durable memory. The two packages run independently and communicate through MCP when surfacing is enabled.
What Does Not Happen Automatically
Section titled “What Does Not Happen Automatically”Installing a plugin or registering the MCP server does not automatically:
- index your whole project;
- watch every file in the background;
- import all Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini/Antigravity memory;
- save entire conversations or every tool response;
- synchronize databases between different computers.
Use an explicit indexing, import, save, or synchronization workflow when you want one of those outcomes.
A Good First Week
Section titled “A Good First Week”- Complete Quick Start without an MCP client.
- Connect one AI client and verify
mem_status. - Save one confirmed decision and retrieve it in a new session.
- Index one small, non-sensitive docs directory and verify a source-backed result.
- Add STM only if you can name the MCP server whose responses you want to proxy.
Keep permanent project rules in CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or the equivalent runtime instruction file. Put decisions, findings, and repeatable procedures in memtomem when you want to retrieve them later.
Reference and Advanced Features
Section titled “Reference and Advanced Features”Task guides recommend one safe path. The reference pages retain the full released command and configuration surfaces: